(Wednesday 6/27)
We woke up bright and early the next morning (let's count how many times I say bright and early throughout this blog - I am not a morning person, it's all considered early until about 11am), and walked down to the station to begin our first day (woo!). We got on the train to Waterloo - so many little areas here have a "loo" at the end it's very cute - and got off at London Bridge to walk to the Fashion and Textile Museum. On the way we got to see the Shard, and they were building apartments right by it that will most likely cost a pretty penny - that location and they were absolutely beautiful, like I can only imagine.
We saw some interesting street art on the way, a piece that looked quite similar to a Banksy style. I have seen a lot of cool street art here so far and I've only been here a few days, but it provides a stark contrast to the basic graffiti in the US. I mean I guess living in North Carolina we probably don't have the most interesting street art, but it still definitely different than a lot I have seen in person - more actually artistic and thought out.
The outside of the Fashion and Textile Museum was so cute and colorful - and perfect for pictures lol. Very thankful for everyone on this trip wanting good pictures as much as I do because if no one wanted to take pictures it would be quite awkward and I would be a little sad, but alas I don't have to worry about that because everyone's really into it and they're willing to work those angles for you <3 Also quick side note - even the bathrooms in the museum were really cute; they had bright yellow tiling which made it feel so bright and happy.
The Orla Kiely exhibit was incredible! It was amazing how well laid out it was - especially the hallway with all the patterns. It didn't clash at all and everything flowed very well - the original leaf pattern and the variations, moving to other patterns she created that should not have all gone together, but for some reason it all looked amazing, and could definitely be mixed to decorate a room. I also liked all the products being displayed with the patterns; there was such a large variety - lamps, lunch bags, tea cups, planters, etc.
I was also amazed by the huge garments hanging from the ceiling and the quality of them. We took a closer look and they were very well made and every I was dotted, every T was crossed. They were fully lined, all the seams were straight... it was just amazing to think about the work that must have gone into them and how long it must have taken. I think my favorite part of the exhibit was the bags. There were so many different designs, and I loved the way they were arranged into a rainbow on the wall. There were several bags I would even love to buy to carry around and use, as well as others that were more of a fashion statement or just cute, but not something I would actually want to walk around with.
After finishing with Orla Kiely, I stopped by the gift shop, because if I place has a gift shop I am almost physically incapable of leaving without at least taking a quick look. Once we left the museum, we headed to a cool modern museum Dr. Moore had heard about from a friend she made inside the Orla Kiely exhibit and it ended up being a really cool place. Everything had such bright colors and there was a piece with beads hanging from the ceiling that I thought would make a cool picture but you couldn't really see me through the beads so it was a nevermind on that.
We went to the Borough Market for lunch, and I found a chicken wrap that had grilled chicken, lettuce, sweet chili sauce, and some kind of mayo, which sounds like a weird combination, but it ended up being delicious. There were so many options at the market and everything smelled so good! I couldn't resist and ended up buying a cookie as well - a salted white chocolate chip. Once leaving the market, we walked up by London Bridge and the Globe theater, and could see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (which had a lot of scaffolding on it because of course they had to be working on Big Ben when we came to London). We also walked past the London Eye and I had previously considered getting on, but the line was absolutely crazy.
After all of this, we headed back to campus to lay down and rest our aching feet. We realized we had no plans for this upcoming long weekend, which presented the perfect opportunity to travel, so we sat down to make plans. We toyed around with Paris for a long while, thought about Scotland, but neither place made everyone excited, and we wanted to do a group trip. We looked up cheap places to fly to and Vienna caught our eye. About an hour later we had tickets bought and an airbnb in the works. I have never thought of and executed a plan so quickly, props to everyone - it was stressful, but we now have an exciting travel plan for the weekend!
Comments