My Birthday - 8/7/09

When I started thinking a few days prior about how I wanted to spend my 20th birthday, it was a little overwhelming. Although I didn't have the opportunity to celebrate with friends or family, I do have the entire city of London at my disposal (barring my very tight budget) and to think about how to make July 8th special seemed silly, considering every day I've been here has been just that...

I decided to first take a stadium tour of Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club, which happens to be about a 10 minute walk from my flat in Chelsea Harbour (how convenient!). Although I was planning on walking to my 11am tour, I (not surprisingly) was running late getting ready, so after grabbing a cappuccino and delicious raspberry pistachio tart from the Design Centre, the doorman outside grabbed me a cab and I was able to get to the stadium at 11 on the dot. The tour was great; very informative, and our guide (nicknamed Elvis) gave the inside guide to all the players, from Frank Lampard's penchant for pre-game massages to Ashley Cole's routine 30 minutes of keepie uppie (yes, that's a technical term) to prepare him for game time. Funny story - after skimming the wikipedia article on keepie uppie, I saw that the record for longest keepie uppie took place in London's Covent Garden about two months ago...Covent Garden is (thusfar) one of my favorite spots in London!

Anyway, back to Stamford Bridge...the stadium far surpassed my expectations. Seeing a Chelsea home game on TV is completely different than standing feet from the lush green pitch. The only thing missing about my trip to Stamford Bridge was a meet and greet with Roman Abramovich (I was hoping he'd give me one of his old yachts for my birthday), not to mention the rest of the team...but all in all, it was a great experience and I plan to go back to Stamford Bridge at some point to see a game. After the tour, I stopped in the huge store filled with Chelsea memorabilia and swarms of little kids emulating their idols, dressed in head-to-toe Chelsea gear (the cutest was a boy about 5 years old with spiked hair decked out in a Joe Cole jersey and shorts, high yellow Chelsea socks and tiny little Adidas cleats). I bought a Chelsea FC keychain, a few pairs of Chelsea socks as gifts and two t-shirts for myself and headed back to the flat to drop off my purchases.

Then I walked from the flat up Lots Road and down King's Road, stopping by boutiques and having a snack in a little park. I stopped into Paul, a wonderful bakery that after many times passing by (and wondering why there was always a line out the door) I decided to stop in and have a look. Of course, I wanted to try everything, from the chocolate croissants to the hearty rustic breads to the meticulously finished lattice-topped tarts. By the time it was my time to order, I had settled on a macaroon, thanks to their ambrosial presentation and the accompanying description: "Our soft Valencia almond biscuits are sandwiched with smooth butter cream filling and come in five mouth-watering versions: Chocolate, Coffee, Praline, Vanilla and Pistachio." (I chose the Praline, or hazelnut, and what a choice that was!! I have a new addiction, which I will elaborate upon later!). Then, I stopped in a few more boutiques, trying on a few things at Ted Baker. There were great sales, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my budget) they were out of my size in the dress I loved. Then I started getting hungry again (after all, it was probably 3 hours since my last meal!), so i stopped into a beautiful fine food store in Sloane Square called Partridges. It reminded me of a more diversified Joe Leone's with amazing foods from all over the world. I bought some spicy pumpkin chutney, my new favorite yogurt (Rachel's Organic rhubarb yogurt), some more pastries, and some more fine groceries before heading back down King's Road toward Chelsea Harbour. Realizing I forgot to get champagne and a few other things, I stopped at Marks and Spencer and picked up some prosecco, strawberries, milk (for my Wheetabix in the morning), and more snacks and treats.

When I got back to the flat, I put on some music, put together my smorgasbord and had a great, relaxing start to what I hope will be a happy, healthy, exciting, incredible year...