*Belgium*

Oh Brussels.. where do I even begin? Lauren and I went to the lovely Belgium city this past Saturday and Sunday as a last weekend trip in Europe. It included: a 5 hour bike tour of the city, the best fries and sauce in the world (literally), Belgium beer, chocolate, statues, the Grand Palace, waffles, parks, mass in a cathedral... in French, mussels, more beer, more parks and a lot of good laughs!

The 5 hour bike tour kicked my butt HOWEVER it was a great way to see the city in a fast amount of town. We did the tour with 2 other older women from Ireland, one of whom cycles daily for an hour and therefore was 10 miles ahead of us at all times. I lost my shoe in the middle of 4 lane traffic and almost hit several pedestrians. Lots of good laughs came from Saturday and Sunday we decided to walk to all the places we had visited on bike the day before. We went shopping at the local flea market, picked up some chocolate treats for our family members and enjoyed a nice long lunch. A pit stop for some waffles and street music... and then before we knew it we were going through UK Border control for the last time...

Barcelona

Easter came and went and I spent the time with my friends in Barcelona. We stayed with our friend from Mizzou, Catherine, who is studying there for the Spring semester. She showed us all the great places to see and we even spent the day on the beach! (More pictures will come later in a print version as I couldn't upload all of them at once). 

I have to say that Spain has been by far my favorite country while I've been in Europe. Every corner was beautiful, including the architecture which was especially unique. The weather was fantastic, which led to us sitting on the beach for a good 3 hours on Monday. Walking along the port with trillions of boats everywhere was also a favorite of everyone who was there. 

We had some great Spanish tapas food on Monday and Saturday nights and also had some fun at a local nightclub, which led to a very intense headache the next mornings. Next week I will be in Brussels for 2 days with Lauren and then.... I will be HOME in Kansas City. Wow, where did the time go?

Italia! Finally...

Hello all! Here is everything I did in Italy. Sorry I cannot go into more depth but I’m getting internet at some hotel café across the street from my flat and have lots of other things to do…

 

Saturday: Arrived in Rome, drove to the hostel, got lost and found a piazza to stop and eat for the night!

 

Sunday: Colosseum, Roman Forums, lunch at Piazza Novana, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Piazza del Popollo, Galleria Nazionale d’art antica.

 

Monday: Vatican square, St. Peter’s Basilica, museo Vatica with Sistine Chapel, castel Sant Angelo, walk down the Fiume Tevere river, Isola Bridge, Monumeto a Vittorio Emanuele II for a view of Rome, Trevi fountain again for the night view!

 

Tuesday: took the train to Florence in the morning, visited Il Duomo cathedral, Palazzo Medici-Ricardo, Teatro del Sale club for buffet dinner and show!

 

Wednesday: Boboli Gardens, Opera museum, walk along the river and dinner at the palazzo!

 

Thursday: Academy of Art museum which housed the famous David sculpture, lunch and then caught our train to Venice!

 

Friday: went to the island of Murano which is known for its glass blowing, watched some pieces be made by professionals, shopped around, had lunch, went to San Marco’s square, visited the basilica in the square, went up the bell tower to get a view of Venice and then walked to the Rialto bridge. Took a gondola ride, Gugenheum museum, back to Rialto for more shopping and dinner on the river!

 

Saturday: island of Burano, strolled through the city and shopped for lace, had lunch there and walked through downtown area. Went back to main island and fed the pigeons in San Marco, walked around the main island getting lost, enjoying the weather and finally, another dinner on the river for our last night in Italy! 

Overall, Italy was amazing and I wish I could share more of my storied with everyone, but they are better left to tell in person! Look at the pictures below, they are sure to be more interesting than the blog...

Rome pictures

More Rome pictures...

Florence

Venice I

Venice II

Je t'aime

Hello everybody! This past weekend I went to Paris with my friends Lauren, Hayley and Linda and there is a lot to tell so here goes nothing…

 

We woke up at about 5:30AM to leave for our train leaving at 8:30AM. After sleeping for a few hours, we were in Paris, trudging through the central train station to find out bus. After we hoped on around 12:30, we took a 4-hour bus tour of the city. We didn’t get out too many places, but it was still fun to see what the city had to offer. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel and headed over to meet another friend studying in Paris for dinner. I had a great ham and cheese sandwich (sounds boring, but it was amazing) and then spent the rest of the night in the Louvre. The Louvre is a famous museum that holds thousands and thousands of works from many famous artists. I had a great time and even saw the Mona Lisa! Before we went in, everyone was telling us how seeing it wouldn’t be that great and how it would be so small and how it was all a big hype. Well I’m here to say that is all a bunch of nonsense. Even though I had seen it many times in pictures, something about seeing it in the museum, in its own little, glass case made it seem so much better. In fact, after I had seen it once, I went to another area of the museum and then decided to go back again. Since we decided to leave the Louvre around 10, we headed back to the hotel so we could rest up for our long day ahead.

 

Saturday we started the day strolling through the Tullerie gardens. It was a very peaceful, park-type atmosphere with beautiful scenery and statues. We took our time walking around, and it was really refreshing to feel the morning cold. Plus there were no kids around, which is always nice because they ruin peaceful moments almost all of the time. At the end of the gardens, we ended up at the end of the Champs Elysees. This famous block has TONS of great shopping, and somehow I managed to keep my spending under control. I had a moment of weakness though, when I almost bought a $50 coin purse from some really posh handbag store. Now that I think back on it, the purse was hideous. Good thing my friends bailed me out of that one. Continuing down the Champs Elysees, we took lots of pictures and ended at the Arc de Triomph. We took pictures, looked underneath, looked at the tomb of the unknown solider, took some more pictures, etc.

 

Next was Notre Dame Cathedral. Not only was it stunning and amazing, as all cathedrals are, it was FREE to get in. We all looked around and soaked up all the beautiful stained glass and elaborate alter. After about an hour there, we were getting hungry. And what better way to quench that hungry than with crepes! Oh the lovely crepe. It’s like a pancake, but better. It’s a little thinner and they put basically anything you want inside. Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, sugar, meat, nutella. I opted for ham and cheese because I didn’t think any fruit option would fill me up until dinner.

 

After eating, we went to a famous cemetery. It was famous because a lot of historians, authors, philosophers, etc. were buried there. The reason we originally went there was to see the tomb of Jim Morrison. Granted, this really wasn’t my type of thing, but the girls were dying to see it so I went along and was pleasantly surprised. The cemetery, I kid you not, was as big as a city. It had a map once you entered and they had road names and division numbers to section of areas. And all of the tombs were crammed side by side. Heaven forbid your loved one is buried in the middle of a section; you would basically have to climb over 50 other dead people to get there! Anyways, we visited Jim’s grave along with the tombs of Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. This whole excursion took about an hour and a half, but we still had time until dinner so we decided to head over to the Musee d’Orsay. This museum is also famous in Paris, but I’m not sure why. In fact, I don’t really know how any museum becomes famous. Anyways, everyone told us to go visit so we did. We didn’t stay for more than a few hours because at this point, we were getting tired of being on our feet for the entire day. So…

 

Dinner! Oh the good a little food can do for a girl. We crashed at some posh restaurant around 5 and ordered up some drinks and nibbled on the bread. We decided that this was going to be our nice dinner for the weekend and I splurged on some salmon with rice and the most amazing sauce ever. That, partnered with some wine made for a delicious meal. After sitting and girl talking for hours, we headed to the River Sienne to catch our boat cruise for the night at 8:30PM. On the walk over there, at 8, we stopped and watched the Eiffel tower glitter in the distance. Every night at dusk, the tower lights up with flashing white bulbs for 5 minutes on the hour, every hour. It was so beautiful and kind of had the same effect as the Mona Lisa. It has been seen in pictures many times, but seeing it in person was so amazing and pretty. After the 5 minutes of sparkles, we got on the boat and went for an hour ride on the river. Now remember, all you blog readers, that this is the city of lights. Seeing all the sights lit up was a fun way to end the day on. Plus, it was a good time to relax, sit and chat.

 

Sunday, we started the day by going to the Royal Opera House in Paris. It was huge, gold and elaborate. There is no other way to describe it. The pictures didn’t come out too well, so you should look through their website and see what it was like.

 

After a few hours there, we made our way to the Moulin Rouge. It’s a strip club, so it wasn’t in a very glamorous part of town. We snapped pictures and headed to our next destination….

 

The Eiffel Tower! Our last tourist spot for the weekend, we waited in line to get through security, waited in line to get tickets, waited in line to get halfway up and FINALLY then got in line to go all the way up. It was beautiful! You could see the entire city and beyond, even though it was a tad bit chilly. I just stared out and admired the city I had spent the past 36 hours in and was happy. What a great trip! We rushed back, grabbed pastries from the shop next to our hotel and headed back to the train station, where we proceeded back to London.

Pictures

Even more

Last set

 

And now, a whole 3 days later, I’m preparing for my 8-day trip to Rome, Florence and Venice. I have a to do list about a mile long and am constantly starting to worry about everything. Thank goodness I have Lauren and Hayley to keep me calm. The 3 of us intend to have the best 8 days of our lives… and of course, some good wine too.

 

On a complete separate note, some very exciting things have been happening at Retail Jeweller. I bet you all had thought I wasn’t even working anymore! What a silly thought that is. Well, our March issue came out and it is fabulous! We are now working on April (obviously) and I am even in charge of a section called 6 of the Best! Here is how it breaks down: We pick 2 trends in jewellery and then pick 6 of the best from that category (complicated, I know). So anyways, Fran (deputy editor) said that one of the trends would be the best wedding bands and that I could pick the other trend, so I went with turquoise jewellery. I’ve been busy contacting PR execs and gathering photos, information and prices. Once the issue comes out, Ill be posting the pictures and captions on here. My favorite piece from the 2 sections so far is this HUGE platinum wedding band that is 39g and has Alexander the Great’s family crest on it…in diamonds. Retail price (drum roll…..)  is $10,000. Not too shabby. Just think, if that is what the GUY is wearing, think of what his wife gets?!

 

Until next time!    

Taking a holiday :)

Well, now that press week is over at Retail Jeweller, I have a little free time to sit back, relax and let you all know about the past week! We will start with last Friday…

 

After a long day at work, Lauren and I headed over to Victoria station to meet up with Hayley and her camp friend, Alena. Alena is studying abroad in Paris and decided to come stay with us for the weekend! It was nice to have a visitor and talk to someone else from the states staying in Europe. We grabbed some cash from an ATM and headed to a pub. We distressed with some wine, cider and of course fish and chips. The pub played some great American music and it truly had a great atmosphere.

 

Saturday, aka Valentines Day, I slept in, read some of my book and then waited for my friends to get back from the market. Lauren arrived back at the flat and we decided that there is really only option for 2 single girls on Vday…shopping. We ventured off to Oxford circus (heaven) and spent a good amount of time in Topshop, H&M and Urban Outfitters just to name a few. I treated myself to some cute earrings and I will never feel guilty about how much they cost ($20). That night I stayed in, enjoyed a half a bottle of wine with my friends and ate pizza.

 

Sunday was catch-up day for homework, so there really isn’t much to write about there.

 

Monday flew by because I was so busy at work, so I’ll just skip that and go straight to Tuesday…

 

So I’m sitting at work, wondering when I can go home, and Lauren scares me and creeps up behind me. She says that her work has 6 free tickets to a private screening of Confessions of a Shopaholic. We remembered we had class that night, but decided it was worth skipping. We ran to find the location, Covent Garden Hotel, and were escorted in by 2 very good looking men. After mingling among ourselves for 20 minutes and drinking wine (are you seeing a pattern here with my drinking?) we went into this mini movie theatre. It was gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie, for free, before its release and in a perfect hotel.

 

Wednesday included a field trip to Dover and Canterbury. We visited the Dover castle and a cathedral in Canterbury. Honestly, they both were a huge disappointment and weren’t interesting at all. The pictures I took were nice and I will put those up most likely on Monday.

 

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Paris until late on Sunday night. I’m sure many pictures will follow….

 

Au revoir!  

**Update**

My below post does not have any pictures attached because I have been without Internet for about a week. As soon as I can put up pictures, I will. Until then.... you will all have to wait in suspense as to what I'm up to!

Love,

Maddy

Every time I write a blog, I think, “Wow, this has been my favorite week so far in London.” And this week is no different!

 

It’s been a stressful time at work right now for the magazine. The staff was originally told that press week, the week where all our finished pages must be turned into the printers, was next week until we got a call saying it was this week. Lovely. After everyone had a mild heart attack, we got down to work. I have been calling jewellers furiously all week doing our monthly survey of their best selling watch and jewellery brands. All I can say is, some people are quite rude. Oh, and it didn’t help that nobody was in at work on Monday due to the massive amount (4 inches) of snow that made all of Great Britain complain for days.

 

Wednesday our class trip took us about an hour and half outside London to the beautiful town of Oxford. We took a tour of some of the colleges and then had some free time to wander. Oxford University has about 20 or so colleges, all named differently. There is no specific building that you can pinpoint as “Oxford” which I found interesting. It is also interesting that up until 8 years ago, attending a university in Britain is free. Yes, free. Until Tony Blair decided paying £3000 pounds a year was good enough. In other words, I could potentially save my family a whole lot of money by moving to Oxford, meeting some smart lawyer and calling it a day. Sigh.

 

We also ate at a pub called the Eagle and Child, which was frequented by many famous authors. One of them was the guy who wrote Lord of the Rings (I think). Anyways, I was too busy devouring my fish and chips (in a lady-like way, of course) to pay attention to anything of historical value. After our 3 hour tour of Oxford beforehand, I was just ready to relax.

 

Upon returning to London, I called more jewellers and collected lots of numbers for our survey. By Friday, I was sick of people telling me to stop calling, so my friends and I decided to go to the HAHA bar. All we knew that it served American drinks (martinis, margaritas). We stumbled in to find all cocktails were £3 until nine. After that, we went to the university pub, relaxed and headed home.

 

Saturday morning I was woken up by my near and dear friend Hayley at 8:30 AM. I was very cranky, but we ventured out to find cheap theatre tickets. Once I realized how much “cheap” really meant, I decided not to buy any. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Portobello  Market and it was the most amazing market, full of jewellery, food, veggies, flowers, antiques and anything you could imagine. We then stopped at a café for a traditional English breakfast. (If you want to see what this entails, click through the links to my pictures at the end of this post.)

 

Sunday included sleeping in, lounging, complaining about how our flat never gets internet and going to the Tate Modern Museum. I love Modern art and had a wonderful time enjoying some great exhibitions.

 

Monday, I went to Pure London, a huge exhibition show for fashion stores, jewellery shops, shoe and accessory retailers and even some food samples (yum!). I walked around, talked to jewellers about how they felt the show was going, collected press packs and handed out our new February issue of Retail Jeweller! It was nice to get out of the office for the day and take on a project for the magazine.

 

In the mean time, CHEERS!