Love Letter to London
Photo by Nicole Engelmann Photography
I haven’t seen the whole world, but I want to. And I think that after I’ve seen it all, London will still have a special place in my heart. So this post is a bit of a love letter to London.
I fell in love with this city the summer after my first year in college when I took a faculty-led course from my university based around theatre. I spent my mornings in class, my afternoons exploring, and my nights watching stories unfold. I discovered Nando’s, went to tea for the first time, and made one of my best friends. It’s not surprising that I fell in love with this place, is it? If you love fashion, art, literature, sports, nature, history, food, literally anything, then London has something for you.
I spent most of college trying to figure out how to study there, or in the UK anywhere really, for a longer amount of time. It just never worked out. Now I’m basically trying to figure out how to afford to visit all of the time.
I thought about doing one of my more of my typical “72 Hours in London” posts, but this trip (or part of my trip) meant so much to me. My mom came, I was celebrating turning 25, and it was my first time back in over five years. Plus it was a whirlwind trip overall. I was only there for about two-and-a-half days. I thought that instead, I would talk about some of the highlights.
(As I write this, I have realized that I am wearing a London themed t-shirt.)
Sketch
Basically, are you really one of the cool kids if you don’t go there? (Yes, you would still be cool.) This place is super cute and super pink. So you can bet that I was waiting to make reservations for tea the moment they opened one month before my visit. The tea had the traditional foods with a twist. My favorite was a curry chicken salad sandwich.
Hamilton
This is not a surprising highlightbecause Hamilton might be the most important pop culture phenomenon of this decade, but still, I had to see it for myself. Tickets were sold out long before I ever booked my trip to London. I was patient though. Or maybe slightly stalkerish. I was willing to wait in line outside in January if I had to. Luckily it did not come to that. They released small batches of tickets in the fall and one day I lucked out. Hamilton was everything. I hadn’t listened to any of the music beforehand because I wanted to experience it for the first time live. Even if I had to wait years. Basically that night was a revelation. The musical made me cry and revitalized my passion for the political changes I think America needs. It was worth all of my stalking.
Nando’s
I just wanted to point out that even with a limited number of meals, I made sure that one of them was at Nando’s.
Fox & Squirrel
My fashion walk with Penelope who runs Fox & Squirrel was phenomenal. I’m torn between telling it all, and holding back so that anyone who wants to can discover the same things that I discovered. So I will give just a sneak peek.
- If you’re interested in the royal family, she takes you behind the scenes at Floris who have been kitting out royalty and nobility for centuries. And they treat you like an old friend while you’re there.
- At Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row, I learned the name of the fabric I’ve been obsessed with since I saw it used for a friend’s sports coat. Apparently, it’s Donegal tweed. This shop also has so much more inside than meets the eye.
- The coats at Kokoro might actually change your life. The Kokoro x Geraldine Larkin collaboration was was breathtaking. Each coat was hand-beaded and completely unique.
- The history lesson I received on suffragette jewelry left me hoping someone would bring it back for today’s feminists.
I know I kind of talk about bread a lot. It probably has to do with rarely having bread at home. The bread here though was charred, or grilled, or something that I don’t know how to do, but I will figure it out. My mom and I shared the old Galician beef meal. When they brought out that plate full of meat I thought “there is no way we can even make a dent in this”, but it was so tender and so tasty that we actually made a very large dent. As in almost all of it. This restaurant is tiny so reservations are pretty much a must. I highly recommend going.
As I finish the highlights I can say that this is basically half of what we did. That means that this whole trip was one big highlight.
