And so this was Christmas..

… in London. Rather than doing a lot of groceries and cooking at home and also instead of buying each other presents, we decided to give ourselves a one big present by celebrating a very British Christmas in London and it did not disappoint, but then London never does, any time of year.

No theatre visits, no shopping, just looking at beautiful Christmas trees and lights, enjoying yummy food and long walks, in short: just taking in that very special, very festive British Christmas cheer!

Let’s start with – to me – the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen (and it did not even have lights):

This tree was at St. Pancras station and we could not get enough of it. The station itself is a Victorian beauty also, a perfect place for this very large tree. St. Pancras station is known for its famous Harry Potter 9 ¾ platform but (for all of you fans) that is actually located at neighbouring King’s Cross station, just a sign on a wall,

 but if you want to take a picture of yourself with the sign….. then get in line!

We passed.

Back to the Christmas trees, we went criss cross thru town to see some really nice ones:

Harrod’s , with carol singers

near Covent Garden

someone in this pub really likes Christmas trees!

our hotel did not disappoint either.

Of course there were other decorations as well:

the Blue Bird at King’s Road

Peggy Porschen

Covent Garden.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…..

In the evening time we admired the famous London Christmas lights:

Regent Street

Oxford Street

Carnaby Street.

And everywhere really:

 If you ever plan to spend Christmas Day in London you must know that there is no public transportation at all for over 24 hrs, no Underground, no buses, nothing, except for a few very expensive taxi’s. Public transport ends at midnight Christmas Eve and does not start up again until early Boxing Day, the handwritten signs warning you of this come up sometime during Christmas Eve day, this one was at ‘our’ Underground station:

Soooooo, what to do on Christmas Day? Well, I think we had a really British Christmas Day.
Without any public transportation we went for a long walk in the morning through the very quiet streets (hardly any cars either, I think lots of people had left the city or were already at their destination in the city), it was a dark, grey day so it was lovely to see the lights of the Christmas trees and candles in the houses where people were celebrating.

Back in our hotelroom we watched the Queen’s speech.

I had organised for us to go for a traditional Christmas lunch, with crackers, turkey and the trimmings

After which it was time for another walk, I loved seeing all the Christmas wreaths on the front doors, there were so many I made a collage of just a few of them, if you like making your own this may be inspiration for next year 😊

Then time for some Netflixing in our hotelroom followed by yes, our third walk of the day, 

the mews behind our hotel:

then some drinks in the hotelbar and sleep, contented after a lovely Christmas Day.

The next day, Boxing Day, we knew the masses would head for the shops as the big sales would be starting and since our flight back home was not until early evening we did have time for another long walk on this bright and sunny morning, this time through the Holland Park area via Kensington Palace.

Look at the beautiful, large Christmas tree in the gardens of the Palace

There was even some quilty inspiration here…  quilty steps!

These were our last impressions of this wonderful city, our last moments of a very special trip. A big present to ourselves which we spent four wonderful days slowly unwrapping.

Bev Bannard (click) left a remark under one of my Instagram posts of this trip: ‘if your are tired of London you are tired of life’ and I fully agree, we will never tire of London and we cannot wait to go back.

(if you are not on Instagram, here is the link (click) for my account )

As I am writing this on New Year’s Eve, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy, happy and creative 2018!

Enjoy the festivities tonight and for those in The Netherlands: be careful with fireworks, stay safe!

Phyllis

A few days in London and one day in Het Gooi

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.

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 10^th 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!

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