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Design Museum London currently has a Christian Louboutin exhibit that is worth checking out.

As you walk up the stairs you are teased with hanging shoes and those red soles.

Those are the only photos allowed of the exhibit.

Watch the video on the Design Museum website to get a better idea of what’s inside.  The shoe is big and as a ton of different shoes on display.  You can read about his history and how he got started and then also see his collaborations with other designers. Majority of the shoes were from 2010/2011 and I wish there were older ones on display.  He has been around for 20 years so there has to be a large collection somewhere!

It’s only there until July so hurry up!

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I finally went to my first London sample sale last week.  In NYC sample sales are meccas.  They are pretty much everyday and someone always knows someone so word spreads fast.  Some of them are complete disasters in terms of organizations and some look like the store with everything in size order. My favorite sample sales in NYC so far…..

Rebecca Minkoff, Kooba, Gustto, Shoshanna, James Jeans, Theory and Thread Social 

I see some in London but never went but this time I saw Reiss and decided I should check it out.  If you are a UK size 10-14 then you would have been in luck because everything was in those sizes.  There were random smaller sizes scattered but definitely not as common.

It was so hot in there and was starting to smell of BO.  The racks were a mess and people were changing in the aisles.  It was a true sample sale.

I don’t have a lot of patience to search unorganized racks but I did come out with one dress.

Another tip would be to know what size you are before going to the sample sale.  I’ve never tried on Reiss pieces so I had no idea.  They are cut differently and there is a lot of extra room at top than on the bottom. The top is boxy, no curves cut into the shape. I still wore it but I’ve learned that Reiss isn’t made for my body type.

Betsy told me about LynkU to find out about sample sales.  How do you find out about them?

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Last month was the Virgin London Marathon. I went down to the route to check out the action. Many people asked if I ran it and the answer is No.  I haven’t run more than 10 miles before so let’s first work on the half marathon I signed up for.  Baby steps.

I went down to Embankment to the Mile 25 marker.  I somehow weaseled my way into the crowd and secured a spot along the fence.

The energy of the crowd was amazing.  Even before the runners came by people were screaming and cheering in preparation for the runners.  The elite runners eventually made it our way and they zoomed by.  It was hard to get a photo of them!

The photo isn’t of him but Wilson Kipsang from Kenya won the marathon with a time of 2 hours 4 minutes and 44 second.  Ohhhhh Emmmmm Geeee!  It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to run 10 miles.  WOW!

About 30 minutes later the rush of runners started. I love seeing what kind of fun costumes people wear while running 26.2 miles.  Karen also wrote about the marathon and the fun costumes she saw.

Watching the marathon was so inspiring.  I even shed a tear when I saw a runner start walking around mile 25 and another runner put his arm around the guy and said “we can do it together”.  The walker smiled, looked at the runner and started running together.  It really showed me that ANYONE can do it as long as they put their mind to it and train properly.  Maybe one day…..

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This is how small Vienna is….we woke up at noon the next day.  Usually on vacations we wake up around 830-9am so that we can get a full day in of touristy stuff.  Vienna didn’t have much more to offer.  I think Vienna would have been much better if the weather were warmer.  I could totally picture myself sitting outside at a cafe with a coffee people watching for a while or just wandering outside of the inner circle to see what is out there because I know there is a lot. The cold made us hop from one location to another with not too much wandering allowed.

Day 2 included

Window shopping (all stores were closed since it was Easter Monday).  How cute is this Valentino dress (beige one)???  I NEED but sadly Jon doesn’t agree. 

Climbed on some art in the streets.

Saw a pretty building.

Walked along the river.

Interesting fact: This is the same river that is in Budapest.  The Danube goes through 4 capitals and 10 different countries.

Such cool street art by the river.

Ended our afternoon back in the Museum Quarter where we decided to go into the mumok. It’s a modern art museum so it was a bit abstract to say the least.  Claes Oldenburg has a big exhibit when we were there. His art is definitely different but it was interesting to see my view on it versus Jon’s.

And then we headed back to London.

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After a 3 hour train ride from Budapest we arrived in Vienna, Austria.

Yup that is a big paper ticket with the date and time hand written.

Vienna was FREEZING when we arrived.  It was a light snow and I didn’t pack for that weather. We arrived around lunch time so we checked into the hotel and then ventured into the city.

Vienna in general is very small.  There is a subway system as well as a above ground cable car system but you don’t even need to use them because everything is so close.

It was Easter weekend so we stumbled upon a easter market.

After walking though the 15 stalls we got some lunch from a place recommended by the hotel, Huth.

Up next was St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Parliament

Vienna State Opera.

And then to Museum Quarter which consists of several museums (duh).

At this point we knew the city wasn’t big so we wanted to save things to do for the next day since we had a full day since our flight home was at 9pm. We slept in late, went to a museum and then walked along the water. I’ll save that for a post tomorrow.

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We heard a lot about the thermal baths in Budapest so we wanted to check one out.  We decided on the Széchenyi Thermal Bath because it’s big, well known and was close to our hotel. We didn’t do too much research so we didn’t know what to expect.

It was a weird experience.

You pay for entry and then can stay as long as you want on the grounds.  There is also a spa there so you can get massages.  We got massage and they were nice but you laid on the ground so my neck was hurting after having to keep it to the side throughout the entire massage.

There are even cabins to get changed in and to keep your stuff locked up.  They were small and ugly.  It wasn’t a good first impression.

Once you are changed and ready to go you head out to the baths.  Each pool was a different temperature.  We went straight for the hottest one.

The idea of thermal baths are for healing. The hot spring contains a significant amount of fluoride and metabolic acid, along with calcium, magnesium, hydro-carbonate, sodium and sulphate – effective to cure degenerative illnesses of joints, as well as chronic and semi-acute arthritis. It is also fit for orthopaedic and post-injury treatments.

Once we were sitting in the pool and realized we didn’t smell any chlorine we decided it was time to go and that we had enough.  It was something we wanted to experience and were fine with just sitting there for 15 minutes. Haha.

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BUDAPEST

IS

A

MUST

We absolutely loved Budapest.  I am so happy we were able to visit this extraordinary city. Where do I even begin??

The city is not that big and separated by the Danube River. Buda is the hilly part of town with more history and sights while Pest is the flat part with shopping, hotels and restaurants.

The Food.  

Not the best part… especially for me.

These are Kurtos Kalacs (also known as Chimney Cake) and they are good but they are huge so you can’t finish it.  There is also a weird aftertaste so they aren’t my favorite.

Meat, Meat and more Meat.

Look how much dairy they put on these sandwiches.  They aren’t quiches, more like grilled dough with ingredients in between.

Sausages from a market.

Of course we took the bus tour around the city so we were able to hit up all the major spots.

Pest

The Dohany Street Synagogue was closed because of Passover but we still walk around the perimeter of it.

The Heroes Monument

Parliament

Crossing the bridge from Pest to Buda

The Buda side is home to the Buda Castle and the Citadella among other things.

View of Pest from Buda. Wish it was a little less foggy.

Budapest is full of history and culture and it’s a city you don’t want to miss out on.  It’s walkable, cheap and has good shopping also.  If you need any restaurant, hotel, or travel suggestions do not hesitate to contact me!

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This rain has got to stop.  It’s already been raining for over 7 days and they report there is no end in sight. It’s so bad that scaffolding a block from our flat has completely collapsed.

I have no idea if there was any hurt but I really hope there wasn’t!

Read about it in the Daily Mail.