West End Girls

Let's see where did I leave off... last Saturday I went with friends from my dorm, school, and BC to the Camden Markets. It reminded me a lot of New York City - it was busy, crowded, and covered with tourists. Except replace "I <3 NY" shirts with "Keep Calm and Carry On" shirts. Haha okay I guess there were other differences too but that's the first that came to mind. We spent hours winding through covered market alley and vintage stores, and I managed to find a good deal on a big wool sweater. The markets stretched across this really beautiful lock and canal, kind of the way I imagine Amsterdam looks like. On either side of the canal, brightly colored store fronts lined the streets with giant rocking chairs, piercings, sneakers, and dragons (so if each store sold the thing that was attached to their building, did one store sell... DRAGONS? I kid, I kid.). 

An area of the markets. It was actually SUNNY at this time of the day!

Cool store fronts lining the street.

Bridge over canal and Camden Lock.

The guy at this Chinese food stand had a really weird voice and was yelling at people to try the food. Maybe not the best marketing strategy haha.

Vendor stalls along the canal.

Gettin' artsy with the Camden Lock.

Brigitte and me on the bridge!

I love the color of these buildings against the white sky!

Food area of the market place. I really like the beams that stretch across the table area. I really didn't like the amount of pigeons in the area haha.

It's a little blurry, but this was the interior of markets.

DRAGON STORE???

After the markets, Brigitte, Gwen, Anya and I went for a walk along the canal to Primrose Hill, a really posh neighborhood. To get there, we took a walk along the canal that ran past the markets. The day was winding down and the sky turned this beautiful white-gray. One of the wonderful things about being here is that I've become so accustomed to not having sun around that I'm seeing the beauty in gray days, and really cherishing the sunny ones. We arrived at Primrose Hill Park at the end of our walk, which offered a stunning panorama of all of London. The perfect end to a full day.

Another bridge over the lock. So beautiful!

Pretty Camden.

Sillytimes with Gwen and Brigitte on our walk to Primrose Hill.

Boats in the canal.

Look sister and friend! This boat says your names!!! 

The calm water of the canal really provided an amazing setting for picture taking!

Boats y'all.

Signs leading to Primrose Hill with Gwen.

Trees in the park at sunset.

This is the beautiful town I live in.

London from Primrose Hill.

The Shard! My camera has a great zoom :)

Anya, Brigitte, Gwen, and me after a long day of shopping and exploring.

Slums.... haha.

I mean, I guess I would live here... if you forced me to...

Mah girl Amy on a doorway.

A street in Primrose Hill.

On Tuesday night, I went out with the girls from my dorm to an Italian restaurant in SoHo called "Princi." It was soooo tasty and cheap! We may have gone a little overboard with dessert, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed by a long walk on a rainy London evening.

Walking to the restaurant past the Savoy (about a block from my school!).

Leicester Square at night.

SoHo/the theater district.

With the girls in Chinatown!

Olivia, Benedetta, Me, Gwen, and Sofia in Chinatown. They're the best!

Lanterns hung in Chinatown in preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations.

Bustling Chinatown. My favorite picture of this post, I think.

Lemon toffee tart, chocolate cake with almond flour, tiramisu, cannolo, Venetian pastry, and chocolate profiterole. Yumyumyumyum.

SO EXCITED FOR DESSERT!

The dessert didn't even stand a chance against four hungry Uni girls.

Later that week, I went with a few of my classmates to the National Gallery. It was by far my favorite museum I've seen in London up to this point (probably because they have a HUGE Dutch masters collection, and it's all on the first floor and easy to get to haha). I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we're trying to make a trip there every week and have lunch afterwards to discuss whatever room we visited (spending time with art history majors is the best!). Here's just a few pictures I took.

National Gallery in all its glory!

Trafalgar Square on a beautiful sunny day. I don't think I'll ever get tired of going to school ten minutes from here on foot. 

Samuel van Hoogstraten's Peepshow!! And it's fully functional!! Absolutely amazing to see this in real life. A Dutch art enthusiast's dream.

View from within the Peepshow - boxes like this helped artists with perspectival depictions of interiors. IT'S SO COOL!!

Til next time, peace out girl scouts!
-Molls