Normandy Adventures: August 2012

Home Sweet Home :)

Mandy:

After 30 grueling yet amazing days in Europe, it was time to bring Norman back home. We visited 5 cities, caught 3 trains, checked into 4 flights, and had delicious food along the way.

Here are a few things I learned during the trip:

1. Being in a country where you can speak the language after not being able to is amazing.
2. Paris is my favourite city even though the trains and streets are super dirty. Save some money because the shopping and food is incredible. Also, save your money for the $10 glasses of coke at restaurants.
3. By far Bicester Village just outside of London is THE best place to shop for higher end items.
4. Airbnb.com is a trustworthy website to book a place to stay in almost any city around the world. It allows you to experience a city more like a local.
5. My favourite art musuem is the Van Gogh gallery in Amsterdam. By far the best collection that I can appreciate.
6. Europeans definitely have a better fashion sense than North Americans.

I'm going to miss eating escargot everyday and the super thin napoleon style pizza. However, I also like to sleep on my own bed and not being within 2 metres of Norm at all times =P Oh and having dinner without cigarette smoke in my face is nice too =)

Stay tuned for our next Normandy Adventure! I'm hoping it will be a trip to Hong Kong and South East Asia.

Last Day in the UK

Norm:

The last day of London, we ended off in style. We were to go to the Milton Keynes Bowl with my friends two friends to watch Swedish House Mafia's last show in the UK, as they will be breaking up after their summer tour.

We were supposed to catch a coach departing from Victoria Station at 11 am, but we somewhat overestimated our time available. When we got out of the metro station, it was already 10:55 am and it was a mad dash to get to the bus station in time. After dodging crowds and literally running two blocks, we came to the train station and was lucky to catch one of the last buses leaving. An hour and a half later, we were at Milton Keynes Bowl!

Our tickets!!!!

Look at the amount.....

....of people!!! 50,000 in a football field

Milton Keynes Bowl did not seem as large as the BBC Radio One Hackney Weekend Venue. Worst was that it had been raining early during the day and as a result, the ground was very wet and muddy. People were legitimately wearing boots, waterproof pants and jacket in preparation for the eventual muddiness. I was wearing white Converses that eventually got ruined. But Mandy was much more unprepared - she was wearing open toed Croc shoes and by the end of the day, her shoes + feet were extremely muddy. [Mandy: Everyone was pointing and laughing at me :( At the end of the night when everyone was running out of the field I really thought I wasn't going to make it. My feet sunk so deep into the mud when I was trying to jump onto Norm's back. But I made it through successfully AND I was able to wash the mud easily off my rubber shoes! =P]

MANDY'S FEET!! (This wasn't even at the end of the night)

The line-up for the MK event was good - Calvin Harris, Alesso, Madeon, Example and Pete Tong played before Swedish House Mafia came on. SHM came out with a two hour set and absolutely rocked the house. When I looked at my watch and saw that the time was 10:50 pm and "Save the World" started playing, I was getting sad that it was finishing. Alas, all good things must come to an end and afterwards, we took the long muddy walk back to the coach buses.

Bright colours for SHM

One of SHM's last shows forever

The buses didn't end up leaving the venue until 1:15 am and arrived in London at 3 am. Of course, with the sheer number of being people dropped off and the time of night, taxis were very rare. Mandy and I had to walk 30 minutes before we found a taxi to take us ho me. When we got home, we showered, did our last minute packing, slept for an hour and then took the train to the Airport. (Mandy: Why do we never have time to rest after a concert, lol)

Cheerio London. I'm sad that I couldn't stay for the Olympics, but it will feel good to be back in Toronto.

Back to London!

Norm:

Returning to London:

We had a fairly early flight to catch so we woke up early, got ready and we were out the door by 9 am. It was a good thing that the train station is right across from the hotel and there was minimal walking to get to the airport. It was a short flight there and I actually felt somewhat relieved coming back to London. London was starting to feel like a second home for me.

From the airport, we took the Heathrow Express back to London and checked into our hotel. My parents and my aunt were also due to meet us in London, at a later time and we were to meet them for dinner. Because of the great experience last time, we had dinner at Maze where we had the 9 course meal. It was delicious and my aunt particularly enjoyed their bread and butter. From then, we went home and got some rest because tomorrow was my graduation day!

Me deciding which wine to order on the iPad

The best group picture (although a bit blurry still)

Graduation Day

The next day, I had to run various errands to get ready for the afternoon. My parents decided to tour around London and check out the major sights (Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral) and Mandy caught up on some Zzzz's. My graduation ceremony was set to begin at 5:00 pm and lasted an hour. It was bittersweet to know graduating from the LSE, but saying goodbye to all the friends I have barely met. After the somewhat long ceremony, we headed to the Accounting Reception being hosted in the New Academic Building. We only had two tickets (each for my mom and dad) and we had to be stealthy and sneak Mandy and my aunt into the reception as well. We snapped a few photos, had a few glasses of champagne and headed to Chinatown for dinner with my family and a few friends. From then, I set off with my friends for one last club night in London. We went to Amika and it was an amazing time.