Jersey Boys

So for my birthday, which was about a month ago, I decided to go see a musical. A friend told me they went to see Jersey Boys and that it was amazing, so I went to see that. Alone, on a Thursday night. I didn't want to have to drag along any friends because it was so expensive, and I knew I would enjoy it even if I was on my own. I got there about 20 minutes early, and bought myself a programme. I settled in my seat and started to get to know the characters and the actors I'd be seeing that evening. I was a little nervous about not knowing any of the songs in the musical thought. 

Later on, I was happily surprised there were a few familiar numbers and I did sing along a little. The actors really got the crowd going, and used the stage really well. Everyone was really engrossed in their performance. The only people that weren't happened to be the couple next to me, who left during the interval. I really enjoyed the extra room to place my bag though. And I was really happy to give them a standing ovation at the end. 

Seeing Jersey Boys made me want to sing and dance, and see more plays and musicals, because you really learn about their story but the theatricality of everything really stands out too. It was really fun, and engaging. It was an amazing show, and a perfect evening out. 

Here's their website: http://www.jerseyboyslondon.com/

(all images in this post were taken from the website)

Pop Art Design Exhibit at the Barbican Centre

London has so many galleries that always have temporary exhibitions, one of the few I was able to make time for was the Barbican Centre's Pop Art Design Exhibition. I've always been a fan of pop art, especially when I notice it in my day to day life. I just recently regret not buying an Andy Warhol Campbell Soup t-shirt. 

Getting to the Barbican centre is really easy, you just follow the signs around the tube station and you'll be there in minute. I really like it there because I feel like there's an atmosphere of appreciation, everyone is here to expose themselves to a little culture and no one is in a hurry. When getting to the gallery floor I left my belongings in the cloakroom and that was my biggest regret. The top floor of the exhibition was really cold, so I didn't spend my time reading all the information about each room. 

I went in thinking of how the Art was interpreted in Design and there were some pieces that really impressed me. In one section there were television advertisements from the late 60's and early 70's which were really fun to watch. The show had a good flow; every room had a time period or movement within Pop Art. 

I recommend you go with a few friends, wear a sweater and stare in awe at the bright colours and absurd forms which became the most memorable shapes of this time in art. 

Here's the Barbican Centre's website: http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery

Canary Wharf Ice Rink

One cold evening my flatmate Emily and I decided to go Iceskating. After a little research we found out the Canary Wharf Ice Rink is only 11 pounds for students. So off we went to get into the Christmas mood. 

Iceskating in England is different from Iceskating in Europe in the sense that you pay for a “session” which is usually an hour long, and you have to get off the ice and return the rental skates after your session. We planned well, so we arrived 20 minutes before our session, put our bags in lockers, and exchanged our shoes for skates. I tend to get used to the ice more if I listen to some My Chemical Romance, so I put on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and off I went on to the ice. 

Over the course of the hour, I only fell over twice. Emily managed to never fall over. It was nice to skate outside and see all the Christmas lights. I love iceskating because its a work out without being too sporty, almost everyone can skate a little. 

It was really nice to see the mix of people skating and since it was a Monday night it wasn't too crowded so you could skate which ever direction you wanted. Overall, I loved it, it was probably my best skating experience in the UK. Its a great place to go after work for a bit, and there are bars right next to it, so you can get a drink to warm you up after. 

Here’s the rink’s website: http://www.icerinkcanarywharf.co.uk/

(TimeOut.com has also featured all the other open-air rinks that have been set up around London)

The Stylist's Rail

Having spent half my Friday on Facebook I saw that there was something going on at the Hoxton Hotel on the Saturday. And I decided to check it out. It was the Stylist's Rail at the Hoxton Hotel. I had gone to one of their previous events with some friends at Birthdays in Dalston back in May so I was looking forward to seeing how it would be different at a hotel. 

Upon arrival I heard some really great music, and saw some really beautiful photos in the hallway before I even got to the clothes. Once I stepped into the room I felt underdressed, everyone looked so edgy and so “London” and I was just in jeans and a t-shirt. But I got over it pretty quickly because the music was so good. After browsing through a few racks of clothes I found a few really cute items. I had only brought 30 pounds with me, so I had to look through and pick the few items I really really liked. 

I’m really happy I chose what I did, I’ve worn both items a few times already, and when I’m a little less broke I’m looking forward to going to another one of their sales. Bring friends, and head over to one of their events, it would have taken me much less time to choose what I wanted if my friends had been there with me. And if you’re a little fashion forward its a great place to go to find something a little different or a trend item that you think might be having a “come back”. 

Here’s their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheStylistsRail

Pongathon

London is meant to have bars for everything, and I wanted to play ping pong. So after a bit of googling I found this; Pongathon. The Pongathon team hosts table tennis events throughout London. You're supposed to book online to reserve a table to play. You can book it for 1 hour or more. And its cheaper if you go to play between 5 and 6 or 10 and 11.

We paid 12.50 pounds for 10-11pm which was great because we were able to go to dinner first. We got there and they had everything organized. You can bring your own paddles or borrow theirs. I gave in my credit card for collateral in case we didn't return the bats. Which of course we did. There was 3 of us playing that way we weren't always playing. In fact I had a Corona during my breaks.

They also had a really good dj playing while we played ping pong which helped us get in the zone even more and he had incredible remixes that I've never heard before. I think we're going to go to another one of the events he djs at because he was that good. Overall Pongathon was awesome and I will be going to their events again because its a great opportunity to do something different for not too much money.

Here's their website: http://pongathon.com/

Hackney City Farm

Walking towards Broadway Market one Saturday, my friend and I happened to see a sign for "Hackney City Farm". I was a little shocked, a farm in a city, what? Really? Yes, a farm in a park in east London. We followed the people with children, and the signs and walked into an area which was the farm. There were chickens running around everywhere, a house for the donkeys, a house for the rabbits and guinea pigs and a house for the pigs. 

The chickens were let out to walk around freely, and so were the ducks. The donkeys, sheep and goats were in a larger more open space grazing and enjoying the warm weather. And the cute little guinea pigs were in their homes rolling around in the hay. Children were making animals sounds, or chasing chickens. Couples were looking at the different animals and walking around.

I don't know what it is about farms, but somehow everyone seems to love seeing the animals interact with each other and the big city seems so distant. I'd probably go there again, just to try to pet a sheep, I got so close to a lamb at one point! 

Here's the farm's website: http://hackneycityfarm.co.uk/

Cinque Terre

The "Cinque Terre" are a very famous group of villages on the edge of Tuscany. Charlotte and I were able to take a boat trip to see 2 out of the 5 places. We took the boat at 10:10 and off we went for the day. The first stop was Portovenere which is not one of the five villages, but it was beautiful none the less.

We walked around, and then laid down in the sun, appreciating where we were. Charlotte even did a few drawings. We then ran back to the boat, scared that we had missed it. Luckily we didn't. The next pit stop was Vernazza, a town with a very curved cove, perfect for swimming since you didn't get sand in your toes. At this point I thought it would be smart to pretend to be different sea animals. At least I had fun.

The third town was Monterosso, this was the last stop. The village is very cute, smaller than the others. The thing I liked the most about this place was that the train passes in the middle of the buildings, about 50 meters from the waterfront.

If you're ever in Tuscany I really recommend you go see at least one of these towns, they give you a sense of fairytale unlike bigger towns in Italy.

Here's the website for the group of towns: http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.cinque.terre/Eindex.php

Hermes at the Saatchi Gallery

In May 2013 there was a craft fair at the Saatchi Gallery. The craft people showing their work were people from the Hermes workshops in France. There were many different different mini studios set up showing the craftsmen at work. There was a leather worker, a tie maker, a print maker, a bag maker and a watch maker. It was incredible to see all the work behind one item which we then get to hold. 

There was a live show showing the silk printing of the silk Hermes scarfs. The presentation had a man explaining the process and the actual person doing the printing. The man explained that yes Hermes do use machines but "Hermes has found the perfect balance between man and the machine" for all of their products. The work surface in the Gallery only had enough space to print two scarfs at a time being a table of about 4 meters in length. In their workshop (they do not like you calling it a "factory"), the table is 100 meters long, so that they can print more scarfs at once. 

The technique has very many steps, each colour has to be printed on in different layers, starting with the darkest and then going to the lightest. However if the darkest colour takes up a lot of space on the silk then it must be printed last because it will remain wet longer than the lighter colours. In their workshop their tables have heaters underneath so that the ink dries faster. Also everything in their workshop is monitored, the temperature of the silk is measured so that it can be the perfect humidity and the ink stays on the silk the longest possible. 

Every year they come out with 10 prints for the fall and 10 prints for the spring. Out of these prints the colourists must come up with 20 different colour combinations on the same pattern where then only 10 get selected. All the heads of the international branched of Hermes then come together in Paris and select the coloured prints that will sell the most in their countries and make their order for the factories. Occasionally certain prints are brought back in new colours to update the old designs.

Each of the Hermes designs are meant to show a story, every image they print they collected from around the world. Culture is a very important thing in the Hermes family. After seeing into the way Hermes works at this work shop, I was inspired to try to work with them. Companies who have a story mean a lot to me, and I think its important to cherish tradition as well as bringing in modern things and they are able to do this with their scarfs. 

Here's the Saatchi Gallery website: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

and here's the Hermes site: http://uk.hermes.com/

Introduction to Marrakesh

My friend Daniella and I decided to go to Morocco a few months ago and we booked the cheapest flights (EasyJet from Gatwick) and a nice but cheap hotel (Riad Clementine), for our holiday to Marrakesh. We prepared ourselves by looking up things to do online, and I bought a little guide book from Amazon. We looked at a bunch of different blogs and tried to see what the best things to do were. We ended up writing a day-by-day plan of what we were going to do and what we wanted to see. 

When travelling you have to be sure that even if you plan every detail things do not go as planned. We reserved online for a few things, but on the first day we had planned to go to "Les Bains de Marrakech" but our reservation didn't go through because we didn't pay for it online. 

Not to worry, we were dying in the 40°C heat, so we stopped for a drink, and took a cab back to the hotel. From the first day it felt like we were going to end up taking a lot of taxis but we only ended up taking about 4, and two of those were from and to the airport. 

Our hotel was paradise, (but I'll write about that in my next post) and close enough to everything we wanted to see. Now the people of Marrakesh always assume you're looking for the square "Jemaa el Fna" but we never seemed to be looking for it when they attempted to give us directions. 

We reminded ourselves that this was not Europe and everything is a little unorganized, such as there being barely any street signs in French or English. Its hard when there isn't any Arabic on your map and yet everything around you is in Arabic. You end up asking yourself whether the mosque you're looking at is the same one you're looking at in your map. 

Overall, it was an incredible trip, and we were able to see a lot for only being there for 5 days. This holiday gave me the sudden urge to need to see more of the world and I can't wait for my next Intercontinental holiday. 

Brighton Beach and Pier

My friends and I wanted to go to Brighton during bank holiday weekend but staying in a hotel Sunday night turned out to be really expensive. So, we decided to make our bank holiday longer and stay in Brighton Monday night instead. We took the train to Brighton from London Bridge, and 20 minutes before our train was supposed to leave the announcement says that our train is cancelled. So we start freaking out, but thankfully during the time we were queuing at the information desk our train was no longer cancelled. So we were able to arrive in Brighton at 11am on Monday.

First thing we did was walk towards the beach. After all, living in a city makes you miss the seaside.  We sat at the beach for about an hour before the wind started making us shiver. I think the fact that there were people laying in their bikinis made me feel even more cold. We then started walking towards the Pier. We stopped at several cute little stands which were selling different beach memorabilia and we went into an adorable pottery shop. 

Once we arrived at the Pier we noticed how crowded this little beach town was. We walked on through to the end of the Pier stopping to look at people on jet skis under us. We decided to take advantage of the fair, and bought 30 tokens and rode on some rides. The scariest ride was "Crazy Mouse" because you were pretty much in a little car over the sea. 

After that I stopped for some traditional fish and chips, because I still hadn't had any since I moved back to the UK. It was incredible. We continued strolling along the beach front until about 3pm when we then headed to our hotel to check-in and leave our bags.