Tag: england

July 15, 2019 – London Layover (OOTD #533)

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Best. Layover. Ever.

Here it is — the last blog from my summer European adventure. And what an adventure it was. Fitting that it should end with one last big adventure, right?

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another day, another airport

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Croatia was not actually the last country I visited on this trip — it was actually England. After departing the Zagreb airport at around 1pm in the afternoon (though I’ll mention I arrived at like 7am, on account of my friend’s flight departing earlier than mine), I made it to London Heathrow a little over an hour later.

And then I sat and waited.

My next flight, the one that would take me to Chicago, wasn’t going to leave until the following day at 7am. I had a 16-hour layover to wait out. Thankfully, if my traveling has taught me anything, it’s how to handle long layovers in the airport — and the best way to handle a long layover in the airport is to leave.

And how do you leave London Heathrow? Why, you take the Underground of course!  If the tube was already my favorite public transit system in the entire world, it just got even better when I realized it was directly connected to the airport. I love metros that connect directly to airport terminals, like Copenhagen or Chicago. Having to take a bus to the nearest metro station — or worse, having to take a separate metro and pay an additional fee on top of your regular metro ticket like you have to do in New York JFK — sucks.

It certainly wasn’t a short ride, but it was much cheaper than taking the fast train, the Heathrow Express. And it got me where I wanted to go — the Westminster tube station.

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eye see what you did there

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best 16 hour layover ever

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I don’t really know what I was looking for out of this stopover. I mean, I’ve already been to London and I’ve seen the majority of the tourist sites that one can see in an afternoon while waiting for a connecting flight. I’ve seen Big Ben and the London Eye and Westminster and all of the major sites that were in this particular area. I just wanted to go again, to feel what it felt like to look across the bridge and see all of the tourists clamoring to get photos with the ferris wheel. I even joined some of the tourists and got a few photos of my own.

From there, I went to see something I hadn’t actually seen on my 2017 London trip: Hyde Park. Amanda and I had originally had this on our to-do list, but it got cut for time and because everything we read online suggested that it wasn’t really that spectacular of a park.

And to be honest, from what I saw on this tour, I agree. I think perhaps, I just went at a bad time, as it looked like whole sections of the park were closed off for a music festival that was about to park. I also didn’t have enough time to walk the whole thing.  I did get to glimpse some of the gardens, which were lovely while they were in bloom. It was no botanic conservatory, but for a free place to walk around for an hour and get some pictures in the fading light for my blog, it was perfect.

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london bridge is falling down 🎶

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My last stop before heading back to Heathrow to spend the night sleeping on a bench was Tower Bridge herself. This was another site that I think I may have glimpsed in passing during my 2017 trip, but I never got around to paying a proper visit to. I don’t know if walking across the modern London Bridge and snapping some pictures as the sun set counts as a “proper visit,” but it was very pleasant nonetheless.

And even if it doesn’t count, I guess that just means I have all the more reason to go back to London one day. Oh well. You don’t have to ask me twice.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life in Europe this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Coat:Vintage (thrifted, Ecseri Bazaar in Budapest)

Top: FreePeople

Jeans: Hollister

July 13, 2017 – Goodbye London (OOTD #67)

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It was our final day in London, and, not to be cliché but it was rather bittersweet.

In one sense, I’m glad to be going home, back to a country where the restrooms are free, my cords work in the outlets, and air conditioning is abundant, but of course, it’s also rather sad going back to normal reality. I’m going to have to return to work in a few days, start packing for school, coordinate dorm decorations with my new roommates – things I’ve been putting off thinking about since I’ve been here in London.

We started off our day in the same way as always – a crumpet, some coffee, and fresh fruit. Sue, our host, has been so lovely about letting us stay with her, even getting to know our breakfast preferences and having them set out for us on the table every day when we wake up. It’s because of her we’ve even been able to come on this trip – like seriously, is a broke college kid going to be able to afford a hotel in London for two weeks? No.

We brought her some chocolates when we first arrived as a hostess gift, but Amanda and I both felt like we needed to do something more. She suggested that I do a little drawing of her and her daughters, so over the last few nights, I’ve been working on doing this little doodle. It’s nothing special, but people like getting art, and I like doing it.

After the unfortunate fires that went through Camden Lock just a day before we had been planning to go (we were going to go right after we did Shoreditch, but we found out that morning that there had been some bad fires in that part of town), we didn’t think we were going to be able to get there during our time in London, but thankfully, they managed to contain the fires enough that we could still see parts of the area and market.

Camden Town was cool, but I don’t know – I might’ve liked Shoreditch and its market better. Perhaps that was partially because we didn’t get to see all of Camden Lock due to the fires, but mostly, I just liked how colorful and artistic Shoreditch was. Camden has its own quirky personality – there were some really awesome goth and alternative fashion stores that I could’ve spent hours in – and I loved the canal (I think it’s a canal?) that runs through the area, but it just didn’t quite have the same soul to it.

After spending plenty of money on street food, Amanda and I headed back over to West End for another show – this time, we got tickets for Les Mis, a personal favorite for both of us. By then, both our phones were in the single digits in terms of battery, and we were desperately trying to conserve their failing energies while still using their GPS’s to navigate the unfamiliar area. We actually might’ve spent more time walking around that area and looking in the shops, but once we found the Queen’s Theatre, we were too afraid to stray very far in fear of our phones dying and having no way to navigate ourselves back!

For real though, Les Mis was excellent. I’ve been a fan ever since I watched the DVD recording of the 25th anniversary Royal Albert Hall concert (which I still argue is one of the best casts ever – with the exception of Nick Jonas as Marius), and I know almost every song by heart, including the odd ones, like “Confrontation” and “The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery.” It was wonderful finally getting to see the show live in-person. The cast did a lovely job, and even with our terrible upper circle seats, I was drawn into the world the staging and sets created.

After the show, we walked back to the Tottenham Court station and took our final Cambridge-bound train back to Broxbourne, and from there, our final overpriced cab (7 pounds! For literally a five minute ride!) back to the house.

London’s been amazing, and [insert clichés about never forgetting the adventures I’ve had, being grateful for the opportunity to travel, yadayadayada]. I joke, but I do mean it. I’ve had a lot of fun out here, and I’m sad to be going back.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

(Don’t let the sun go down on me, amirite?)

Top: Pitaya

Shorts: Abercrombie

Choker: Madewell

July 12, 2017 – Cambridge, CANbridge, CAN’Tbridge (OOTD #66)

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That was a dumb title, I know.

But hey, those are just a staple at this point at L’ensemble du jour. What is a blog post without a stupid, kind-of-but-mostly-not clever title?

By day 7, Amanda and I were growing tired of London. Its newness had worn off, and we were running out of neighborhoods and boroughs we wanted to see. Sue offered to take us out to see Windsor, but the admission prices were sort-of steep, and we are poor college kids who are only here in London by some rather lucky circumstances. Thus, we decided to take our Oyster cards and take a little day trip out to Cambridge.

You’ll notice I said “take our Oyster cards out to Cambridge,” and if you’re a London local, you’ll know that doesn’t work – Oyster cards only work on zones 1-9 throughout the Greater London area. But we are not London locals, and we did not know that wouldn’t work, so we wound up an hour and a half later at a platform in Cambridge with no way to swipe out to get into the actual town.


We had two options at that point – take the train out to the closest station where our Oyster card would allow us to swipe out, so we could buy tickets (which happened to be Broxbourne, the station we began at – and the station that I just mentioned was an hour and a half away) or find a railway worker, admit our mistake, and pay the penalty fee.

We opted for the former.

We hopped back on the Liverpool St train and prepared ourselves for a very long, very sad journey all the way back to Broxbourne. Thankfully, as luck, or perhaps God, would have it, we didn’t have to go all the way back to Broxbourne – the first stop the Liverpool train made was this little town called Shelford, which had a ticket dispenser machine right there on the platform.

In the end, it was probably only a 30 minute detour, but it felt much, much longer. It some ways, it was a happy mistake though – by using our Oyster cards to swipe out at Broxbourne, riding the train to Shelford, and then buying tickets for a ride from Shelford to Cambridge, we only had to pay about three pounds for the whole journey rather than the twenty-something it would have cost to ride from Broxbourne to Cambridge.

Finally in Cambridge, we were in desperate need of some refreshment, so we stopped in a Caffè Nero, the English equivalent of Starbucks. We got some well-deserved coffee, charged our phones, and rested up a bit before embarking on the 30 minute trek all the way out to central Cambridge.

Cambridge was a really beautiful town. It wasn’t exactly a small countryside village, but it almost felt like it; it was so different from the bustle of London. People were riding their bikes everywhere, the roads were uneven cobblestone, and I kept getting weird glances from the much more conservatively dressed locals because I was wearing a crop top.

We had wanted to go punting tour on the river in Cambridge, but unfortunately, we missed out on the final tour of the day due to some big group that was coming in later in the day. It was a bit disappointing, not being able to take this one actual guided tour we’d scheduled, but we still got to see the town and the school, so it was okay. We walked around some more, stopped in a pub where I got bangers and mash (very, very good by the way – but very, very heavy), and then got a rather overpriced Uber back to the station.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: Aerie

Skirt: Street vendor in New York

Choker: Madewell

July 11, 2017 – Just Let Abbey Road Be (OOTD #65)

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Do I get any points for that title? No?Day 6, we saw the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing, and let me tell you, that was an experience. Not wholly in a good way, and not wholly in a bad way, it was just – ugh, allow me to explain:

Abbey Road is just a road. I have no problem with that – they’re not going to close off an entire road and make it into a museum because some famous people 50 years ago took a photo there. But since it’s a road – like, a real functioning road, with cars and angry drivers with places to be – it makes it a real chore to cross it and take your silly touristy photo.

But Amanda and I were determined. We didn’t make it all the way out to London, I-don’t-even-know-how-many-miles across the ocean, to not get a picture to show our grandchildren. Plus, we’re both Beatles fans (I had a phase in middle school…), so we really wanted to see this famous spot.

Well, there were about 50 other tourists there at Abbey Road Studios that day with the same mindset, some of whom knew English traffic laws and some of whom didn’t. In England, it’s law that cars must stop if they see a pedestrian at a zebra crossing, so if you’re standing there waiting for traffic to clear so you can get a nice, car-free photo, you’ll be disappointed to see that the cars will all stop, lining up on the road if they have to, to let you walk.

So it’s rather awkward when a tourist just stands there as the traffic piles up at the crossing because the tourist wants the road to clear so they can get a good picture, and the traffic just wants the tourist to walk and get out of the way. Add into the mix, there are likely several other tourists all trying to cross the road at the same time as you, and you definitely don’t want them crossing the road with you and ruining your picture.
In short – it’s stressful, and, unless you’re a Beatles fan on a mission like Amanda and me, probably not worth your time.

I should also mention – before Abbey Road, we saw the Tower of London, something that Amanda was very interested in seeing. Personally, it wasn’t my favorite old building we saw (that honor would probably have to go to Westminster Abbey), but I’m glad we saw it anyway. It’s much bigger than I expected, and even though we were too cheap to pay the admission

to look inside, it was still cool to stand in such proximity to somewhere where so much history has taken place.


I also got noodles at this amazing place just off the Liverpool station that specialized in ramen. Shoryu Ramen, it was called – and it was really good. I’m a sucker for noodles, I guess it’s a part of being Asian, and this place was like a dream come true. The only Asian food we get in Kentucky is PF Chang’s and cheap takeout; these were real, high quality Japanese noodles. 

And that’s about it for the day, actually. We stopped by Baker Street just to say we had but found that the line for the Sherlock museum was too long to be bothered with, got tea again at the British Museum, and then stopped at a little art shop called jlkjfjlacmdls so I could buy a new sketchbook since I used up my old one on the flight over.

The nice (?) thing about that day was that we finally got to experience the infamous London rain. It’s been beautiful and sunny and even kind of hot these last few days here, but we hadn’t seen any of the cloudy skies and rain that London is known for. That finally changed as we were coming out of the British Museum. I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve never seen rain before, but something about being there in London, wearing a navy blue blazer, walking the street and actually knowing where I was going, and not really minding the rainfall, that made me feel like a real local.

It was cool.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Chaps (thrifted)

Shirt: Target

Jeans: Abercrombie

July 10, 2017 – Two Hills and a Caged Elephant (OOTD #64)

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I’m beginning to feel ever so slightly like a local.


Of course, I’m not, and any local who heard my strange mid-Atlantic-ish, Philadelphia-ish accent could pick that out immediately, but I’m definitely losing my tourist-y vibe.

By Monday, our fifth day in London and the halfway point on our trip, we were able to navigate the Underground and National Rail with ease, we’d picked up on the local vernacular (“crisps,” “toilets,” the like), we could count exact change, and, on a sadder note, the newness of the whole thing was beginning to wear off for me.


When I first arrived in London, I was in awe of the place – it’s just so old, and I wasn’t expecting it. Well, I guess I was – London’s old, that’s obvious – but I’d never seen anything that oozed cultured antiquity like this, not even some of the cities in China, which are probably even older.

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But by day 5, it wasn’t so new anymore. I could pass a several hundred year-old pub on the street without my jaw dropping, and that was a shame. Awestruck wonder is nice while it lasts.

First up on Sunday, we took the Tube over to Notting Hill, another thing that was on Amanda’s bucket list. I’ve actually never finished the film Notting Hill – I started watching it on my laptop during our layover in Detroit on our way here, but I never got to finish it. I liked the bit I saw though.


Even without having seen the film, Notting Hill was pretty cool. There are rows upon rows of these beautiful rainbow-colored houses, making for some fun backgrounds for my pictures. It was a bit odd taking pictures in front of other people’s houses though.


We got lunch at this charming little Italian place called the Portobello Garden Cafe. It’s tucked in behind a clothing store, and we had the hardest time finding it, but it was worth it – it had some of the most beautiful outdoor garden décor I’ve ever seen.


After Notting Hill, we moved on to the next Hill on our list – Primrose Hill.

Primrose Hill is essentially a park with a big hill in the middle that gives you a nice view of the London skyline. Also, there was another red telephone booth (this one missing a door), so we took the opportunity to take more of the dumb photo booth photos.


The final stop on Monday’s journey I sadly have no photos for. We went to Union Chapel for a Cage the Elephant concert, and we weren’t allowed to have any cameras or phones in the venue as they were performing songs off their next album. It really was a shame – I would’ve killed to have taken pictures to show how close we were to the stage and just how beautiful the venue was.


I’ve said that Shoreditch was probably my favorite day on the whole trip, but Cage the Elephant was probably my favorite single event. The amazing band coupled with the gorgeous venue made for a truly remarkable experience.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Hollister

Shirt: PacSun

Shorts: Abercrombie

July 9, 2017 – Shoreditching (OOTD #63)

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Oh dear, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

When I started blogging, I promised myself I wouldn’t let it go so many days between posts that I had to apologize to my readers for my tardiness, yet here I am.

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Am I "edgy" yet

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In my defense, London has had me distracted in the best way possible. There’s so much to see and do here, and every morning, I found myself eager to get up and start the day and every night, I found myself exhausted from the day’s adventures.

No need to worry though – my dear friend Amanda has been doing an excellent job documenting my outfits over these last several days, so the daily blog posts will continue from now on, just with a bit of a delay. Perhaps it’s better this way – gives me more time to distance myself from the day and give a true reflection, eh?

Anyway, flashback to Sunday, July 9 – probably my favorite day for the whole of my trip. We saw Shoreditch that day, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a charming little neighborhood in London that’s basically a hub for hipster culture. There are dozens of amazing little vintage shops run by guys with beards and girls in beanies, and I spent more money than I probably should’ve in the Brick Lane Market.


But what was best about Shoreditch was that it wasn’t crawling with tourists like some of the other places we’ve seen have been. I get it, London is a big exciting city, and people from all of over the world flock to it as a center for western history and culture (myself included), but the huge tour groups and confused-looking people standing right in the middle of the street trying to read a map get a little annoying.


Granted, I’ve been that confused-looking person standing in the middle of the road before, but that doesn’t make it much less annoying.


Second best to the lack of tourists was the amazing street art in Shoreditch. I mean, just look at some of the gorgeous photos I got that day, and it had nothing to do with having interesting angles or particularly good lighting. It was all in the backgrounds; they’ve got some stunning works all over the place there, and I wish I could’ve stayed around to get even more photos.


I also had fish and chips from Poppies’, which is, according to Trip Advisor, one of the best fish and chips places in London. To be honest, I don’t really like cod, but this was pretty good. I don’t know, I’m visiting London, I feel like I have to taste the signature dish whether I really want to or not.

Shoreditch: 10/10 would recommend if you’re planning a London trip.

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It was as good as it looks, don't worry

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Art's pretty cool

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Street art is cool! (London edition)

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That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Turtleneck: Free People

Skirt: Abercrombie

July 8, 2017 – Unconventional Pride Outfit (OOTD #62)

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London: Day 4


We told ourselves we were going to give ourselves a “relaxed” day today – it wasn’t. Now, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t still fun – but relaxing? You could probably cross that off the list of descriptive words.


We began by heading over to Waltham Abbey, a small, historic town just about 15 minutes away from Broxbourne. Amanda and I agreed, it was one neat little area. The oldest towns in America are only a couple hundred years old because, of course, our country is also only a couple hundred years old, but this, this just made Jamestown and Plymouth look like children. The church has been around since 1030 (or so the Wikipedia article says), and every building in town oozes with antiquity.


After walking around a bit there, we were dropped off at the station to catch a train into London….only to find out after Sue drove away that the Waltham Abbey station was closed. It was whatever, we were able to walk over to another one that was open, but it was 20 minutes of stress in my life I didn’t need.


We had originally wanted to go back to Oxford Street today, but, as we found out, the Pride Festival was going on in that area, so it was closed. That didn’t phase us though – we decided to go to Pride then, instead.

Since we didn’t know we’d be going, we didn’t have any rainbow attire, so we might’ve looked kind of out of place, but it was so packed and crowded, I doubt anyone was paying attention since the number one priority for most people was just to stay standing. I’m used to crowds, and I don’t mind them, but this was bad. There were moments I couldn’t move, I was so smushed up against other people. I’m sure they had really tight security, given everything that’s gone on in London in the least year, but it was an excellent place for a terrorist attack.


We got a few photos and decided to get out of there quickly.


After that, we hit up Buckingham Palace. We didn’t get to see the inside or anything, but the outside was enough. It was stately – beautiful, grand, and kind-of cold. I’m glad we saw it – it’s arguably one of the most British things in all of England, and as a tourist, it was fun to see – but it’s not like a museum you got to walk around. We got our photos, and within 20 minutes, we were done.


In my opinion – the best kind of tourist site!


Last on the agenda was to get some food and drink at a pub. We opted for this old one called The Camel, which, let me tell you, had the most delicious chicken pie I’ve ever tasted. I also bought a pint of ale, which I managed to get through maybe 3/4 of. The more I drank, the more I liked it – or, rather, tolerated it. I’m not an ale person, apparently.


That’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Forever21

Bralette: Aerie

Pants: the LOFT

July 7, 2017 – Shameless Tourist Style (OOTD #61)

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London: Day 3

Yesterday was what Amanda and I have been calling our “tourist day” because we hit all of the typical London tourist things: Big Ben, the Eye, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the O2.


The two standouts of the lot were easily Westminster and the O2. Westminster makes the list because we kind-of, sort-of snuck in without paying admission – what we had planned on doing was simply attending one of the free Holy Communion services so we could at least see the inside a bit, but we ended up having to leave early because we were concerned about making an appointment we had at the O2. So we tried to slip out the back…just to find that the doors we had gone in had been closed off.

We probably wandered around the Abbey for 30 minutes trying to find the exit. I’m not complaining though, like I said, it allowed us to see more than we would have had we done what we originally planned to do, which was just admire the outside. Plus, we didn’t have to pay admission! Though I do feel kind of badly about that, wish I had found a place to leave an offering or something.


From there, we rushed over to the O2, where we had booked ourselves in for one of their Up at the O2 experiences, where you basically get to climb and walk up on top of the O2. It was spectacular – both the climb and the views. Since we’re lame and wanted to skip out on things like the Eye and Sky Garden to avoid waiting in lines, this was one of our only chances to see London from up high, so that was definitely neat. If you visit London, I would say that this is one experience you can’t miss out on, assuming you’re cool with heights.

That evening, the nieces of the woman we’re staying with took us out for dinner and drinks. In the US, the drinking age is 21, but here, it’s 18, so I got to have my first full alcoholic beverage as a legal adult. I ordered some sort of elderflower and gin cocktail, and it was actually quite good. Neither Amanda nor I had much trouble finishing our drinks off.


After that, we headed home. It was a long, exhausting day, and we just wanted to get some rest. London’s been fun, but also rather draining. I’m so glad I’m here though; it’s a nice way to spend a bit of the summer!

I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Unknown (thrifted)

Pants: J. Crew

Top: Thrifted

Trousers: J. Crew (thrifted)

 

July 6, 2017 – Full But Fulfilling (OOTD #60)

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London: Day 2


We headed into the city for the first time today, and I feel like we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.


We purchased travel passes for a week so we’ll be able to make it around the city via bus, train, or the Underground (it’s still very hard for me not to say subway, haha). Took the Greater Anglia train into Liverpool Street from Broxbourne, and from there, we can hop on the Underground to get about anywhere.


I love the Underground. It’s ridiculously easy to navigate – totally different from the subway system in New York, which is a mess that I’ve ridden plenty of times and still don’t quite understand. Another huge help is that I downloaded an app called CityMapper, which helps you decide what transport to use based on your location and where you want to go. 10/10 would definitely recommend – I don’t know where I would be without it!

Today was a pretty full day – we saw St. Paul’s Cathedral (didn’t go in because it cost like 20 pounds and we’re cheap), and then we got lunch at a place called Ask For Janice, where we heard they had some of the best crumpets in town.


I’ve admittedly never had crumpets before, so I don’t know how they compared to other crumpets, but they were really good! I’d definitely go back. Crumpets, if you haven’t heard of them, are basically small pieces of bread kind of like an English muffin that have been coated with about 5 cups of melted butter – terribly unhealthy I’m sure but also terribly tasty.


From there, we got back on the Underground to get to the British Museum for afternoon tea. Amanda and I both ordered elderflower, and it was absolutely delicious. Probably some of the best tea I’ve had in my life. And the little sandwiches and cakes – oh, it was all so amazing, and I was sad I couldn’t finish it all. The British Museum itself was also quite interesting, very warm and crowded though.


The rest of the day was spent shopping on Oxford St., where I very specifically wanted to see a Zara. I don’t believe we have any in the US (and if we do, it’s only one or two in a major city, none of which I live near), so I probably spent more time and more money there than I should have, but it was worth it.

And in the evening, we went to see Wicked on West End. Now, I saw Wicked many years ago in Louisville, when the US had a tour of it, and I fell in love. It was my first Broadway musical, and I was in awe of the talent and production that went into a show. The West End performance was no different – it’s probably been 10 years since I saw Wicked last, and yet I was still blown away. Plus, this time I knew the songs, so I was able to hum along a bit.

By the time the show got out, it was probably 10:30 in the evening, so we got the Tube back to Liverpool Station and then a train back home.

Like I said a very full, but also a very fulfilling day.

I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Free People

Skirt: River Island

July 5, 2017 – Jet Lag Fashion (OOTD #59)

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London: Day 1.


Arrived in the Heathrow Airport this morning to a pleasant surprise: customs wasn’t a hassle to get through! It was very smooth in fact, and while I think the man at the passport counter definitely thought it was sketchy that I didn’t know the last name of the person I’d be staying with off the top of my head (see, all Amanda and I have ever referred to her as is “Sue”), it was still much easier than expected.


From there, Sue picked us up and drove us home, about 45 minutes away in Broxbourne. We were terrible company. I felt rather bad, as I could tell how hard Sue was trying to make conversation, but we were so jet lagged and out of it that it’s quite possible that we didn’t even hear some of her questions. She was a good sport about it though.

The little bit I saw from the Heathrow windows was all I actually saw of London today; the rest of the day was spent either napping at home or wandering around Broxbourne and the surrounding neighborhoods. At one point, Amanda and I decided to go for a walk into town simply to look at the architecture and houses – it’s all so different from what we have in the US.


You know, I assumed we’d see plenty of “British-looking” buildings, but in the same way that you see “American-looking” buildings at home – like, there’s a colonial or ranch style home every five houses in any given suburban neighborhood, but they’re not all over. Here, in Broxbourne, I don’t believe I’ve seen anything that doesn’t look like a Tudor-style cottage.


I love it!


So what did I wear today for a day of one part napping, one part staring in awe at the British-ness of everything? Too much, in all honesty; I was sweating rather profusely there at the end of the day. It was a cute outfit though – plaid slacks, purple cardigan, silk scarf – so maybe it was worth it.


Tomorrow, we’re headed into London for the first time, so I’m going to try to get a good night’s sleep. Wish me luck!

I’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Sweater and Pants: THE LOFT