London... Fun Photos...

hey there...

so, i am not one for gimmicks.. but for some reason, when i stumbled upon London Studio's free photo shoot with hair and make-up included, i followed my gut and decided to do it. How they get you it the photos!! you get to view your photos and if you like them, then you buy them... but there is ZERO pressure to buy.

Anyway... i had a blast! it was so much fun to get all dolled up! needless to say... i bought a few... but, don't worry, i got an amazing deal!

Hope you like them!

Rachel

London Baby... London - with Video

Hey my dear friends...

So this past weekend, was a full on LONDON Weekend.

Friday night was a ridiculous girls night out with four of my girlfriends. We were fun and silly and had a great time.

Saturday night, was equally as fun. My cousin Molly is currently studying in Edinburgh... my cousin Frances and i were luckily enough to be graced with her presence. And lucky for Molly, she was able to experience London the way all locals do... IN THE RAIN!!!!

We had a great time. I met Frankie and Molly at St. Paul's Cathedral where we then proceeded to walk across the people bridge and walked all along the Embankment from the Shakespeare Globe and the Tate Modern Museum to the London Eye. Despite the rain, it was quite beautiful. We popped into Ping Pong which as since become one my favorite restaurants since moving here. It is an amazingly delicious dim sum. After dinner we made our way to the famous Carnabie Street then we popped over to Christopher Street before calling it a night.

It was a lot of fun. And great for all of us to hang out a "adults" considering the last time the 3 of us were together, i think we were aged 5-12!!

super fun!

til next time!!

Rach

Oktoberfest 2009 & Munich - Video

hey everyone...

so i have 2 videos from for this entry...

1. A brief interview with a guy named Thomas from Coppenhagen from this year's Oktoberfest

2. The other is actually a video i took 2 years ago when i was traveling and it is probably one of the most amazing things i have ever seen. In Munich, the Eisbach, is a man-made canal that surfers flock to and it flows through the park Englischer Garten (which also has a great beer garden) it is a fantastic sight to watch surfers surf on an endless wave. AMAZING!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisbach

Bonfire Night... Guy Fawkes Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/guy/rhymes.htm

so basically... our 4th of July we celebrate our Independence from Britain and the Parliament with Fireworks and November 5th the Brits celebrate a guy, GUY, who tried to BLOW UP the PARLIAMENT!! .... Interesting... very, very, very interesting!!!

Stonehenge, Newquay & St. Ives, Cornwall, England - The VIDEO...

Enjoy the videos!! :-)

Sorry for all the wind!!












Coming soon... Bonfire Night, Oktoberfest, and much much more!!

Rach

Stonehenge, Newquay & St. Ives, Cornwall, England

Stonehenge

Newquay





St. Ives







Oh Boy..

So, this past weekend, i headed down to Cornwall, Southwest England. It was absolutely beautiful, which you will soon see via video and pics. I had an amazing time. Along the way, I was able to see Stonehenge, which is massive and to be honest, sure it is a bunch of rocks... but it is bunch of rocks that have been here for over 2000 years!! amazing!

Newquay, Cornwall is an adorable little surfing village. Very young and hip. And they even had a Griffin Inn, which of course i popped into and CLEARLY stood out in... i am definitely, NOT A LOCAL! it was quite funny, because i actually felt like i had to explain myself as to why i was there, so i did!! but it was still quite cute.

The next morning i got up and went surfing!! i know, Rachel-I HATE THE COLD- Griffin rented a nice 5mil suit and booties and hopped into the water, and to my surprise, i was nice and toasty!! my hands and head were a bit chilly, but it was still amazing all the same! i would have stayed in there for hours, but i gave myself a 2hr deadline, so i could head to St. Ives.

St. Ives is beautiful, as well. Cornwall is my new FAVORITE and i want to live there forever and ever! St. Ives (which i assume is where the hand lotion is from??) :-) is adorable. very family-vibe .. little fishing type village with quaint little artist galleries... and about a million.. ok.. not a million, but about 10 little ice cream parlors all in a row!! which i found a bit odd, yet, each and every one had people in them!

Anyway... St. Ives was great and there is a fantastic little cove to surf there, too!! right below the Tate Museum! Fabulous!! Definitely worth the trip!!

Hope you enjoy the pics and my deranged videos!! :-) and sorry for all the wind!!

Love you!

Rach

Travel Griffin Says HI - Video Style!

Hey everyone,

Like i mentioned in my last entry, I will be posting a number of entries via Video, as well as with pictures and blurbs. Go easy on me, I know in this first entry, I say "Um" about a million times!! :-)

Also, since I forgot to enter a number of videos from my RachelRocksEurope Blog, I will upload them as well, as most of them are pretty cool and have a complete insight to towns and villages all across Europe.

Enjoy!!

Lots of Love,

Rachel


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSr3-dmOQ2o

Oktoberfest 2009

Oktoberfest was hysterically amazing. Despite being a quick trip i had propbably one of the most hysterical times ever. i was lucky enough to meet up with one of my oldest friends, Jenny and a fantastic group of her friends and a new friend, Franz the Gnome.

We handled Munich on all levels. We did a bit of the touristy stuff, met some amazing peeps and of course hit the tents. I however was adament about NOT wearing a costume, but to be fair, i wish i bought one. next time i go, i HIGLY suggest that the boys wear leiderhosen and the girls dress up as bar maids... sure, you feel a bit out of place walking though town, but once in the tents, you feel more out of place NOT wearing them.

Also, we rented an apt. for the long weekend. we were a few stops away on the U-Bahn. I highly suggest doing that, as it is easier and cheaper in the long run.

Now.. let me introduce you to Franz... he is a sneaky little Gnome that likes to get into trouble, so watch out!

Hope you are all well... Stay tune for video feed! and be nice, as i am new to this!! :-)

rach

My Adventures Thus Far

hey everyone...

so i finally have a bit of time to update you on what has been going on...

my travels here have been amazing... whether here in London or internationally. i have been blessed enough to see parts of the world that i never would have imagined getting to see!!

Most recently, i went to St. Vlas, Sunny Beach & Nessebar in BULGARIA! It is located right on The Black Sea. and it was amazing. One of my oldest and best friends, Kelly, joined me for the trip. we had an amazing time. It was beautiful and hot... and even more amazing, my friend Dave, from London, has an apartment there, so we had place to stay, for FREE!! (thank you Dave!) - - oh.. and by the way, Dave's apartment was in a VILLA!! 8 pools 3 restaurants, private beach! AMAZING!!

The pottery in Bulgaria is handmade and everything there was super cheap, as the Leva / Pound ratio is 2:1 and the Leva/USD was 1.4:1... so me and Kelly made out like bandits! :-) i think Kelly made out more, as she shopped til she dropped! :-) i

The Black Sea was clear and amazing... but the funniest part about that whole area is that it is super safe, because the Denevi Brothers (the mob) run it... which i know sounds completely insane.. but its true... they love the $$ from the tourism that it is really safe!

~~+~+~+~++~+~+~+~+~+~+~++~+~++~+~++~++~+~++~+~+~++~+~++~++~+~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~

I took the month of August to explore the some of the best nook and crannies of the UK, relatively near to London. Windsor Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Brighton Beach, & Southend.

Windsor Castle - was really cool... the landscape is picturesque. And apparently, the Queen stays there from time to time.. and also, apparently, the first car from London drove through Windsor at 5mph. and the funny thing was - people from Windsor never saw a car before, so a boy had to run in front of the car with a red flag, so people would know it was coming! HYSTERICAL!
Stratford-Upon-Avon is where Shakespeare is born and raised and died. it is quite a quaint little town.
Brighton Beach - Is amazing!!! This beach has the feel of the combinations of the Santa Monica Pier and Coney Island all rolled into one.. it is beautiful with an "old" feel to it.. the only thing that is annoying about the beach is the sand.. or lack there off Brighton Beach consists of a "rock/pebble" beach... not very nice on your feet!
Southend - now this is an interesting town.. it is a fisherman's town. and i don't think it is up to date on alot of things, and that includes the mindset of the people there... granted, not everyone.. but yeah.

~_~_~++~+~+~+~++~+~+~+~++~++~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~+~

In July, I went to Geneva, Switzerland to see my friend Dena from LA who lives there now... we had a great relaxing time.. it was quite nice! and Ava (Dena & Hyder's little girl) was so cute and a breath of fresh air to see and hang with... Oh.. and let me tell you.. Dena and Hyder live right on Lake Geneva.. their view is absolutely Stunning!! i can't even get over it!!! And while i was there, I was able to see my new dear friend, Jade, who is from South Africa, who I met here in London. She is a doll and her boy friend, oddly enough, just moved to Geneva as well! So that was really great to see them and catch up as well! oh, and i almost forgot! i went to Evian, France!! ya know, where the water actually comes from!! cute little town!!

~~+~+~++~+~++~+~++~++~++~+~++~++~++~++~+~++~+~+~++~+~+~+~++~+~+~+~++~+~+~+~++~+~++~+~

June was spent splashing around in the south of Portugal, in The Algarve and Lagos with my friend Laura. UNREAL! although the water was quite chilly, it was refreshing after sitting on hot beach. We hike the beach for miles and climbed these amazing rocks and cliffs. Stunning... The sunsets were fantastic and the food, was really good!! i could have stayed there forever! - the only annoying part was in The Algarve, all the waiters or hostesses would harass you to come into their restaurants. it was OK the first 2 hours.. but then i wanted to hit them! :-) and actually all the restaurants that we ate at were off the beaten path and we were not harassed to go in... so if you are ever there... follow my lead!

next week, i am off to Oktoberfest. It should be a great time. My friend Jenny and crew from the US are going as well, which will make for a fantastic time!!

More later!!

here are a few pics... ENJOY!

Rach


Bulgaria:






Southend, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick Castle & Windsor Castle:






Brighton Beach:






Geneva:






Algarve & Lagos, Portugal: