As I sit down to write a blog post about my recent five day trip to Greece—Athens and Santorini to be more specific—I am completely overwhelmed by the 300 pictures I managed to take. So, I present to you the links to all of my Greece photos that I uploaded onto Facebook...

Part One

Part Two

Mmm...Haggis

Last weekend, Chris, our two friends Shaun and Dmitriy and I all took the train north to the beautiful Scottish city of Edinburgh. We arrived late on Thursday night and went to check into our hostel. This being our first time staying in a hostel, we weren't sure what to expect. It was pretty bad, but at least the sheets were clean.

Moving on from that unpleasant memory, the next morning we woke up bright and early to walk around the chilly, gray city. After walking down the history Royal Mile, we decided to stop at a local restaurant in order to experience what every tourist must try once—the dreaded haggis. Luckily, the menu offered an appetizer portion of the traditional Scottish food. So, before I dug into my sausage and mash, I tried one bite. And I didn't hate it. But I didn't really like it either. Chris, however, was a different story. He at the whole thing with relish, and I respect him for it.
















After lunch, we found ourselves walking up to the most prominent of Edinburgh's sights, the Edinburgh Castle.The volcanic rock on which the castle sits juts up in the middle of the city and has been home to a royal fortress since the 12th century.






















Now, Edinburgh Castle is a very popular tourist destination and contains many museums within its gates. From the main castle courtyard, you can see beautiful panoramic views of Edinburgh, which are particularly scenic when accompanied by bagpipe music floating down on the wind.
















After spending much of our day wandering through the labyrinth of museums, cafes and shops in the Castle, we decided to browse through the very stately National Gallery of Scotland before it closed for the day.
















Then, I managed to convince the boys to let me do a little bit of shopping at the historic Jenner's department store (it's like the Harrod's of Edinburgh) before heading back to the hostel. I bought two very cute dresses, and they were both on sale. Score!

On Saturday morning, we awoke to a beautiful but windy day so we decided to hike up Arthur's Seat, which is a long-dormant volcano located within the city. It was like a little taste of the Highlands in the midst of a metropolitan city.






































After we descended from the wind-blown heights, we discovered a calm lake at the base of the volcano that was home to a very large swan population. It was all very scenic and grand.
















On the way back, we passed by the Scottish Parliament building, which was just built in 2004 and was designed to look like the modern Scottish landscape.
















The next morning, it was back on the train to London and we were all pretty exhausted.
















I have to say my favorite thing about Edinburgh was how old it looked. It wasn't like Boston old or even London old, it was a sort of grey, sooty, medieval old. The whole atmosphere of the city made you want to curl up in a plaid wool blanket and drink tea, and that's all right by me.

Brilliant Brighton

If you had happened to stroll past 43 Harrington Gardens last Sunday morning at about 8:30 am, you would have seen a big red bus filled with forty one bleary-eyed college students all headed to Brighton for the day. We were lured there with promises of a coastal city "flush with retro boutique shops, fabulous restaurants and vibrant crowds. But for me, Brighton was all about color. The colorful people, the colorful smells, but most of all the colorful sights all around me.

We began our tour of the seaside destination with a visit to The Royal Pavilion. From what was once a humble farm house, King George IV built this bright white Indian palace for his long-time lover and used it as a place to entertain important guests. The exotic dove-colored domes and decorative windows seem almost sacred their monochromatic glory.

















However, the simplicity of the exterior color palate is not echoed inside the palace, which is teeming with the Asian artifacts of the Chinoiserie style of decoration. Gilded wood bamboo carvings lace up the walls, ceilings are covered in intricate, vibrant and verdant paintings. Dazzling dragons clutch huge chandeliers in their scaly claws and dangle them over the banquet table.















Upstairs, the King's personal chambers are adorned in plush turquoise and gold textiles, which are much more subdued yet still very luxurious. The second floor of the Pavilion also houses a small tearoom and terrace where Chris, some friends and I stopped to have a cup of tea along with a fresh fruit scone topped with clotted cream and strawberry jam. I at once felt very English and very satisfied.





















































After scarfing down the last few crumbs of scone and strawberry jam, we headed next to the area of Brighton known as The Lanes. This crowded, cobble-paved, twisted tract of land is home to countless bright and cheery shop exteriors, dozens of which drip with hanging flower baskets and gaudy gold jewelry.






























































































































It was within this dizzying maze of shops that I found my version of heaven on earth. It was called Fizzywizzy and it was glorious in all of its colorful confectionery goodness. The shelves of this sweet shop were lined with clear jars of candy made in every hue and flavor imaginable.

















After much deliberation, I decided on a bag of "handmade lime sugar crystals" (lime flavored sugar), which I happily munched on throughout the day.
















Our final destination for the day was the whitewashed wonder of the Brighton Pier, which hovered like a memory over the sun-bleached blue of the water.

















From the moment I set foot on the creaking wooden boards, I felt as though I was walking through a haze of salty sea water that gently filtered all of my surroundings. It felt vaguely Victorian.






















I was, however, eventually awakened out of my stupor by yet another dose of pure sugar in the form of cotton candy—or as they call it here, candy floss. I never pass up a chance to eat cotton candy, and apparently Chris felt the same way.

















































After I fended off the attack of my friends and the seagulls who descended upon my delicious sugary treat, we decided to ride our sugar high straight to the bumper cars arcade. Bright, flashy gold token booths hungrily awaited our one pound coins and spewed out in return the three tokens we needed in order to crash into each other in miniature cars.

































We ended our time on the pier by descending onto the soft grey gravel of the beach, where we ordered and enjoyed a basket of chips (french fries) and malt vinegar. Chips never taste as good as when they are fried to perfection and marinated in the briny wind of the ocean.






















As we climbed wearily back onto the big red bus that was to take us home, my mind was drawn to the exciting events of the day, but where it lingered most was on the images that colored my mind with thoughts of rich red tapestries, winter white minarets. painted pastel skies and bright blue shopfronts.

PMS 1837 (Tiffany Blue)

This past Friday, Chris and I went to see Breakfast at Tiffany's in London's West End.






















I ordered the tickets a couple of weeks ago through the London Theatre Week website, which meant that we got discount tickets, but we didn't know exactly where they would be until we got to the theatre. So, imagine our surprise when we were ushered to our seats in the fifth row of the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
































Anna Friel was charming and disarming as a blonde and be-wigged Holly Golightly. It was a real treat for me to see one of the stars of my favorite (now canceled) television shows, Pushing Daisies in a story I know and love.

Having read both the novella and seen the movie many times, I was interested to see how the play portrayed Truman Capote's story. I found that this adaptation was much more true to the original work, but still had just enough life of its own. Plus, they served double chocolate chip ice cream at intermission.

Portobello Road, Borough Market and Spitalfields Market

All I can say is, don't be surprised if the next time you see me I weigh about 500 pounds. Every weekend, London's outdoor markets open up, attracting flocks of people with their unique wares and delicious food. Since the weather here in London has been so beautiful for the past few weeks, I've made it to a total of three markets so far (and one of them I've been to twice).

Last Saturday I went to the Portobello Road market in Notting Hill.

















We did a little bit of antique-perusing, spotted a celebrity (Mickey Rourke) and ate the first of many delicious market meals. Chris enjoyed a fresh German bratwurst, while I scarfed down a delicious chicken burger with grilled onions.
































































Then, this past Saturday, we took the opportunity to visit Borough Market, which is London's oldest food market. It was very crowded but very worth it. Everywhere you look there are food vendors in stalls waving free samples in the air.

















Fresh seafood, freshly butchered meat, fresh produce, freshly cut flowers...it was all there for the taking (well, for the buying).

















Here we consumed deliciously aromatic lamb burgers with onions and blue-veined cheddar cheese.

















And we also bought freshly made (of course) pork and rosemary sausages to cook along with potatoes and fresh English green beans. They made a delicious, and fairly inexpensive dinner.

Finally, on Sunday we headed to Spitalfields Market, which is located in the Brick Lane area of London. Spitalfields was a little bit different than the other markets we had been to because it mostly consisted of clothing, vintage and accessory vendors.

I not only found a really cool company that hand-makes quaint, unique rings, but I also bought a new dress. It's red with black polka dots and it feels very Parisian to me, so I can't wait to wear it in Paris! I was also intrigued by some antique type letters, but I resisted purchasing an "H."

















Okay, enough about my shopping addiction, let's get back to the food. Brick Lane is known for having some of the best curry in London, so I had to give it a try.






































Chris and I both loved it, although I thought it could have been a little more spicy. My friend Alex managed to find a food vendor that was selling kangaroo burgers, which he promptly and thoroughly enjoyed. The same vendor also advertised python, ostrich and zebra burgers, which I plan on sampling in the future.

For dessert, the boys (Alex, Dmitriy and Chris) decided to binge on Brazilian churros, which are basically freshly fried churros filled with dulce de leche and/or melted chocolate.

















I already can't wait to go back to these markets, and hopefully explore more in the near future.

First Things First

Allow me to give you a tour of my building in the lovely South Kensington area of London. This is my front door.






















I think it's very charming and British...especially when combined with the fact that I live pretty much directly across from the Natural History Museum.

Unfortunately for me, Chris gets the pretty view of the museum from the floor-to-ceiling windows in his room, while I have a fairly standard, but nice nonetheless, view of apartment buildings. Here are the views from my 3rd Floor window:

































And finally, I would post a picture of my bedroom but it's currently too messy to be photographed—so instead, here's a picture of the lobby of the Sorbonne House (where I live).