sitting cozy with my hot cocoa in a London pub. check out the corresponding blog —->
10 cool discoveries I made in London
1. I see London..
With record breaking downpour and cloudy, humid weather, there is really no telling what your day will be like in London. But hopefully you’ll get lucky and be greeted with a beautiful 50-degree day like I was. As it is often said by travel experts, “if you dont like the weather, give it a minute”…or just go in July, thats as sunny as it gets.
2. Pork n Bean Breakfast
A real english breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, baked beans, and a mushroom…and its delish!
3. Cappuci-NO
As much as I love my cappucinos and machiattos, consuming any hot milky drinks in the morning is highly discouraged and cringeworthy by the brits! Luckily i was forewarned about this before i indulged in my foreign craves. America, you’ll be proud..I didnt order my first cup until 4pm
4. Hello, Hola, Ciao, Hallo, 您好, Olá
London has more international visitors than any other city in the world: about 15.3 million per year! And for good reason! there is plenty to see! You practically walk past historical landmarks while you’re headed to the bathroom.
5. London Bridge is NOT falling down
The beautiful bridge we always see in photographs is not actually the London Bridge. Its called the London Tower Bridge..the real London Bridge is rather dismissive. I almost missed it.
6. It pays to procrastinate
Looking for good deals online for Wicked or The Phantom of the Opera can be stressful.You can score waaay better theater tickets if… you…just…wait. Before my trip I searched and searched and didnt see anything worth grabbing. Most prices ranged around £70 to £80. But once my family and I arrived in London, we went to a small tourist gift shop near our hotel and we got an amazing deal of £47 per ticket to see The Lion King.
7. Smoking is still prohibited, but e-cigs aren’t!
Heres something you wont find on a U.S. flight anytime soon, but during my trip to London, the stewardess asked if anyone wanted to purchase electronic cigarettes!!! I dont recall anyone saying yes to the e-ciggie, otherwise, I’d be leaning all over their seat to see to take a peak at it for myself! it really doesnt emit any smoke, they say.
8. Russia better watch out!
If London was a country, it would be the 8th largest in Europe. A fellow tourist told me this. Thats big.
9. Penced off!
Make sure you spend all of your UK coins before leaving the country. Most currency exchange services only accept bills, not coins. Which is why I’m stuck with 50 pence!
10. Once, Twice, Three times a London
In 2012, London will become the only city to have ever hosted the Olympics three times! If thats not enough to convince you to visit London, then I dont know what is.
** From commoner to common front-pager
If you thought America was over-the-top obsessed with the duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, then you’re in for a royal awakening. Literally EVERY magazine and tabloid had her photo with some outrageous and obsessive story about where she shops, what she likes on her toast, and what she whispered to her husband in church..a pointless waste of newsprint paper. She’s Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga all-in-one!!!
Savannah joins national protests
In support of the Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York and spread nationwide, a local group, Occupy Savannah, initiated its first protest last Sunday morning at Emmet Park on Bay Street. The Facebook page for Occupy Savannah reads, “We will be practicing our freedom to assembly, we will not be shut down, and we WILL be heard.” Demonstrators arrived to protest job cuts, government spending, social injustice, corporate greed and other issues.”This, to me, is an important part of history,” said group founder, Phoenix Godwin. “And this is Savannah being on the right side of historyWith an increasing number of protesters gathering on Bay Street, the group plans to camp out overnight.According to a statement on Occupy Savannah’s Facebook page, the group will continue their demonstrations indefinitely “until responses to our demands have been met”. Occupy Savannah meets every morning at 9 a.m. at Emmet Park on Bay St. Visit them on Facebook
‘On the road’ reads: The Hunger Games
I’m a big fan of book series. I’m sorry but i just cant pick up a single novel, read it to the end, and then never hear from those characters again. that sounds like a one night stand to me. (or a one book stand..hehe)
The Hunger Games trilogy has been my latest fix, post-Harry Potter finale. And its definitely a saga that will get you through those long journeys on the road.
I must admit, there’s a lot more girl-power action in this fictional novel, which i feel is a refreshing break from the typical, mortal girl infatuated with mythical vampires and werewolves. thats just so 2000 and late.
But Hunger Games is a story of survival and rebellion, and of course love.
There’s depth to this novel that can measure up with some of the classics like Fahrenheit 451, and yet its still fast paced and heart stopping enough to join -and quite frankly- surpass the epic proportions of Twilight.
If you havent already checked out this book, go ahead and do it now. Because shooting has already began for the film adaption of Hunger Games and you don’t want to be amongst the bandwagon readers, do ya?
not cool. :)
This photo of Savannah’s Bonaventure cemetery is courtesy of Bren Tompkins, captured on his iPhone and enhanced by StreamZoo!
A little 411 on Bonaventure: its a beautiful historic site surrounded by gardens and large oak trees often referred to as the place “where death and beauty meet”.
Want to be a professional photographer? There’s an app for that
Just when you thought they had it all covered, the app world introduces yet another creative addition to the ever-expanding digital community.
Several months overdue and I’m just now discovering the wonders of Instagram and StreamZoo, the mobile apps available for the iPhone and Android.
Both programs offer the same fundamental idea as the thousands of other apps in existence: connecting with friends through social media.
But furthermore, StreamZoo and Instagram allow users to personalize photos taken on their cell phones with a variety of filters, or themes, most of which are very vintage/indie/retro/antique inspired.
The days of buying expensive and confusing cameras may be numbered.
Take StreamZoo for example: It can adjust focus points with a simple tilt of the phone and can also add framing to the camera-shot photos!
As if that werent enough of an incentive for app maniacs, StreamZoo allows users to add hashtags for each photo taken. Which of course, generates more views and populates a list of results on that particular hashtag.
I can only imagine how much fun I would have had if i knew about this app during my trip to the Lollapalooza festival (#Lollapalooza) or if I had an iPhone, for starters.
Instead I’m operating on a tiny, non-touchscreen Blackberry that crams all my fingers together when i send text messages. If the digital world were real life, I’d probably be 200 years old. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
But fun and creative apps like StreamZoo and Instagram offer something that all of us can enjoy: Capturing a moment, enhancing that moment, and sharing it with the world around us.
And if you’re photo is really captivating, enough “likes” or votes can bring you to the top of the apps’ leaderboard list, like my friend Bren Tompkins.
He took some great photos of Bonaventure cemetary which led to trending topics #savannah, #Forsyth, and #bonventure!
Would you believe his photos - pictured above - were shot using an iPhone?
For a better idea of how it all works, click here to view more stunning photos by Bren!
Savannah’s mysterious writings on the wall
What are the odds that I’d travel 1000 miles to Chicago, go to the the famous pizzeria - Gino’s East of Chicago- and be seated in a booth where someone had previously tagged the words “Sav, Ga” on the wall!?
Confused? let me try again.
Me and my friends took a 2-day road trip to Chicago this past week to attend the annual 3-day music festival, Lollapalooza. While we were there, we took in all of the best attractions the city has to offer and of course we ate lots of pizza!
After about a 45 minute wait in line, we were led into a large booth on the second floor of Gino’s.
Before i continue, you should know that Gino’s has over a dozen other locations that can be found across four states in the mid east. But Gino’s East of Chicago is the original store, which opened back in 1966.
The most famous and distinguishable feature of Gino’s East - other than their extraordinary pizza- is the wood and stucco walls of the restaurant. They are completely - and i mean COM-PLETE-LY- covered in various scrawls of pen, paint, and marker, of visitors’ scribbled names and messages all throughout the restaurant. If i had to guess, I’d say there are around hundreds of thousands of them!
So of course you can imagine our surprise and fascination when my friends and I are sat at a table with the words “Sav, Ga” printed on our wall beside us.
Really?
Out of all the tables and out of all the states and cities and out of all the people waiting to be seated, fate somehow aligned all of these coincidences for our own bewilderment and reflection.
I’m now convinced that every where you go, you take a piece of Savannah with you.
Although i am still curious as to who the mysterious culprit could be. Anyone been to Chicago lately?
“Circle of Animals” world tour symbolizes strength and defiance
Here’s the greatest thing about journalism: I’m continuing to discover that stories can be found anywhere and everwhere.
On my list of things to see while in NYC, the Plaza hotel famously featured in Home Alone 2, was at the top of my list. I was infatuated for a few seconds until something else caught my attention.
12 huge bronze sculptures of various animal heads stood in a semi circle at the Pulitzer Fountain.
random, right?
wrong.
They represent the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. I’m sure most of us have heard of or are familiar with this system and so i wasn’t too impressed. In fact, i resented taking pictures in front of the fountain like some overly enthused tourist.
But then i learned that this was a temporary display by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Weiwei set off an international commotion throughout museums and art galleries around the world after he was detained by the Chinese government without cause on April 3. For nearly three months, the government refused to release the whereabouts or condition of Weiwei, sparking a silent revolt from Berlin, to London, to Manhattan, and as of July 15, Los Angeles too.
On second thought, I think I’ll take that picture.
Weiwei was released on June 22. The crime? tax evasion.
Well perhaps, Weiwei’s supporters were hoping for something a little more defiant from the renowned artist and political activist. And yet many still believe the arrest was a vengeful plot by chinese authorities to gag Weiwei’s political criticism and investigation.
Thus, regardless of its true circumstances, Weiwei remains a brave and iconic figure who defied Chinese power, setting off a silent tour of stature and freedom of expression.
