history and the oscars - my two favorite things

yesterday was a very nice day out here in little ol' londy, so ralitsa and i decided to take a walk down to the parliament area and visit our good friend winston at the cabinet war rooms.

the cabinet war rooms are one of my favorite spots in london because they are so historical and great and real. if you do not know what it is, it is the underground structure from which churchill controlled and directed the allied forces during the second world war. it's this labyrinthical lair of top-secret government business, basically. so we went and took a nice leisurely tour:









also, by some unfortunate act, sky1 (a fancy british equivalent of hbo) bought the rights to broadcast the oscars over plain old bbc, which produced quite the dilemma. since we do not get any of the sky networks, how were we (and by we i mean me and my celeb obsessed friends lana (you might remember her from the baftas) and anna) supposed to watch?! especially when given the time difference that placed the start of the ceremony at 1:30am londy time. well, fear not dear readers, being the resourceful and dedicated oscar fan that i am, i managed to, after hours of extensive google-ing, track down an illegal live streaming website that allowed me to watch the entire show as it was happening. it was, truly, an oscar miracle. just a quick commentary, though: kate winslet gets criticised sharply here in britain for being too "gushy" with her acceptance speeches, but i think she's a peach. glad to see sean penn win, and slumdog millionaire, but i was extremely disappointed in the fact that NOT ONLY were stupidlame zac efron and vanessa hudgens invited to the oscars, they were invited TO PERFORM. what kind of a world are we coming to?

needless to say, the length of the oscars put my bedtime at a little after 5am, which was a debatably smart (but definitely worth it) move considering i had to be at work at 10 and then had work/class all day. but missing the oscars, having to find out with the rest of the lame schmoes on nyt.com the next day? well that certainly wasn't going to happen.

by popular demand....

...and by popular i mean, here you go mom. pictures of the flat

the living room, as seen from the front door. note the revolutionary road sign we stole from the premiere:


the kitchen, as seen from the front door:


the little bathroom in the hallway with the washer/dryer that does not dry:


our side of the bedroom, yes ralitsa and i did push our beds together as a slightly inebriated great idea, and now we just have more room and lack the will to move them back, so...


the bathroom in our bedroom:

dubliners

dublin was amazing. the irish are the friendliest people. everyone we met was so nice and welcoming. we took a three hour walking tour for free on friday, and our tour guide (pictured playing his irish flute) was great. we had a lot of fun walking around the city and exploring all the cool castles and churches. the temple bar area was fun to be in at night - lots of music and pubs and people. even though we had to leave our hostel at 545am on sunday, it was a great trip and dublin is a wonderful city. i'm glad my people are so legit. they may be drunkards but at least they are friendly!

i've found my calling...

...being the wife of a beefeater. the reasons are multifold:
i. to be an actual beefeater, you have to have dedicated 22 years to serving in the British Royal Armed Forces.
ii. but, if you marry one of these esteemed men, you still get to live in the tower of london.
iii. the wife of our beefeater tourguide got to handle the crown jewels and her job is to just be in there and admire all the beautiful, sparkly things.

the tower of london was very fun and exciting (all the bloody Tudor history especially) and it was luckily a beautiful day to be outside. our tourguide was hilarious and i sincerely believe it would be the perfect job for grandpa.








heading off to dublin tomorrow for the weekend! i hear it's the romance capital of the world...or of ireland

BAFTAs

today was one of the best of my entire life. the baftas (the british equivalent of the golden globes, i'd say) happened today. so of course, being the completely celebrity obsessed person that i am, i decided to go. luckily my friend lana is equally as celeb crazy, and we excitedly embarked on our adventure at the ungodly time of 6am. as it was too early for the tubes to be running on a sunday, we walked the twenty minutes to the royal opera house and plopped ourselves down in a line in the dark after verifying it was in fact the line for the bafta wristbands and not just a homeless person hangout. we hung around for 3 hours (luckily we had the foresight to layer as it was merely a balmy 30 degrees), got our wristbands (like 170 out of at least 800), went home, napped, showered, layered up again, and hit the queue once more. they finally let us into the pens next to the red carpet around 4. lana and i got right up there next to the red carper, right against the gate. around 6, the celebs started to arrive. there were a looooot of random britons that i personally couldn't care less about, but the thousand people behind me sure freaked out. but some reeeeally amazing celebs showed up, pictures below. i managed to get autographs from mclovin (no idea on his real name), shia lebeouf, daniel craig, and ANGELINA JOLIE.

we then came home, elated and exhausted, to watch the delayed pre-show and awards, and WE SAW OURSELVES ON TELEVISION. too bad none of you were watching bbc1, because i was clearly visible for a large portion of the hour.

miss amy adams, who i thought to be one of the evening's best dressed:


mother theresa reincarnated:


sir bradley pitt:


007 decided to slum it for the night:


dev patel from slumdog millionaire:


she may be a hot mess, but she's still my favorite hot mess


my old friend kate:


the goddess that is meryl streep:


penny cruz taking a little snooze:


a far cry from his happy days hairdo:

Happy New Year!

yesterday was a day of festivities all around London as we celebrated Chinese New Year. in Trafalgar Square there were booths of food and toys and a huge stage with dancing and singing and other performances. it was incredibly crowded, but really fun nonetheless!

all the people milling about trafalgar square:


the national gallery is at the end of trafalgar square


there were lots of balloons and lots of precious british children so i was in heaven


ralitsa and lana watching the performances. and yes, that is snow. currently, i am in the midst of the largest snowstorm the uk has seen in 18 years, so that's just great.