This is the last post FROM London.

It is about 7 am here right now in about an hour I will begin the long lug of 3 suitcases (one large, one small, one carry on.....all packed to their limit! how does that happen?) and an equally stuffed backpack down the road, through the tube and to the airport. Just have my fingers crossed no one else is really up at 8-9 am going anywhere on the tube.

It is a weird feeling to be leaving, mostly because I don't feel like I'm leaving. Even though my half of the room is completely empty and all of my baggage is sitting by the door it feels like a normal day. I'm in the lobby with my laptop writing before breakfast, all of my favorite morning security guards are on duty and I've had my daily chat with them about what is on the news....doesn't feel like a good-bye kind of day.

Still sadly it is. Yesterday was an excellent last full day in the city. Professional development in the morning, a long leisurely walk through Hyde Park, getting caught in a rainstorm, went to the aquarium (always one of my favorite things to do in any city, pictures to come), caught in another rain storm, sat down on the south bank and watched the River Thames, listened to Big Ben chime a few last times, ate a lunch of roast peanuts from a street vendor. Then the evening brought dinner with my two favorite girls, Kalli and Brooke, and getting caught in another rainstorm! We went to a lovely traditional pub for pies, pudding and the elusive spotted dick. It was a perfect end to an amazing trip.

So looking forward to the flight (I'm oddly fond of sleeping on public transportation like that) and to being home again! Because while I can pretty much turn any new place I go to, especially London, into home...the day of leaving to come home is always as exciting as the day you leave to go away.

Lovely London....

What a whirlwind week. It always seems so unfair that the last week is the best week.

Work has been fantastic this week. I was put on basically running my TV show auditions myself. I scheduled, I called to confirm, I made the tea and greeted the guests, I held the interviews, I got the tapes dubbed, I logged the footage, I made the paper edits. And if edit wasn't all jammed up with previous projects I would have ran the edit today. But that would have just been icing on the cake. It is a fantastic feeling to finally be recognized as competent. And mind you (I'll toot my own horn here because I'm that confident in my abilities in media) I'm many many notches above competent so you know, kudos to me.

To make matters even better my boss took me out to lunch today. A big big treat. We had a lovely discussion about what I plan to study in my last year, how she got into media, what I want to do with my career and my options after graduation. great. then I was logging some tapes (which requires me to wear giant, slightly ridiculous headphones....but it is my favorite film job) and someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around and the entire Development crew was there and threw me a surprise going away party! There was cake, tea, strawberries and a lovely lovely gift. I have a brand new pen and pad for all of my future development/journalistic endeavours and a very sweet card signed by the whole department.

I can't think of a better parting memory to have with London.

P.s I also saw the new Harry Potter movie in 3D (okay they lied only the first 12 minutes were) at the IMAX, in London. I was most excited about that at the start of the day but it (while being a dyno-mite movie) paled in comparison to the rest of the day.
<3

Week 8!!

These are some miscellaneous pictures from the last week or so here. Just a bunch of different places I've wandered around to!

The most fashionable place to be on a Saturday.

And the most colorful and crowded!!!! It is almost sad to see posh Notting Hill invaded by tourists like this.

Portobello market.

Where Hugh Grant 'worked' in the Notting Hill movie!!!!

Cute!

Down in Angel this is a little hidden hole in the wall kitch place and its absolutely delish. 80's retro inside, neon string lights, 2 for 1 happy hour 7-8 daily. its by far one of the best unknown places in London.

Meryl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Love, Actually....Hugh Grant as president...what a hoot!

Sherlock Holmes' desk.

Sherlock Holmes' house from the movie set.

Alfred is on the banner to get into this place and this is all there is in the entire museum about him.....I felt quite jipped.

Russell Crowe wore these clothes in Gladiator!!! yum.

I've again forgot to say where this is. The Movieum is in County Hall down in Westminister. All of these are original set pieces, costumes etc. donated after the movies have wrapped. Its set up like a walk-through on making a movie so its pretty neat! This is original blue prints for Wayne Mansion for the Tim Burton Batman movie.

Papers used in the Superman movies a la Christopher Reeves.

Worn by Mr. Reeves himself. I really enjoyed this movie because I'm half a set beyond obsessed with movies....if I wasn't I don't know if it would have been worth the admission price.

In the animation gallery they have all of these different wall sketches for sale. very pricey though since they are originals from the artists that created the cartoons.

A negative exposure of film negatives in edit.

Editing. I actually know how to do that but we are all digital in my office. So its much easier but totally not as interesting to look at!

Alien! What is really great about this place was that there are so many influential people in Hollywood who are British. Which is how they snagged such great pieces like all of the aliens from Ridley Scott's work....or got Russell crowe to snag his gear for them from gladiator (also ridley scott)....or an entire room dedicated to harry potter pieces or Excalibur. etc.

Tri-Wizard Tournament cup. Golden Egg.

The Nimbus 2000!!!!!!!! and Ron's wand.

Animatronics.

Make-up.

Hermione's school outfit and trunk. Love her sauciness. Danni and I are going to see on of the first showings of the new movie THIS THURSDAY. we've been super pumped to see Harry Potter in London.!

Homage to James Bond.

I don't like Star Wars all that much but I thought that they were cool.

These are just from the County Hall the museum was in. There is also a modern art exhibit and the London Aquarium in the hall.

Royal Mail!

USA!!!! Space Shuttle
This is the space celebration in the Science Museum. Also part of the larger exhibit to celebrate 100 years of science.

Apparently they make this out of F1 technology.

Old School Energy.

That is some giant wheel where in an exhibit upstairs you can type in a message and it digitally sends it around the wheel. Honestly I enjoyed all the historic originals they had but most of the modern stuff seemed pointless to me....as most of the newer technology things always do.

Down on the Southbank.

I never get tired of seeing views like this.

Freighter!!!! I got all excited because I thought something bigger than a tour boat was going through the Thames.....but its permanently anchored.

View in the British library.

View of the library through the above picture. This is approximately 5 minutes from my house. Which sounds excited since I have an immense love of literature.....but this is about all you can see without a pass so I haven't spent much time in there.

I can't believe I only have 7 days left. I will be on a plane coming into home this time next week. That is so incredibly exciting because after 2 months I really start to crave home. But its so depressing too because my heart will break a little bit when I leave London. I'll miss getting up early to go to the markets then spending the rest of the day reading and people watching in the park. I'll miss going to get things like organic green tea frozen yogurt with all of the lovely people I've met here. I'll miss just being able to walk into a museum or cultural event without having to pay. I'll miss all of the frusterations and laughs that come from taking public transportation any and everywhere. I've luckily made some excellent friends that I hadn't known from my uni so that will be something wonderful to take away. But over dinner tonight we were discussing how even though we can all get together and still stay in touch it won't be the same without the lovely London vibe we have become accustom to. No more Indian food dinners, organic deserts, or going to the West end.

Still I'm so excited for the last week because it promises to be my most exciting and busy one at work yet and because as much as I'll miss it it will be nice slowly saying goodbye for now to the city. <3>

I Can't Feel My Toes. . .

It is all made of ICE!!!!!!! Coolest bar ever hands down!!! We had so much ridiculous fun!!!

This is the outfit they give you to wear before you go in the freezer. the head is fur lined and there are gloves attached to the cape you can wear. its fantastically unfashionable and hard to move in but well one of those once in a blue moon kind of experiences!

Every so many months they completely gut the place and redecorate to keep it "fresh". this theme was industrial.

Me and my drink.....also in a solid ice glass. some guys thought they would be funny and pyramid their empty glasses. which eventually fell down and shattered. So we learned the place is actually fragile!!!

This may be the worst job ever!!! It is beyond frigid in there. Plus I was one of the few unfortunate ones to forget to pack closed toed shoes for after work.....cold little toes!!!!!! Brrr!!!!

Sam, Kalli, Brooke and myself.

The gang (including my flatmate Danni on the far left) with our drinks and in our gear!!!

Sitting in a chair made out of ice!!!!!

So if you haven't guessed my mates and I went to the Absolute Ice Bar after work tonight. Fantastic fun. I mean it was cold and you have to wear a stupid outfit to even go in and if we hadn't got a BoGO deal it would have been ridiculously expensive. BUT it was a blast because we are all silly and had a fun time goofing around!!! I mean there isn't much to say about it. It is a bar in a freezer. A very cool bar in a very cool freezer!