Drink, Drank, Drunk

London is filled with little nooks and crannies of amazing things to do. Some are more hidden than others so you've got to search!

Last weekend my friends and I happened upon on the Kopparberg Festival: Urban Forest. Every year Kopparberg Premium Cider has a summer long festival in London; this year it was in Dalston, just a few bus stops away from our apartment. 

Basically it's a super hipster and trendy hangout filled with food trucks, cider and beer. Free admission. A live DJ mixes beats all afternoon and that Saturday just so happened to be hip/hop karaoke in the evening. You better believe we got on stage and awfully rapped every word to Superbass. Nicki Minaj would've been so proud…or not. 

Favorite cider of the day? The Elderflower and Lime. It is unbelievably refreshing and comes topped off with fresh cucumbers. The Cloudberry with grapefruit and the Pear are also delicious. Kopparberg just gets it. 

Safe to say we got great food, a sick buzz and all the embarrassment for singing our tone deaf hearts out on stage.

Until later mates, 

Jor

Market Fresh

Sooo basically all we do in London in our free time is explore, eat and drink. This city is huge and that means endless boozin and foodin. (Yeah I made that word up.) So you can rest assured that we have been on the grind finding the best pubs, restaurants and food festivals that London has to offer.

Hidden throughout many areas of London are the gems known as street markets. Some have shopping, some have food, some are a mix. They are spread in and around the city and are permanently calling your name to come behold all of the goodies that they have to offer.

So far one of these gems as stood out the brightest of them all to me--Borough Market. This 100% food and drink marketplace sits right in central London at the feet of the London Bridge. Hundreds of tents, pavilions and stands all crawling with hungry customers spread over the market area. You can find everything from fresh local cheeses and meats to the widest assortment of fruits and vegetables from all over the country. In one step you could be passing gigantic pots of thai curry and then in the next step you get a huge whiff of salt beef (corn beef to us Americans).

After a good half an hour in pure awe, we couldn't put off our rumbling tummies anymore. It was a hard decision but I settled for a chicken and sweet potato mini pie and half of a salt beef sandwich. I washed it down with fresh sangria and organic cider. We took a couple more laps around to digest meanwhile still stealing samples of the local cheeses, breads, spreads and honeys scattered all throughout the vendors.

One final stop before we headed out of there before we were rolling on the ground--organic ice cream! Chocolate and vanilla please. It was actually unreal.

If anyone is taking their travels to London and has any spare time to enjoy some true London foodie attractions I would recommend a trip to the Borough Market any day of the week! Bring some cash and a hungry stomach and you will never be disappointed.

Until later mates,

Jor

Ciao Firenze!

So for my first adventure outside of not so little London, I ventured over to Europe's one and only boot. The land of pizza and gelato, the perfect cappuccino and endless history--le belle Italia! More specifically, Firenze or more commonly known as Florence.

I had four full days to explore this beautiful city and I soaked up every second that I could. I felt like a Florida girl back at home in the 95 degree weather and couldn't have been happier to catch some rays while walking the cobblestone streets. The first authentic Italian cuisine I had while I was there.. an amazing Gnocchi Bolognese. It was unreal as was the carafe of white wine that accompanied it. But seriously Italian food in Italy is on a whole other level. Everything is so fresh and made with the richest ingredients. I could actually live off of the pizza and spaghetti and bread that is available to everyone all day everywhere.

Bonus tip: wine in Florence (and probably the rest of Italy) is literally cheaper than water. Rest assure, I had wine with EVERY meal. It's basically required.

Aside from keeping my taste buds dancing, I did a lot of other amazing things while in Florence. I witnessed and went inside the Duomo as well as climbed the 414 steps to the top of the bell tower, the Campanile di Giotto. I walked the Ponte Vecchio and spent hours in the leather markets bargaining for authentic Florentine leather goods. With my GE group, I toured the Gucci and Ferragamo museums and saw how big Florence's role is in today's high fashion. In between doing touristy things, my friends and I made sure to scope out some of the best appertivos, bars and clubs that this lively city had to offer.

However my favorite part of the whole weekend was getting to go up to the top of Florence into Tuscany to the city of Fiesole. This city sits as a part of ancient Rome where some of the first Italians settled into the land. We were treated to a tour of the city's ancient ruins as well as the best views of all of Firenze. To top it all off, we sat for a five course traditional Italian meal complete with prosciutto and melon, pasta bolognese and the most delicious chocolate mousse i've ever had.

Florence was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It's compact in size but filled with so much awe-inspiring architecture, artwork and culture. Everything in Florence is Italian through and through and it was incredibly interesting to be submersed in a world that has maintained so much of it's original creation.

Grazie Firenze per aver condiviso la tua bellezza e l'amore con me.

(Did I mention I was a pretty convincing Italian. The language was tough but not completely impossible to pick up.)

Fino a tardi mates,

Jor

Classy, Classic and Green

Every country and city will always have their staple things to see and do. Here in London, as i'm sure you can guess, this list of "classic London" activities is quite long. I have begun to cross of my Londoner to do list and last week I checked off two incredibly British places to visit: Cambridge University and Wimbledon.

If I had been holding a tea cup all week last week, my pinky would be soar from being stuck up in high in the air for you can't help but feel so Britishly fancy at both of these hollowed London gems. Our day at Cambridge began with a journey through the countryside before emerging into this land of sacred halls of knowledge and wisdom. The grounds of Cambridge consist of 29 undergraduate colleges that each individually have their own unique foundation and history. The stories to be told are endless and you can just feel that you are in a place of devout respect of study and intense learning. Cambridge itself is also it's own little village with shopping, restaurants and markets throughout the cobblestone streets. As you can probably imagine I couldn't take enough photos--the architecture and churches are breathtaking and the rolling green grounds are so well kept. Unfortunately for us, London decided to pour down all day so we were rather wet for most of our trip. But we scooped up some "I heart London" sweaters and made our way punting (floating down the river in a boat)

Later in the week, I decided there was one more very British thing I had to do--go to Wimbledon! After constant messages from my dad saying "YOU HAVE TO GO TO WIMBLEDON," I realized he was right (duh) and had to make sure to get there before the championships ended. I went with my roommate Kaleigh and obviously the first thing we did was grab Pimms and lemonade and head over to Murray Hill to watch the action happening in Centre Court on the big screen. The atmosphere at the park was sporty but classy; fun but tame. We strolled the grounds and caught a few lesser ranked matches from the sidelines. The weather was beautiful, everyone was in good spirits and tennis was going strong all around us! If you ever get a chance to be in London during the Wimbledon Championships, make the trip there--it's definitely worth it.

Until later mates,

Jor

P.s. I just got back to London from Italy so stay tuned for that post coming soon!