Interesting… just yesterday as I was working in the Trashy Diva shoe store someone mentioned London (we carry a couple of UK shoe lines like Irregular Choice and Miss L Fire), and I started thinking about the month I spent there in 2004, the summer I turned 21. And then just this morning, as I was looking for some notebook paper, I found an old notebook that I’d brought with me there and a couple of pages of notes I wrote during my time there. It’s interesting to look back on who I was just six years ago, and how far I’ve come… It was my first time outside of the U.S., and my first time traveling without my family. (I went as part of a college program.) Here are some excerpts, with some pictures of my time there (more photos here). Man, I’ve got wanderlust now, and would love to go back…
Hyde Park is my single most favorite place in London so far. Granted, I’ve only been here two days…
I got lost with no map but a Tube map, but I asked some ladies eating outside of a restaurant for help and they pointed me towards a Tube station. I hadn’t ridden the Tube yet, and somehow walked so far I’d gotten out of Zone 1, the only zone I have a pass for. But considering it was my first time on, I found it surprisingly easy to navigate.
Had a Guinness at the Sherlock Holmes Pub last night after we saw “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”.
After first wandering Portobello Market all morning and various shops, then seeing the Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the V&A, I am so inspired and ready to get home to my sewing machine. I took tons of pictures at the V&A and saw so many inspiring things, both for sale and worn by others at the market. I’m on such a fashion high that right now all I want to do is make clothes, now, forever. For a living. For life. I loved seeing so many different ways to drape fabric. I saw a very talented man making/fitting a dress inside out on a woman at Portobello. All of his stuff was incredible and I told him as much.
I took communion at mass at St. Paul’s and had fish & chips and went to Covent Garden. The street performers were interesting, but the market and area were sort of a let down.
There was an animal heart at the Tower of London! On the ground!
I’ve always been an Anglophile, and I knew this trip would be a big deal for me, but looking back now, it definitely came at the perfect time. I was just finishing up college, majoring in History, and thinking I wanted to work at a museum as a costume curator. I had the chance to meet with one of the curators at the V&A museum and get a behind the scenes sneak peek. I went to Portobello Market twice (that and the V&A were the only two major places I had the chance to go to more than once during my time there).
Those two places had a big influence on me, and when I came home to New Orleans I remained true to my word. I did start sewing more. And I did work at a museum for awhile, up until a few months ago, but I knew it wasn’t what I ultimately wanted to do for the rest of my life. I set up to sell my stuff for the first time at the Alternative Media Expo in September 2004, just a couple months after coming home. And from there I’ve continued to grow my business, bit by bit. London was the push I needed towards where I am today.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
If you ever return to London you HAVE to go to Spitalfields Market; it is simply wonderful. It made me feel incredibly inspired. I just wanted to go back and buy things, and go home and make things…
I’m so glad you had a good time there when you went; perhaps we could do a travel exchange sometime…
And there’s the Horniman museum, which while a little way out of central London, is captivating. They always have a fascinating display on, and it’s a lot like a smaller Natural History Museum, only with Anthropology thrown in! And the Old Operating Theatre Museum….sorry, you’ve got my London-mania going.
Tabi, thanks for the tips! I think I have a vague recollection of going to Spitalfields, but I’m not sure if it was that or another market. There was also a fresh produce market that I went to a couple of times that I really loved, but I can’t remember the name of it. I tried to go to as many museums and markets as I could while there – we also took a lot of day trips to nearby places, like Bath, Oxford, the Cotswolds, Brighton, etc. I really want to go back. My friend Paul just returned home to London for the holidays – he’s a travel writer and comes to New Orleans very often.
Where do you live? In London or outside of it? I saw you had a UK email address. I’m still a little sad I never made it up to Scotland either while I was there… my boyfriend did a long trip to Scotland about 15 years ago, and one of my close friends here in New Orleans is from Scotland too.
Chances are you found Spitalfields
There are so many markets that take place…I really like finding things unexpectedly in them. I’ll have to try and research that fresh produce market. I don’t suppose it was Borough Market? which seems to be of a foody sort. I agree a bit about Covent Garden as it’s rather a tourist trap; VERY stereotypical ‘handmade’ stuff. Spitalfields has Independent Designers, which is rather niftier.
between that and Wales. I like going to Bath very much, it’s a little like my home town (Cheltenham) only more like going out than just to the shops.
I have never visited but it grows pleasantly in my mind. It sounds brilliant!
I don’t actually live in London but I often housesit for my aunt when she goes off on holiday. I live over in the Cotswolds way as a matter of fact
It’s rather nice to be able to talk excitedly about my own country to you, since normally I pine for New Orleans every time I get updates from you.
Borough Market sounds familiar, maybe that was it! I feel like it was close to the river, maybe under some sort of bridge?
Oh, the Cotswolds! So pretty!
I know what you mean – I’ve always been an Anglophile, so that trip was amazing for me, but New Orleans is an incredible city as well. It’s part of the reason why I love working in the French Quarter so much – I love being able to share a local’s perspective with tourists.