Zizzi Ristorante

On Saturday we went to Zizzi Ristorante. It's a little Italian restaurant right down the street from us. It's really cute! I walk past it a lot and I'm glad to finally tried it!

This covered lunch and dinner!

Hampton Court

Before our Southwest trip we went to Hampton Court. When we first walked up (first image below) I thought it looked kind of like a concentration camp- bleak. But in actuality it was a palace of Henry VIII. Maybe it looked bleak because he sucked.

This inside part was a little nicer and more palacey. Basically I decided I don't really like the Tudor style of decorating. So dark.

Some drunk wooden people on the steps. Brooklynn really liked her new friend.

This part of the palace was much better looking, that's because it was designed by Christopher Wren 150 years later. Christopher Wren designed St. Paul's cathedral in London.

They take great care in the lawns over here, as you can see.

There's Henry himself, with a friend!

See how much better this Christopher Wren part is! It's not even a competition.

Stonehenge

Well Stonehenge was a little different than I thought. I knew it was off the side of the road, but for some reason it felt different than I had predicted. But it is a cool bunch of rocks. It was a nice day too, just with a chilly wind. Those blue skies are so great here in London.

Some groupies resting by Stonehenge. We stopped and sketched a bit.

Here's a realistic view that I feel you don't normally see. There's a pathway that leads you around it. You can't go in by the rocks at all. The road is just on the other side of it.

Jane Austen's House

On the way home we went to Jane Austen's home. This was the home where she revised Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. And wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. She lived here with her mother, sister and friend. They had costumes from some of the movies- like Emma Thompson's from Sense and Sensibility. They also had some actual items that belonged to the Austens. Here's the front of the house. Of course there was construction in the front. You can see some of the hot orange fencing on the very left side.

The side:

Stourhead Gardens

The last day of our trip we went to Stourhead Gardens. This is a pretty famous garden and I've learned about it before, but I can't really remember. What else is new. But... it was a film location for the Kiera Knightly Pride and Prejudice. A very integral part in fact. The scene where Darcy first confesses his love and proposes to her in the rain was filmed here! And she says, "you're the last man I would ever be prevailed upon to marry!" or something like that.

It took me a long time to try and take a good picture of this spider web. And this still isn't very good.

Here's the place where he proposes!

Trying to be pensive like Elizabeth.

And we were lucky to have some fall colors! I love the changing leaves. One little red tree.

Salisbury Ghosts

We were only in Salisbury for a night, so we didn't get to see the Cathedral in the day. But we took advantage of a long shutter speed and some ghostly light at the Cathedral to take some pre-Halloween photos!

Spooky ghost family.

Hahahahaha (witch cackle)

Ides of March

I just had to take a break from posting about the Southwestern trip to talk about tonight. We went to the Ides of March premiere and as you can see, we were front row!! I really wanted to see Ryan Gosling, but became afraid when I saw that he didn't go to the Paris premiere the night before. Alas, he wasn't there. I was really sad and disappointed. But it still rocked cause we were so close and George Clooney ended up being awesome!

It suddenly got really cold today. My hands and feet were numb after waiting. At least I'll get to wear the coat I brought now.

Umm, yeah!! He was seriously so nice. He came up to us and said, "Where are you all from?" My friend Bryn said, "New York," and he sounded excited. Then my other friend Laurie said, "the states," and he said "well of course," cause Bryn had just told him. I just had my hand stuck out so he'd have to stop and take a picture. After we took it he said, "nice one." He was just as charming in real life as he comes across in interviews. We loved him more than ever.

And I'm aware that we (except George of course) look deranged. Silver Fox.

Ron Howard was randomly there. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Evan Rachel Wood were also there- but they decided not to approach any of the fans. LAME. George greeted every fan before he went to the press for interviews.

Here's how he autographs. Sorry it's sideways.