Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My Love Affair With London Town




I knew it was love, London, when my easyjet flight touched down on your Anglo-Saxon soil. It was a total rush that came over me, a sense of joy that I had never felt on Italian soil. Even though the mean customs officials at the airport threatened not let me through, my moonstuck feeling couldn't be deterred. I was a sucker for you from square one. Our romance spanned three days and it wasn't enough. At the risk of being extremely tacky and cliche, when I got on the plane to travel back to Italy, my heart started to hurt. Although it may have been the first time I ever visited, I knew immediately that London was my city soul mate.

Bleh. I am so cheesey. But I can't help it, I truly love the place!










In all seriousness, London is fantastic. Few cities can mix such such past grandeur and modern splendor so seamlessly. In many places the mixture seems awkward and forced; like a clash of past eras (The city of Florence is a prime example, it just seems so wrong there.) However, London is able to do it flawlessly which in turn not only makes it beautiful but also makes it vibrant and real. What a lovely place and what a lovely trip. I got to spend some time with a very dear friends of mine and have some much needed rest and fun in a fabulous city. (That's why I lack so many mom photos; I was simply having too much fun in the moment to take tons of photographs! However, below is a silly shot that my friend Ceri got me to take with some awesome London graffiti :-])





Patiently dancing down the conga line until I can return to London,
Lauren

The many angles of Amsty




Oh Amsterdam. You truly are such a strange city. In certain lights and weather conditions you can seem quite lovely and charming with just a hint of the exotic. And in others lights; well let's just say your flavor is much less wholesome.











Nevertheless, I enjoyed Amsterdam's strangeness and respected it. Not all cities have the courage or the character to be so dramatically different when looked at through different angles. All and all, it's a solid town. Extremely fun too, I had a ball there. The people are great, and the they speak one hell of a language. It's impossible to understand a lick of it but it sounds like it would make for some great haus music. A-Rink-A-Dinkin-Do-Dinkin'-Rinkin'






Tanti Baci,

Lauren

Living Fairytale




People say that it is a fact that fairytales have give people unrealistic expectations about love and life; this is a debatable assertion (but I can't lie the story of Cinderella helped foster my shoe fetish from an early age.) What is a fact is that once you travel to Prague it will give you unrealistic expectations about cities. Because when you walk through the small city you feel like you have truly entered an enchanted realm. I was half expecting for talking animals to bust out of the astrological clock and start singing to me as I frolicked around the city.

*Now cue the sweeping Disney tunes*








The city is breathtaking. However, Prague's beauty is not only it's blessing but it is also it's curse. It is almost too beautiful, too perfect looking. It makes a part of you reject ever wanting to live there because you innately know you just don't belong.








Nevertheless, the enchanted atmosphere of Prague allows one from time to time pretend that all of those unrealistic expectations do exist.




Tanti Baci,
Lauren

PS: My apologies for the lack of posts over the past few months. I have been swamped with school and am using my break to catch up on my posts! xox