A Beautiful Day In Bath

This weekend I visited the beautiful and small town of Bath. This short day trip was a nice getaway from the city life (not really, but it sounds cool to say that). We spent the day leisure walking through the city, eating at cafes (shocking...), visiting the Roman Baths, and napping in the gardens. As cool as the Roman Baths were, I have to say my favorite part of the day was taking a snooze in the garden across the street. It must have been a mix of the fresh air, beautiful flowers, and lack of sleep cause I passed out in the matter of seconds. Don't worry mum, I slept with my backpack interlocked on my stomach (tourists problems?) As always, enjoy some of the photos I've taken below, thanks for reading! 

Waiting in line for the Roman Baths, ignore the bird poop sliding down window

The Roman Baths (well one of them)

Bath Abbey 

Inside of the Roman Baths (remodeled par)

Looking at the greenery as we leave Bath via coach

A Day in Brighton: Round Two

Another successful day in Brighton, this time around however was a bit more rainy than we had expected. None the less we made it work. Because of the weather, the beaches weren't as poppin as they were the other day, allowing us to take some beautiful landscape shots without the crowds of people in them. We spent the day running through the rain, drinking lots of coffees and teas, and of course stopping back at our favorite sandwich shop, the Flour Pot, for some toasties to take back on the train. I love this quant beach town, and could easily see myself living, although I'll avoid saying anything more as not to scare my mother with possibilities.

Rainy days really do make for great photo opportunities

I guess this is what Brits call "sand"?

Love these colors together! 

View from the Pier

Stopped by the Flour Pot Bakery and grabbed a loaf of bread to take home.

Found these little guys hiding from the rain

A New Addiction?

I've been fortunate enough to have traveled around the world a few times before this particular trip to London, however, this is the first time I've started collecting postcards from each new place that travel to. There are many reasons why I love this new collection addiction, the first being that it is affordable! Most of the postcards I got below were no more than a pound, and some of them are very nicely printed. Another reason I am so fond of postcards are because they are easy to transport, you don't have to worry about them taking up a ton of room in your luggage as you travel around the world. I personally have chosen not to write on mine, I prefer to think of them as mini art prints (which essentially they are) that I can collect and keep over time. I have been very picky about the postcards that I have chosen so far. I more prefer the hand drawn/ painted and graphic ones than the typical photographed ones, which does make it a bit more difficult to find, however when you do it is very exciting! I hope you enjoy looking at my small collection so far, I am excited to continue my search for more beautiful postcards around Europe, and when I do I'll be sure to update you all! 

A London postcard - graphic style

Bath postcards - graphic style

A series of 6 Brighton postcards - graphic style

Copenhagen postcards - hand-painted style

British fun postcards - hand-painted & hand-drawn style

A postcard that I made for my GRC 377 class

London Through Street Art

I am going to do my final GRC 377 blog post on the street art that I've taken particular notice to throughout my trip in London. The two main places that I have seen a lot of street art are in the Shoreditch and Dalston areas. I will compare the art in these two places to find their similarities and differences. 

I'll start with Shoreditch, the first thing I notice when looking at these pieces are the large amounts of fine detail. Both designs of the heart and pelican are created by some sort of intricate line art, this could be because they were done by the same artist, either way they a truly incredible. Most of the street art here is very artistic, often lacking a blunt message to its viewers. I like this style because it allows us to interpret it in our own unique ways. Another thing that I noticed was the choice of using more black and white, as opposed to choosing all bright colors which is common for a lot of street artists.

Street art in Brick Lane, Shoreditch

Street art in Brick Lane, Shoreditch

Street art in Brick Lane, Shoreditch

The street art over in Dalston, is similar but also very different in its own way. The biggest difference from Shoreditch art that I noticed the most was the use of culture incorporated into the pieces by the artists. You can clearly see that the pieces have some sort of message or purpose behind them. The messages aren't direct, but definitely point you into a particular direction as opposed the the more artistic art above. All of the art here also uses bright colors and bold shapes; they still have detail, just in a different way than how we saw above. 

Street art in Dalston

Street art in Dalston

Street art in Dalston

Copenhagen By Color

Last weekend I got to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark with some new friends that I've made whilst studying abroad in London. Right from the start I noticed that this beautiful city was covered in vibrant colors. Unfortunately it is near impossible to capture these colors, however, below you will see some of my most valid attempts to do so in pictures. The buildings are of course what caught my eye's attention first. We saw so many colorful buildings, painted in saturated reds, oranges, yellows, blues, the list goes on... This was such an unusual thing for me to see, as it is not very common where I am from. The unique colors really brighten your mood, and put you in an almost fairy-tail-like state of mind. Another thing I noticed was how blue some of their rivers were, even on  the cloudier days we could see the blue shining through. I also have to mention the greenery, Copenhagen was full of trees, bushes, grass, all of which a bright magnificent green. I may have taken special notice of this so much because of the lack of green currently in California do to the drought. Either way, it was quite a sight to see! I hope you've enjoyed this little talk about the colors I saw in Copenhagen, have a look below to see more of what I'm talking about.

Copenhagen, Denmark
Colorful buildings in the Nyhavn Harbor

Copenhagen, Denmark
Looking at the beautiful scene from our boat tour

Copenhagen, Denmark
Boat tour through the canals of Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark
Boat tour through the canals of Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark
Cute little alleyway in the center of town at sunset 

Copenhagen, Denmark
We found this fun colored building on our way to see the little mermaid statue near Langelinie

Copenhagen, Denmark
We sure don't get castles like this back in California!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark
We also got to go to the the Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world!

Copenhagen, Denmark
One of the roller coasters in Tivoli

Came All The Way To London For A French Breakfast... - Aubaine Restaurant

Mmmm... I had been craving a good breakfast for a while now, and this was nothing short of a grand breakfast. We went to Aubaine Restaurant the other day and I ordered the French Breakfast off of their brunch menu. For a pretty good deal you get a delicious assortment of fresh breakfast foods such as: orange juice (fresh squeezed of course), coffee or tea, an egg white omelet, side salad, and some toast. We went to the one located right down the street from our flat on High Street Kensington, but I've seen a few of them around town. Go have a look if you're in the mood for a good breakfast!
Thanks for reading, pictures below as usual!

The Aubaine breakfast Menu

Morning drinks: fresh squeezed orange juice, still water, & French breakfast tea

Omelets and toast have arrived!

London through Packaging & Products

I have absolutely been loving the packaging designs that I have seen in London. I have sorted my thoughts into two categories for why I've been loving the packaging here so much. The first being the use of so many hand drawn designs incorporated into logos and package designs. You can see examples of this in the photos below:

Proper Corn: Sweet Coconut & Vanilla and Sweet & Salty

Thomas J. Fudge's Stem Ginger Biscuits Dipped in Dark Chocolate 

I think that by adding these hand drawn, sketched pieces of art into these food packages it adds an interesting and unique look to the brand, this also separates it from other similar brands out there. And if you know me, I'm always judging a product by its packaging, and will buy the one with a better looking design. I also like the way the cookie box above has a cut out that works with the design element, making it both aesthetically pleasing as well as conventional because people like to see what they're buying.

The second reason I have been loving the packaging here is because of their creativity and interesting designs. This is a take away bag that I picked up from a chain restaurant here called EAT. I love that they included a diagram of what various types of coffee are made up of, as they also sell coffee and drinks. It quickly caught my attention for I love coffee but don't always know, especially here, what each drink consists of in terms of espresso, milk, or water. I thought it was both creative and interesting to look at, it also of course isn't hard on the eye either. Yellow and gray is one of my favorite color combinations though, so maybe I'm being biased? Either way, I enjoy this take away bag.

Take away bag from EAT.

London Through Wayfinding

I've been doing quite a bit of traveling around to other small cities in London while I'm abroad here. Because I consider myself to be directionally impaired and map challenged, I am always looking for easy to understand wayfinding. In this post I will tell you all of some my favorite and not so favorite types of wayfinding and why or why not I think they are effective. The first example I have is a map and directional booklet from Shoreditch. I happen to find this little booklet just lying on the ground, and I couldn't have been more thankful. This is my favorite style of wayfinding that I have come across so far because it includes everything one could need when visiting a new city for the first time. This booklet contained a map of the city, top restaurants & bars, handy hints for travels, "Top Five Shoreditch Hit List", and many more useful tidbits! Just as useful I found this booklet to be, I also found it be just as aesthetically pleasing. It features unique artwork, as well beautiful fonts and designs. (pictures attached below)

Shoreditch map and directions booklet

Shoreditch map and directions booklet

These next two examples are much more common, the first is your average street sign. I personally find myself often times struggling with this type of wayfinding... maybe it is me over thinking the angles of the signs, but I feel like they never end up pointing me in the right direction. The sign may be pointing toward the right but it turns out there's no road to the right! At this point I usually opt for asking siri to guide me through the confusing streets. Next example is the very common, and sometimes over used arrow signs. Similar problem to the street signs, they never point to an exact location, it's always "go in that general area and maybe you'll find what your looking for".

Wayfinding by street sign

Directional signs in Dalston 

This was the first time I had ever seen a sign like this, and I actually found it to relatively useful. Although lets be honest, the main reason I like it so much is because I think it is brilliant in terms of design. It is shaped like the Tate Modern Museum and divides each section by floor to show you what is located on each story. I also love the blocked out type with the numbers, as well as the use of color to signify where you are currently located. I think what is most important about this sign is that unless you really look at it and dissect it like I have just done, you don't realize how intricate it is, rather it just does its job quickly without the use of thinking.

Tate Modern Museum wayfinding

Lastly, I felt the need to include the tube map, as I have developed a love-hate relationship with it. At first glance, I decided "no thanks, I'll just follow everyone else around". It wasn't until I was forced to travel around the city on my own that I really saw how successfully designed the London tube map is. The use of varying colors, simple symbols, and easy to read font, I almost feel silly for fearing such a beautiful thing in the first place.

London Tube Map

A Day At The Races

This weekend I was fortunate enough to visit the lovely Ascot Racecourse where my fellow classmates and I were able watch, for many of us, our first horse race ever! It was such an experience just being there with all of the fancy upper class British men and women. I truly tried my best to fit in and had a lot of fun dressing up for the day. I even put a few bets on some horses, mostly resulting in losses but managed to win £11 from just a £1 bet, which not going to lie, will probably end up being my main highlight of this trip! Overall it was a really nice day spent watching horses, lounging in the sun, and drinking ciders. 

Ascot Racecourse

Ascot Racecourse

Ascot Racecourse 

Ascot Racecourse

Ascot Racecourse