Vagabond Shoes - 01/05/18

It’s me again, Megan.

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today...well not today, June 22nd to be precise. These vagabond shoes have definitely been longing to stray to the City of New York. Ooh the city that doesn’t sleep. The place I’ve dreamt in my sleep for many years. A place that was famous as a place of movie scenes, a concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

#NewYork, as you can agree is a place full of dreams and romance, from the distinguished scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sex & The City and Friends, I could go on but I imagine you get the idea. The idealism of New York is that there’s no dream too big or too small. New York has almost certainly set the bar high for me, I just hope it lives up to its expectations.

I have been dreaming of The Big Apple ever since I was a little girl. A city where anything is possible, a place where you can be who you want to be, do what you want to do, no questions asked and no judgement. Growing up I became accustomed to the saying “no dream is too big or too small”, “you should start doing things on your own”. Well guess what I’m going to #NYC in the #USA for my 21st birthday! #roguetourist

When I first told family & friends where I was headed, they thought I was crazy, living in “Megan’s World”. After losing my day job, I borrowed money from the bank and picked up more hours at my evening job, which resulted in working morning, day and night. I can most definitely say the hard work is paying off, only 51 days to go!

There’s so many things I’d like to go see and do whilst I'm in The Big Apple;

The Empire State building
The Statue of Liberty
Central Park
Times Square
Broadway
Rockefeller Centre
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Museum of Modern Art
The World Trade Centre
The Chrysler Building
St. Patrick's Cathedral
High Line
Grand Central Terminal
The Battery

There is so much to see, I don’t think I can do it all in a week however, with time and good planning, I’m sure I can.

New York is a place of whirlwind romance and beauty, the perfect movie to describe the idealism that would be Breakfast at Tiffany's, the movie was based on Truman Capote’s novel. The story of a young woman (played by Audrey Hepburn) who meets a young man (George Peppard), when he moves into her apartment building, who’s with an older woman, who is very wealthy, however he wants to be a writer, meanwhile Audrey is working as an escort and searching for a rich, older man to marry.

SPOILER ALERT

Audrey Hepburn, now there's a woman, born on May 4th in Brussels, Belgium. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was of Dutch descent, whilst her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Hepburn-Ruston, was of an English and Austrian ancestry.

After her parents divorced, Audrey moved to London with her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, where Audrey attended a private all girls school. A few years later both Audrey and her mother moved back to the Netherlands, where again she attended and all girls private school. A few years later, whilst Audrey was on vacation on Arnhem, Netherlands, with her mother, HItler’s army took over the town. It was there where she fell upon hard times during the Occupation of the Nazi’s. Due to the extreme conditions, Audrey suffered from severe malnutrition and depression.

After the oppression, Audrey moved back to London to study ballet on a scholarship, in which she later began her modelling career. As she grew up she transformed into a graceful and elegant young woman (a similar story to the ugly duckling). Audrey thought she had found her calling in life...well that’s until the movie producers came calling in 1948, when she was spotted modelling by a producer, in the European film, Dutch in Seven Lessons. Three years later, Audrey had a speaking role in the 1951 movie, Young Wives Tale playing the role of Eve Lester. Unfortunately the characters she played didn’t mount to much success, so Audrey decided to try her luck in the United States. Audrey gained immediate fame and attention with her role in the 1953 movie Roman Holiday. The movie turned out to be her gateway to fame, as she won her first Oscar in the category of Best Actress.

Audrey reached the height of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the adaption of Truman Capote’s novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), for which Audrey received yet another Oscar nomination.

Despite Audrey’s alleged affair with William Holden in 1954 whilst on the set of Sabrina. Her performances were real, you can feel the emotion as she vocally expresses her lines, you feel as though you’re her character and you’re right there with her, throughout her movies. Despite Audrey and William not having a publicised relationship, I feel her best work was when she was shooting Sabrina (1954) and Paris when it Sizzles (1964), with William, a mere 10 years apart.

Audrey Hepburn plays a big part in my life, much like Bowie. They both lived different lives and overcame many obstacles to get where they wanted to be, as the saying goes, all the hard work pays off in the end.

In the 1950's, Hepburn narrated two radio programmes for UNICEF, re-telling children's stories of war. In 1989, Hepburn was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. On her appointment, she stated that she was grateful for receiving international aid after enduring the German occupation as a child, and wanted to show her gratitude to the organisation.

Thus I’d like to leave this post with one of many inspiring quotes from the lady herself...
“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone”.

Megan xo