Greenwich Park + my emotional night with One Direction

What an unbelievable day! A week ago I was getting sad and desperate because the One Direction's UK leg was kicking off and I still hadn't any tickets. But two days before the show I wished to attend, they were releasing more tickets so without thinking of the state of my poor bank account, I clicked on the link to buy some. It was the best idea ever!! Good seat with a very good view for a very good price. I just could not believe it! 

SO Saturday finally arrived and I was more than impatient. Not to waste the cost of my train ticket to London, I thought it would be a good idea to visit Greenwich before heading at the O2 Arena. My feet placed on " the Big Smoke" concrete, I took the Tube and DLR to Cutty Sark. After being a bit lost at Canary Wharf to find the DLR station, I finally managed to get in this massive green space. Walking around beautiful white buildings, I found out the Nationale Maritime Museum. Not very keen on boats (but it's free!!), I decided to give it a go in the aim to keep me busy  and calm down my impatience (I swear I was buzzing like a child before Christmas!). In my opinion the museum was not really entertaining but in the back of it, it led to the park and the Royal Observatory which I didn't visit because the queue at the entrance was long. So I just stayed a bit to admire the view of London (very worth it!). Then having one more hour to kill I went back down to sit down on the grass and enjoy the rays of sunshine. But I could not wait any longer so I headed to the O2 earlier than expected. 

17:00- already out of North Greenwich station waiting for my friend. 

(Sorry in advance if I fangirl a bit in the rest of the post)

After collecting our tickets and getting some food, we are now ready to discover our seats and wait for the show to start. Once we were inside I could not believe it was currently happening. We were in the lower tier close to stage and the view was fantastic. I have to admit I am gutted my pictures and videos are bad quality because it does not reflect at all what I could see in front of me (hoping that one day we could take pictures with our eyes... *sigh*). The show was great!! Whether you like them or not you cannot deny that the members of One Direction are great performers. The four of them were so cute, Harry was hilarious, Niall waved back at us (and it will remain on Youtube forever), Louis' family and the sons of David Beckham stood underneath our block. 

Even today I do not entirely realise what happened. All I can tell you is I am more than happy I could see them live before their well deserved break. I know it sounds really cheesy and cliché but they really saved my life 4 years ago. I remember during my depression, their music was the only thing that made me "happy" or at least made me stop crying. Everyday I was promising myself not to end my shitty life (I am so ashamed to write that down) to thank them for making me feel better and to prove me you can fulfill your dreams. I sincerely owe my life to these boys because I would probably not be part of this world anymore (oh god I hate talking about it!! Sorry.) if they did not exist (thanks Simon even if I don't approve evrything you do). 

I wish I could see them again

Shoreditch Street Art Gallery

Chausey Islands + Zoo

As you may know I am on holidays at my parents in France. Even if I know my little Normandy by heart I still love to discover new places or revisit the ones I have already done. This week, for the first time, we went to Chausey. It is composed of small islands in the English Channel. The weather was nice and it only took about 3 hours to walk all around the main island. 

On Tuesday afternoon we visited the zoo of Jurques (Normandy). We went there so many times when we were young so it wasn't a great discovery for me but for my little nephew it was. 

 

Windsor Great Park

Last weekend it was a new adventure for Annabelle and Lola! This time we went to Windsor Great Park... yeah we were too poor to visit the castle and July is not the best time of the month if you don't want to be annoyed by the tourists (sorry tourists!). We had a nice walk all through the day under a lovely British weather. Windsor Great Park is huge so we stayed at the 'Long Walk' starting at Windsor Caste and finishing at the statue of King Edward VII. To get back in the car we decided to go through the city of Windsor. It was really charming and there was a nice market walk. 

We could see Wembley Stadium and London's buildings from the top of the hill

Et voilà! Honestly I think it was my last "trip" in UK. From September I will have to start saving money if I want to stay and carry on my studies in England. Now I will go more often in London and I would like to plan a weekend in Paris so I could see my friends. I will probably have some more adventures when I will be settled and I will have money to travel in the North of the UK. My list is sooo long: Snowdonia, Lake District, Manchester/Liverpool, Scotland,... I wish I could visit some European cities too such as Berlin, Brussels, Florence,... I have to admit I am a bit sad to stop discovering UK for a while... but well, I love London and I can't wait to find some hidden gems out there and share it with you! :)

London, July 4th

 Last Saturday, under this beautiful British summer, me and my friend Lola went in London looking for clothes and books. We first stopped by the gigantic shopping centre of Stratford: Westfield, located in the Olympic Park. So we had a little shopping spree to see what the summer sales had to offer... Well not much! We both ended up with an item each. But the atmosphere out there was exotic. The sun, the heat, a bridge which vaguely reminded me of Barcelona's Maremagnum... We felt like we were in Spain and not at all in the British capital city. 

Quick lunch outside and we took the tube to Camden. When you live near London all the year, you tend to forget this is one of the most visited places in the world. So obviously in July you have a mass of tourists visiting trendy places (including Camden). We searched for presents in the market or at souvenir shops but nothing really interesting. Completely dehydrated, we decided to grab a drink at Costa Coffee. From our table, we could see several street arts on the walls outside. Once we finished our cups we took some pictures and carrying on walking we found out a nice little street with colorful houses (if you often read my blog it's no secret this kind of street is my weakness). 

Arrived at Chalk Farm Station, we headed to Granary Square because Lola (bookaholic) heard of a barge selling second-hand books called "Word on the water". The place is made of a big building with water jets in front of it and stairs with synthetic grass leading to the canal. Because of the heat, Granary Square was full of people tanning in their swimming costumes. We went on this barge searching for books. Once Lola came out with the one she bought, we finished our lovely day in the shade of Hyde Park. 

Bath

Finally visiting Bath!! I was supposed to go last November but several reasons delayed this trip.

SO last Saturday, Lola and myself took the train for Somerset. After all this disorganisation at the railway station, we arrived for lunchtime at last. We quickly ate our takeaway food and with the map in our hands walked along the river Avon. We stopped a moment to have a look at the Putney Bridge and we carried on our journey. Wandering in the charming streets of the city, we took some pictures of Bath Abbey and seeing many tourists queuing next to it we guessed the Roman Baths were here. We then went and checked the ticket prices. To be honest it was a bit annoying to pay £14 but you can't go to Bath without visiting the biggest attraction. It's like going to Paris without visiting le Louvre. As we were inside now, we decided ti visit it. Surprisingly, the £14 are completely worthy!! I thought it was just to see the baths but before that you have an interesting museum telling you more about the Roman times. 

Two hours later, we finished the Roman Baths and went on walking around looking for the Circus and Royal Crescent. Once we went to these two places that was it!! Bath is a small city that can be discovered in half a day. Indeed, this beautiful city is quite quick to visit. Of course you also have lots of attractions about the writer Jane Austen and I also heard Bath was a good place for pub crawl but we were not interested in it this day. 

I highly recommend you to give a try to Bath because even with a cloudy weather, the city looks really clean and charming.