Tag: natalie dormer

mmesutozill:

I get accused of having a haughty smugness. I have a lopsided mouth. I can’t help it. I was born with it. It looks as if I am smirking. I have had my publicist tell me, ‘Don’t do that smile on the red carpet.’ I’m, like, ‘That’s my smile.’

How often do you get the chance to have your eyes opened? I mean, really opened? We must have been about halfway through our Contiki trip, and we arrived in the Italian capital city of Rome. There was an American girl travelling with us called Julie. We discovered Julie was almost completely blind. On this particular day, after exploring the many winding beautiful alleyways, we ended up at St Peter’s Basilica. Our trip manager jokingly said he had forgotten the way back to the hotel, and did anyone know how to get there? None of us did. But then Julie piped up ‘I can do it’. We all thought she was joking too but she said ‘No, seriously, I can take us all back’. So we turned and filed behind her, retracing our steps as she led us through the maze of winding streets. Someone asked ‘How’re you doing this? How can you possibly remember the way we came?’ – ‘I just know. Feel how beautiful and cool the air is. We’re by the fountain, this where we turned left.’ We continued on. ‘I’m smelling freshly baked bread,’ she said. ‘We turned right by this bakery and this is the café we passed by. I recognise the sound of that coffee machine. Trust me.’ And sure enough at every turn, the things we hadn’t focused on before revealed themselves like hidden gems, and we discovered more and more the essence of this rich and vibrant city. Did we make it back to the hotel? We did, actually! Right to the front door. But that’s only a part of this story – what struck me, was how Julie made us all see the city through her eyes. It made me experience travel in a totally new way. Thank you, Julie. You are my Contiki legend. – Natalie Dormer (x)