No long summer
holiday for us this year. In June – while our daughter Eline was away on her
exam trip to Portugal with some class mates – we enjoyed a few wonderful days
in Rome and in July – again while Eline was away with a few other girls this
time to Barcelona – the Mr and I travelled for a few days to one of our
favorite cities: London.
Our ‘home’
underground station this trip:
London always
feels a bit like coming home, I have been there so many times, with the Mr,
with friends and on my own, there are places (often to do with food or fabrics)
that I keep coming back to, but also there are always new things to discover
and experience, which is why we never, ever tire of this city.
This time we
went to the Rolling Stones exhibition (yes, we are fans) called Exhibitionism (click) at the Saatchi Gallery. No pictures allowed inside, but if you get a chance go
and see it then do so, fan or no fan, it is fun and a bit of history. And there
is a really great 3d experience too at the end.
After Exhibitionism ends in London it will move to New York where it will open in November.
After Exhibitionism ends in London it will move to New York where it will open in November.
Staying with
the rock and roll theme we also went to the Jimi Hendrix appartment at the Händel House (click), they
re-created the appartment to what it looked like when Jimi Hendrix lived there
Another new
thing for us this trip was the extension to the Tate Modern Gallery that opened
a few weeks ago in June. We had not been to the Tate Modern in years so this
was a good chance to visit again. As before we thought the main old building
was great, that wonderful huge space.
The new
building (called the Switch House) next to it has great views over the city
from the 10th floor 360 degree panorama deck.
And for those
on a budget: entrance is free, they just ask for a 4 UK Pound donation, well
worth it!
The famous
Shard in all its glory:
The old Tate
Modern building with the Millenium walkway Bridge across the Thames:
The view
towards St. Paul’s Cathedral:
And below the
funny looking building of 20 Fenchurch St. also nicknamed the Walkie Talkie
building, this is the building we visited twice during our Xmas trip to London
in December of last year, from the Sky Garden in this building you can also
have a wonderful view of London (click).
The pictures
are a bit grey because it was cloudy that day. But it was also warm and humid,
so after our visit to the Tate we had a coffee on one of the terraces nearby,
overlooking the Thames.
Foodwise new
to us was Neal’s Yard, not just a colorful little square but full of nice
restaurants (Gert (click) look for the vegetarian/vegan Wild Food restaurant ,
it gets great reviews!) and with it being a warm evening and all the doors and
windows being open the place was buzzing!
Nearby is the
Hotel Chocolat School of Chocolate with all you can wish for chocolate, so
delicious! The sign in the window said it all J!
And we loved
this new restaurant on the edge of Chinatown: Shuang Shuang!
Chose if you want your individual hotpot or share a double (which we did), chose your broth (spicy, non spicy, vegetarian) and pick your ingredients from the conveyor belt. Fun, delicious and sooooo healthy!
Chose if you want your individual hotpot or share a double (which we did), chose your broth (spicy, non spicy, vegetarian) and pick your ingredients from the conveyor belt. Fun, delicious and sooooo healthy!
When in London
we always stay in a hotel in Kensington, our favorite area. And we always go
for walks, we love the atmosphere there and looking at all the houses, mews,
gardens etc. Here are a few things we came across this time:
I love those
chique white houses especially if they are combined with some nicely shaped
boxwood plants:
But some color
is very nice too:
Of course you
want your Ferrari to match the color of your front door and shuttersJ!
The pubs in
the area are great too, we found one with a nice patio so we spent a few of our evenings
out there:
There are
two more places I always want to go to when in London, Liberty of course:
And Shaukat,
not to be missed, their cellar is wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-wall Liberty and they
sell scraps!
Always sorry
to say goodbye to London, until next time!
Before our
trip to London, I had a chance to visit Judith (click) and drive around Het Gooi area with
her, her sister Karin and Mirjam which was great, since I do not know the area
at all.
We met at
Quilt Studio Het Gooi (click) , such a great quilt store! Spacious, light, a good
selection of materials and very friendly people !
And I love a
quiltshop with a good coffee corner!
After the
quiltstore we went to a lovely embroidery shop: Atelier Steekjes en Kruisjes (click) in
Huizen, it is just the prettiest little shop, all four of us loved it! Have a
look!
We had lunch
at the Eemnes Theetuin (click), again a first for me, go there if you are in
the neighbourhood, it is beautiful and the food they serve yummy!
There is also
a space that can be used as a wedding location, we could not resist having a
peek, isn’t this special?
Judith, Karin
and Mirjam, thanks for taking me there girls, I had a great time!
So both at
home and abroad, I had some great days recently, hope you are enjoying yourself
too this summer.
Phyllis
