Today started with a quick breakfast in the room before mom and I were off. We went to the Tower of London first, way cool. There was a guided tour with a beefeater (yes, he does eat beef) followed by a trip through one of the towers to see the Crown Jewels. I must say, as a lover of all jewelry I was disappointed. I thought there would be a lot more jewels to see, even though what we did see was absolutely amazing I just assumed there would be more. It was really cold and sprinkling/sleeting a bit so we tried not to be outside much but at the Tower that is kind of hard to do. All together we probably spent about 1 1/2 hours there before grabbing a quick lunch at a nearby restaurant.
From lunch we decided it was time to do some jewelry shopping of our own and quickly got in a traditional London Taxi who graciously took us to Hatton Garden, THE place for jewelry shopping. The first shop we went into specializes in Antique and Estate Jewelry, right up my alley (www.berganza.com). Of course the first item I asked to see was what I though to be a simple pearl and diamond necklace (ok, it wasnt simple but I didnt think it would be too extravagant). Boy was I wrong. Not only was the necklace from the 1910s and made with real sea pearls of course it was strung on platinum. OF COURSE. The time came to find out the price and it cost...get ready..18,500 pounds (that's just under $30,000). Needless to say I wasn't allowed to get the necklace :[ For those interested if you go to the website above for the store and type in item number 11199 you can see for yourself how absolutely gorgeous this timeless piece of jewelry is. One day I'm going to buy it. When I marry my prince and get married in a castle.
We wandered into the next jewelry shop where I found another beautiful necklace, this time a diamond and aquamarine necklace. Thankfully this one was in our price range and the store even offered to lower the price, so I was able to get it as an early 21st birthday gift. It's from the 1920's and I love it, even though it isn't the pearl/diamond necklace it is still BEAUTIFUL and I'm so thankful I was able to get it.
After that adventure we hopped into another taxi and went to Nido Student Living near Kings Cross, which is where I will be living this semester. I move in on Monday anytime after 2:00. It looks like it will be a fun and safe place to live and there are plenty of restaurants nearby. Its comforting to know that I at least know where I will be going Monday, now we need to find were my school is. From there we decided to head back to the hotel which is where I am now just resting until dinner tonight.
We decided to eat at the hotel restaurant which recently received 1 Michelin Star so hopefully it will be great. That's all for now, I've been putting pictures up on facebook since this site won't allow me to, so go take a look at those!
-audrey
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