goa.

bryndia arrived in panjim after a long but comfortable bus trip. it was early. just passed five am. the sun was rising over the mandovi river. dozens of men stirred from their sleeping places in the middle of dusty traffic roundabouts. bryndia shuffled through the quiet streets with their heavy backpacks, searching for a place to stay.

india was immediately taken by a small, bright yellow building down the block from the large post office. bryn noticed the red sign that hung over the door. a pousada: a guest house. the pair rang the bell, forgetting briefly that it was so early in the morning. a middle aged man came to the door in a tank top and plaid boxers. yes, yes, i have room, he said. you go in, you sleep, we worry later. thank you, thank you, bryndia said, and then cozied up in their lucky room.

a few hours passed and the two emerged feeling clean and rested. they met their hosts, a homeopathic doctor and his housekeeper wife with a daughter who was living in hollywood. obviously, bryndia immediately took a liking to them. the couple made bryn & india's happiness their personal responsibility. they sketched out maps of the city, of the beaches, explained the locations of all their favorite restaurants and sights, and helped bryndia rent a scooter to get around. that first day in panjim was spent getting acquainted with the city. bryndia walked the length of the river, down trough the portuguese influenced architecture, inside of the largest christian cathedral in all of asia. it was a definite change from bryn & india's first days in the country. in goa, jesus was everyone. bumper stickers and murals and hand painted posters plastered onto the side of white concrete buildings. the smallest state in india wore their european heritage proudly.

the following morning, bryndia rounded the corner from their guest house to find their host's favorite breakfast spot. the two ate poached eggs and toast while perched on a tiny balcony overlooking the cobblestoned street. here, they thought, if they used their imagination, it could feel like they were back in spain. refueled and ready, bryn mounted the rickety rented scooter, india strapped on the helmet, and the two rode thirty minutes north through the dense tropical forests and small river side towns packed with donkeys, up to the famous beach of baga.

bryndia sat in the throngs of indian tourists, their feet buried in the damp sand. the ocean waves crashed loudly in front of them, their company jumping into the brown water, all the men in their tiny underwear, all the women fully covered in their bright colored saris. women carrying huge baskets on their heads approached, selling piles of chunky jewelry. teenage boys pressed dangerous looking paragliding packages. bryndia walked all the way down the beach and then turned up onto the road and walked back along the dusty path dotted with beach boutiques and outdoor bars. they bought forty cent ice cream cones from thirty one flavors and dresses and tee shirts for a few bucks each. the ride back to panjim felt like flying.

the next morning, the two returned to their breakfast balcony, drank mango juice as bright as turmeric, and took off on their rented scooter bound north for mapusa, a small town forty five minutes north of panjim, where the goan branch of international animal rescue was located. bryndia volunteered walking dogs for the afternoon. the scrawny animals lay panting in concrete cages, circling anxiously, and bryn would coo them out of their corners, loop the leash around their neck, and stroll around the jungle compound with them, sprinting down the road and collapsing on their heads, ruffling their ears. after each of the dozen dogs had been let out, bryndia went behind the building to where the puppies and kittens were kept, and ohhed and ahhed over the assortment. they missed their animals at home.


as they were leaving, a leader of IAR mentioned to them that the founder of the charity was now living in a secluded mansion housing a collection of different monkeys only twenty minutes from where they were. could it be true? it sounded magical. a phone call was made and an invite was extended, and bryndia rode along winding rocky roads to find the tree house, the home of john hicks and his twenty five young monkeys. bryndia was greeted with an air of routine friendliness. john shook their hands as he emerged from the swimming pool with a quickly moving ball of fur on each shoulder. bryndia was given a tour of the house, three stories overlooking green goa, and shown to the wooden chest filled with bathing suits for unprepared guests. put on one of those, john said, and come take a swim with the little buggers.


for thirty minutes, bryndia floated in the fresh water pool and watched two one year old monkeys dart through the water like they were michael phelps. they were so full of energy, so fearless. soaring from their perches on john's shoulders into a cannon ball that splashed all over bryn's face. john told them stories of the work IAR did in india and bryndia told him of their time in europe. the afternoon grew late, and bryndia rode back towards mapusa as the air began to cool.

the two decided to stop in mapusa for the famed friday market. here, hundreds of families gathered to sell their goods. thousands of shoppers surrounded them. bryndia walked through the produce wing of the market first. their breath grew hot as they walked through the aisle of huge piles of red chili peppers. they found a bakery stand and stood, staring bewildered at the piles of cakes and cookies. two teenage girls approached them giggling. bryn smiled at them. you look so different than everyone else, the girls said without shame. yes, said bryn, i don't look very indian. you look like barbie, the girls said to india. come to my shop, come buy nice silk from me. india picked out a scarf printed with elephants. pink, the girls said, is barbie's favorite color too.

that night, bryndia ate pizza and drank gin and tonics in their guest house. they planned for a scooter ride to old goa in the morning. they slept soundly and set off on their adventure early. they didn't count on their scooter breaking down in the middle of the highway halfway there. their afternoon was spent hitchhiking back to panjim and obtaining a new ride. that evening, the two rode down the mandovi river, out to dona paula where it meets the ocean, and sat on the beach for hours, watching goats graze next to the water.

the next day, bryndia made it all the way to old goa, the old colonial capital, now an impressive collection of beautiful catholic churches. the two visited the se cathedral, st. francis of assisi, and the basilica of bom jesus. it was funny to be back in the grand gothic buildings of the catholics. after a break from western europe, a month filled with mosques and temples, returning to the cathedral felt comfortingly familiar. the two wandered through the flat park that connected the three churches and shared a coconut, the top hacked off and a straw stuck in by a preteen boy. the two explored old goa by scooter, found some beaches, and some shady corners, and relaxed for their last afternoon in goa. that night, they returned to their favorite restaurant, ate spicy indian food and sweet wine, and took off for the bus station late.




on their bus, bryndia reveled in how concerned every indian they had met had been. after awaking their guest house host at daybreak, he had insisted on getting them comfortable before returning to bed. stranded on the side of the road with a dead scooter, a young man who spoke no english at all had stopped to help before offering a ride. this kind of sweet affection, offered without any expectation or hesitation, flowed from the people of goa. bryndia drank it up.

the south had been sweet. the northwest awaited.

valencia.

(apologies for the long haitus in blog posts. getting access to a computer, when you're not staying with friends, is harder than we thought it would be! we have some serious catching up to do.)

after having such a fast paced long weekend in madrid with tyler and sara, it almost seemed like a blessing that andrew bailed on meeting up with bryndia in granada and instead, they got to enjoy a long week in valencia with chrissy and caitlin. these girls are the epitome of perfect hostesses. what was initially going to be a two night stay turned into a week - and they were so gracious and welcoming and wonderful about it. especially after letting bryndia crash out during las fallas! these girls are the best.

bryndia has gushed about valencia a little bit before, but that was when they went during las fallas, the craziest time in the city all year. this time, bryndia arrived to a really quaint city. beautiful tiled squares, huge fountains on every corner, lots of old stone churches looming over the pink sky. the city is a hidden gemstone of spain. honestly.

when bryndia arrived, caitlin was in barcelona, seeing her mama off, so it was just chrissy who met them. chrissy took bryndia out to the most amazing spanish meal they had had thus far, at a tapas bar called Bodeguilla del Gato. the waiters greeted chrissy with kisses and jokes, and bryndia sat back and let chrissy do the ordering. fried cheese with blueberry sauce, wine soaked chorizo, fresh tomato and mozerella smothered in olive oil. and lots of wine. delicious. the tapas way of eating is a favorite of bryndia - they're real into sharing the goods.

the next day, chrissy had to go to work, teaching english to the high schoolers of valencia, who all had really bizarre hair cuts and a major attitude when bryndia walked past them on the streets. to entertain themselves, bryndia took chrissy's advice and went and rented some bikes. they rode their orange cruisers to the big indoor market and stocked up on bananas, oranges, apples, pita and hummus, and then took off for the river, the long park that, weirdly enough, used to be an actual river that ran thoughout the entire city. bryndia rode for miles (or, kilometers, because that's what they measure with over here,) and discovered gorgeous art, huge buildings, lots of trees, and an endless amount of puppies playing in fountains. at the end of the river, the park opened up into a huge white mosaic area called, someting like, arts and sciences city. here, the equivilant of the OMSI, the childrens museum, and the aquarium were, all looking like giant spaceships, really modern and bright and bizarre. an attempt to find the beach was foiled, and bryndia gave up and picniced at the end of the park, played some cards, took a nap in the sun, reveled at how SPRING HAD FINALLY ARRIVED, and loved valencia for it.

the next day, caitlin returned from barcelona, and chrissy welcomed her brother brendan visiting from seattle. san diego, seattle, portland. they were like some sort of west coast gang. that night, they overtook the irish bar in town, drinking pints and cheering on the football game with a bunch of british bros. after, they made their way to a restaurant where when you ordered a drink, you got a free slice of pizza. while munching down, chrissy and caitlins fellow bilingual friend angela pointed out that the table of teens sitting behind us was badmouthing us in spanish. when the group stood to leave, angela waltzed over and, in perfect spanish, asking snarkily "so, are you visiting from mexico?" apparently this is a bigtime burn for spaniards, hinting that they have a mexican accent. the west coast crew left with their heads held high. feeling on top of the world, the group headed to la claca a club, where the dj bought them shots and played every song they requested. they stayed there till closing time once again then left for the Radio City, they continued dancing til 6 am. this became a nightly occurance.

bryndia kicked their hangovers with hardcore runs in the river every morning, stopping at a halfway point for a drill of ab workouts & pushups to keep the 12 pack aka cheesegrader aka washboard otherwise known as hardbody in tact.

the week passed quickly, the days full of bright sunshine & activities, the nights of red wine & goodtimes.

one day, the group rented bikes again, since brendan had yet to see the park and cycled out to the beach, this time actually finding it with help from chrissy and caitlin the best hosts ever. avoiding families on the boardwalk & nigerians selling there "real" guccis & louis v's they made it! the bike gang enjoyed the miles and miles of clear ocean and they braced themselves against the wind while picnicing in the sand eating grapes and cheese. the men indulged in spicy mustard & meat filled sandwiches. bryn, energized from the meat(that's what she said) climbed all over the jungle gym like a monkey, almost plunging to his sandy death 30 feet below.

after a long day of biking, cafe con leches were needed and enjoyed by the ancient gates to the city, when valencia was surrounded by a wall. the whole bunch climbed the towers and had a good old fashioned americana photo shoot on top to conclude massive bike trip around the city.

bryndia decided that a visit to Valencia would not be complete without a trip to the giant cathedral that housed the holy grail. yes! the holy grail! montey python! indiana jones! the fritzin holy grail. no big deal, jesus just drank out of it. Errbody at the last supper gettin tipsy (uh oh, bryn's trying to freestyle again) although bryindiana jones thought it was amazing to see it was sort of difficult to tell when its displayed behind thick glass, fifteen feet behind velvet ropes. but what the duo thought was even cooler were the infamous goya paintings that adorned the wall. moments of these 'i didn't know this was here' revelations have been frequent and appreciated during the journey.

bryndias last night in valencia was celebrated with pad thai and drinks at the corner bar, laboratoria, where the mojitos were cheap and the bartenders knew their names. they kissed goodnight and goodbye to their lovely hostesses that evening and woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to barcelona. twenty four hours back in their spanish starter city were spent playing cards in a cafe during a thunderstorm, visiting the barcelona cathedral, and watching some sweet street performers breakdance hard. the following morning, they hopped the cheapest flight to italy they could find.

to venice? sure! wherever the wind takes them.

barcelona and las fallas.

time has a funny way of disappearing when traveling. what seems like last week was actually last month. all of a sudden, bryndia has been in europe for almost two months. it feels like two days.

bryndia spent a little over a week in barcelona. after jumping between cities, it felt nice to put some temporary roots down. being able to rent a room in gabi´s apartment was the best. waking up late to swing the huge windows in the living room open, almost always exclaiming what a beautiful day it´s going to be!, and stare in awe at their view of the sagrada familia. making a lot of home cooked vegetarian meals in the kitchen (because, unless you want to eat falafal every day, which, don´t get them wrong, they eat a TON of falafal here, spain doesn´t have a lot to offer when it comes to the veggie community). at night, drinking wine and watching movies and played a million card games, of which india won maybe three. turns out bryn is the king of crazy eight countdown.

during the day, the two of them wandered throughout the city by foot. because barcelona, as big as it sounds, is actually a city where you can walk anywhere in under 30 minutes. or so it seemed to bryn & india.

the first thing to note is the sagrada familia, the most amazing and beautiful church, antonio gaudi´s masterpiece that is STILL under construction, almost 100 years after it was first erected. it was literally in the apartment´s front yard, and it was so lucky to be able to just take a stroll around it, morning noon or night. the stone looks like it´s melting candle wax, the details are so natural, so unique, animals and plants blend around images of jesus and the virgin so it looks like a finger painting, all swirled together. just like everyone else in barcelona, bryn & india were engulfed with gaudi´s little touches that were all over the city.

one hot afternoon, gabi took bryn & india to parque guell, gaudi´s gigantic sprawling park that overlooks the entire city. the three of them packed a picnic, drank 40s, and stared out at all of this bright mosaic art, sprawling trees, swirling rooftop towers. india bought some handmade jewelry for cheap. bryn snapped a million photos.



another day, the two of them rented bikes and rode the entire boardwalk next to the ocean, around the huge new w hotel that looks like a sail on the horizon. bryn taught india how to ´bunny hop´ on her cruiser. after, sunburned and exhausted, the two of them took nick yerkovich´s recommendation and set out to find la champagneria, a tapas bar that serves 90 cent glasses of champagne and three euro greasy chorizo and any other meat filled sandwiches you can think of. one of the most delicious recommendations we´ve had thus far. thanks, you dirty doggy.


on friday, gabi and bryndia woke up early to catch a five hour train down to valencia for the final night of las fallas, a huge festival that celebrates the end of winter by burning gigantic (and expensive!) paper mache sculptures celebrating spanish culture. each neighborhood in valencia puts a ton of money into building their own unique fallas, most of which have to do with political satire or successful spaniards, most noteably pau gasol. when the three of them stepped off the train, they knew we were in for a crazy 24 hours. the city was packed with tourists, firecrackers going off in every direction, toddlers running around with lighters, throwing huge sparkling cherry bombs at unsuspecting onlookers.


gabi, bryn and india immediately met up with chrissy and caitlin, bryndia´s friends from univeristy of oregon, who are there teaching english for the year. both of their respective mothers were visiting from the states as well, and the group wandered throughout the curvy streets, admiring everything the city had to offer.

when it started to get dark, bryn bought a fifth of johnny walker and mixed some whiskey and cokes for the group. next thing you know, it was almost 1 am and the city was screaming for the burning of the fallas. fireworks were lit underneath the statues which all immediately went up in flames. it is an impossible thing to describe. the statue that gabi and bryndia watched was almost 20 meters high, so when it caught fire, it wasn´t going to stop without help from the firefighters who were surrounding it. the heat was incredible. a blind man would have thought he was in a brick oven. it went from the middle of the night to high noon in seconds. the whole city was doused in bright light and black smoke.


after the burnings ended, the party was just getting started. chrissy and caitlin took the group to one of their favorite clubs, la clakas. ´we´re really tired, we´ll take you to this club and have one drink,´ explained the two. but you can´t deny a good dj. and he was playing american club bangers the whole night. 50 cent. black eyed peas. kanye west. THE DREAM. bryndia and crew cut a rug until six am. and the dj was real into that, so he bought the group some beers, and some shots, and they all became friends.

when the sun rose, bryndia & gabi went to a coffee shop, where bryn took a little nap and gabi and india drank some coffee in total silence. next thing you know, the three of them were passed out on chrissy and caitlin´s floor. before you die, if you have to do carnival in rio, or mardi gras in new orleans, you also have to do las fallas in valencia. it was epic.


after las fallas, gabi and bryndia rode the long train back to barcelona and slept for about 16 hours. when they awoke, bryn had already planned the next adventure: going to a barcelona versus madrid playoff basketball game to see ricky rubio. the stadium size was that of mac court in eugene but as loud as autzen, with no loud speakers or sound bites played after dunks, it was amazing to see these die hard basketball fans cheer for, literally, the entire 40 minutes. (it should be noted that what they were cheering was not exactly family friendly either. they showed the refs no mercy.) bryn was underwhelmed with the play of ricky, but fran vazquez posterized the whole madrid team with a nasty dunk late in the first half which was well worth the 35 euro to see the spanish team ball.

barcelona was action packed and relaxing at the same time. bryn & india headed to the captial next. madrid and tyler andre awaited.

amiens and paris.

the week in france was, how you say, tres romantique.

amiens is a small city about one hour north of paris. not one that many visitors to france would get a chance to see. lucky for bryndia, one of their best friends majken was living there, teaching english to really well dressed french high school students. for three nights, she let the nomadic couple sleep in her bed, cooked them amazing food, and shared all of her cute international friends with bryndia. they had a great time.

bryndia was in amiens to celebrate majken's 23rd birthday. they saw shutter island. (we drool over leo no matter what language he speaks in.) they baked betty crocker spice cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated it with pink candles. went to an irish bar that was called "my goodness!" and put back "lagers" while day dreaming about living in new york together in the fall. they visited majken's school, visited the amiens catherdral, saw the skull of john the baptist, drank cafe cremes. india took advantage of the kitchen, and majken taught her how to bake potato leek tarts and pasta sauce.




on thursday, march 11, bryn and india headed to paris. the city of lights. the city of romance. the city of ASHLEY OLSEN. yes, guys. that's right. they saw ashley olsen. in the flesh. lookin' fly. so, lets recap: new york - kate moss? check. paris - ashley olsen? check. if gaga is in barcelona, by god, india's idol sightings, the trifecta of blondes, will be complete. ("gaga sucks." - bryn little.)

paris is beautiful. it is filled with beautiful people, people who are too fashionable for their own good. who wear sunglasses when it's cloudy and capes and bowler hats and flowers in their hair. there is gold everywhere. gold in the architecture, gold sparkles in the sidewalks. and there are gardens. big green gardens with blossoms who, we could tell, were just about to poke their petals out, to bloom big, just about to turn to spring.

bryndia stayed in monmarte, right at the base of sacre coeur. at nights, they would walk up the 250 stairs to watch the eiffel tower sparkle and the spanish tourists get drunk on the steps. they visited notre dame, and bryn made a lot of victor hugo jokes. they walked through the jardin de luxenburg and pretended they were louis and marie antoinette. but, you know, before the whole execution thing. they went to the top of the eiffel tower, blended in among the tourists. men were strapped to the iron beams, hanging almost upside down off of the side of the tallest building in paris, patching up the corners that had rusted away. they walked the entire champ elyssee while india talked about proust. they visited the louvre, at night, when the museum was empty and the lights were low. and, most importantly, they walked everywhere, and felt very parisian.

on saturday, majken came into paris and met them. the three went to the mosque of paris and drank tea and ate at majken's favorite kitchy restaurant, "breakfast in america", where they ordered bagels and fried eggs for the first time in over a month. and then the three trouped to majken's favorite bar, chez george, a small, secret place in a stone basement in the fifth, where they drank bottles of wine and made friends with french africans who bryn taught how to play crazy eight countdown.

on one particularly sunny afternoon, bryn and india were walking by the river, wandering. they were talking about the street performers, boys who juggle soccer balls for hours, or dress up like the mona lisa, try to stand very still and get pictures snapped of their moving eyes. as the two discussed, they saw an older gentleman in front of them stoop to the ground. he rose and looked around, searching for someone. "excuse me, excuse me!" he called after india as she passed. he held up a shiny gold ring. "you drop? is this yours?" india shook her head no. he looked at it again, back up at india's face. he demonstrated the size of the ring, pushing it onto each of his fat fingers, being obvious that it did not fit his, and he handed it to india. "now, it is yours," he said. she smiled, said thank you, and turned to go. "oh, but sir, may you spare some change for a sandwich?" india emptied out her change purse into his palm and turned, twirling the ring on her finger for the rest of the walk. hours later, bryndia returned to the same boulevard to return to their hotel and there was their friend, stooping down in front of them, a new ring in his hand, marveling at the "real gold" he had just found. india punched him in the shoulder and showed him her bling bling he had given her hours before and he cracked up as india stormed away.

paris is filled with little surprises like that. kittens curled in hotel lobbies. michael jackson murals made of duct tape. carousels that spun in circles to american pop music. curries and wines and sweet smelling cigarettes, spicy perfumes, accordion players on the subway.

but paris is also very expensive. so now, the pair heads south.

prague.

from london, bryn & india flew to prague. india watched a couple say goodbye to each other, kiss each other's cheeks for about an hour outside of the security gate before their four am. she was happy to not be leaving bryn like that.

prague could only be described as magical. there was something so romantic, so magical, about the place. it cannot be explained. their friend from home had tried; emma had lived there for a semester in college. and india's mom did too, as she had visited for the first time in the summer of 2009. but bryn & india didn't understand how cool of a place it really was until they arrived there themselves.

india had found an incredible deal for a hotel room. so cheap that the two opted for that over a hostel. the catch: it was on a boat. (A BOTEL!) on the hotel albatros almost every room on the ship was empty. bryn & india's was sweet and small and had a big window that slid all the way down and looked out over the river. they threw bread and stale potato chips at the swans who would come flap their wings and wag their tails right in front of their botel window. the women at the front desk were friendly and let them drink beers in the lobby where the the sole television sat. they watched winter olympic sports after all of the bars had closed down.

our home, botel albatros, on the vltava river.

bryn feeds swans out the botel window.

prague was filled with castles. and churches that looked like castles. india felt like she was playing beauty and the beast. (though not with a beast, obviously.)

their first night in eastern europe, bryn & india walked to the main square in the old town of prague, about a ten minute walk from where their botel was. they bought hot spiced wine for 20 czech koruna, or about one dollar, and kicked around snow and watched the old clock chime. since they realized, hey, we can drink outside, this is tight, the two went to a grocery store and bought czech bottled beer for about 5 czech koruna, or 25 cents, and sat in the cold and got giddy about being in eastern europe. this is it! this is it!

downtown prague at night.

their days were leisurely. bryn & india would wake up when they woke up and take their time bundling up for the snow. they ate breakfast in little coffeeshops, bakeshop prague. one morning, they walked across the charles bridge where bryn went crazy with his new camera. they walked up to prague castle, watched the changing of the guards, freaked out over the view that showed them the world. all the spiral peeks of cathedrals swirled for them alone. they were a connect-the-dots of prague. another morning, they visited the ancient jewish cemetery and museum, saw dramatically simplistic synagogs and learned the traditions of a jewish burial. another morning, they went to a district across the river and visited the contemporary arts centre. it was beautiful and bizarre and huge and filled with great things. they debated modern art and decided, perhaps, the pieces were best shared in silence.

the view! the view! the view!

the best breakfast in prague is at okie dokie.

during the evenings, bryn & india would walk in circles throughout the cobblestone alleys. they paid a lot of attention to the lonely planet guide that their dear friend emma had circled her favorite things in. after they had explored emma's notables, they started to just wander, and ended up finding some cozy places on their own. pizza and a bottle of wine for ten bucks in a place where they cheered on the czech rupublic's hockey team with winter olympic fanatics... a middle eastern place where they smoked flavored hookah and drank mint tea. they found some really wonderful small bars that would serve them cheap drinks for hours. they could sit and talk and write and read and drink and think.

smoking hookah in the old square.

we are not tourists.

then india's immune system failed her again, and a disgusting case of the sniffles came in. coughcoughcough. constantly. predicated apologies for the folks who will be sharing her hostel room in berlin...

also, we hate each other.

london.

bryn & india: they had done the whole graduation thing, the whole desk job thing. they had gotten restless. they wanted more. they set out to see the world. this is what they saw. and what they did. (also, what they ate.)

bryn & india arrived in london on a rainy morning in the middle of february. they had intended to sleep the entire overnight flight, but its hard to sleep on virgin atlantic. (free movies! free battleship!) needless to say, they were pretty grumpy when they arrived. but all bad feelings went out the window when they arrived at india's cousin's flat. lorna was there with open arms and tea already made. after crashing into a deep sleep on the pull out couch for a few hours, they awoke and were really able to take it all in: after months and months of making plans and changing plans and making more, they were ON THEIR EPIC ADVENTURE. woah. it was a lot to grasp.

lorna's street in west kensington.

double decker busses mean business.

lorna's flat was absolutely beautiful. right in the middle of west kensington, a neighborhood of large brownstones and vintage markets; one that lorna's friends later pointed out was incredibly posh. the houses were all worn red brick with beautiful balconies peaking over the grand entry ways. it was an amazing place to call home for a few days. and lorna was a picture perfect hostess.

the five days bryn & india spent in london were a whirlwind of misty sunshine and puddles filled with rainbows. as it was bryn's first time in europe, the pair made it their mission to really immerse themselves in the city and do everything they possibly could. and they did.

they saw piccadilly circus and wandered through the national gallery. posed for pictures in front of westminster and pretended they were wendy and peter flying over big ben. they fed the queen's swans in st. james park and made funny faces at her guards in silly hats. they walked through harrods and imagined being able to afford the alexander mcqueen bags and the vera wang underwear. they learned about darwin and the reproductive cycle at the natural history museum. they went to the phoenix club with lorna and her theater friends and went to the groucho club with lorna and her art friends; there they felt very posh when they learned that quinten terrentino and martin scorsese were in the room right above them.

bryn plays mary poppins in trafalgar square.

public art on the streets of soho in london.

india and lorna debate in the back of a back cab.

india's favorite day in london was their last, which also happened to be the most beautiful. as their friend echo pointed out, the clouds in london were different. and the sun poured through the puffs like the gold rays in bernini sculptures on their last day.

as assumed, they met up with echo in the morning, a sarah lawrence graduate who was studying art history in grad school in london. echo and her amazing brit boy david took india & bryn to their favorite breakfast place in shoreditch called leila's. they drank milky tea in real tea cups and got three orders of 'eggs with sage' which ended up being served to them in a communal iron skillet. butter oozed down the sides; they mopped it up with bread served to them in a basket. david immediately assumed the role of tour guide and told stories and pointed out sites as they slowly walked across london bridge.

on the other side, echo showed bryn & india to her secret grocery store. borough market was a gigantic food market that pours out from under the bridge on to the esplanade next to the river thames. roasting cheese and pigs heads made them feel a bit ill, so the group headed towards the flower and dessert part of the market instead. david showed bryn 'the best chorizo you will ever eat' and they munched down on spicy sandwhiches stuffed with the sausage. echo and india stuck to coffee and shared brownies the size of bricks. when their feet got cold, they walked down the river to the tate modern, and wandered through what they thought, without a doubt, to be the best modern art museum they has ever been to. india discovered an artist named cy twombly and watched some crazy cuban movies and got inspired.

echo pays the bill at leila's. 

your map at the borough market.

walking across the thames on the millenium bridge.

after walking the fancy footbridge and kissing echo goodbye, bryn & india got dolled up and went to meet some of bryn's sigma chi buddies, brock and felipe, from the university of oregon who happened to be in london for the weekend. brock, who worked for a marketing company in new york, showered them with fancy chili pepper martinis and tuna tartar at his hotel restaurant. the boys got all bro-y and nostolgic and india learned some sigma chi secrets (oh no!) and they all had a fun time playing dress up.

brock treats the oregon crew to a japanese feast.

london, doused in fancy and sprinkled with sophisticated, was just the tip. the rest of europe awaited. bryn & india were ready for it.