Tag: travel

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Attractions

Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum is holding a series of special events on Friday evenings throughout the summer. Each one is different but I suspect that all of them will be awesome! I went to the butterfly ball, which had a number of talks and exhibitions about moths and butterflies. The people involved clearly love what they do, they were interesting and entertaining, we got up close and personal with moths, butterflies, spiders, snakes…

It is a fantastic experience to be in the museum at night, great to be able to wander around the normal exhibits with a drink from the bar. It is a very relaxed way to view the museum … and there are no school parties to contend with.

The talks are wonderful, the general exhibition is amazing, but even if the whole place was empty the building itself is staggeringly beautiful. Think Hogwarts on steroids! It’s incredible that even with the brilliant things on show here, that the ceilings, arches and floors can contend for your attention.

As you can probably guess, I have been struggling for superlatives to describe my night.

Go for the event, go for the general exhibition or just go for the architecture!

 

Categories
walks

Regent’s Park, London

https://www.endomondo.com/routes/731348501

Regent’s park is one of my favourite places to walk in London. This 7 kilometre walk is a lovely route around the park if you have a couple of hours to spare. It starts at Chalk Farm tube and heads up primrose hill, where there are stunning views of London’s skyline. It then heads down round the edges of London zoo and over the Regent’s canal. It gives a pretty view of the London Central Mosque before turning down the side of the boating lake. Near the foot of the lake it crosses the bridge, passing the open air theatre and going into to rose garden. The ornamental bridge has a beautiful wisteria in flower in May. It then heads to eastern edge of the park to walk along Chester Terrace a designed by Nash in the early 19th century. Finally along the southern part of the park to Park Street where you can catch buses to north London or turn left for Baker Street tube and connections to the city centre.

The photos are: (top) Skyline from Primrose Hill, Egyptian Goose by the boating lake, Regent’s Canal from the Broad Walk, (bottom) Wisteria in Queen Mary’s rose garden, Deckchairs and Daisies, The City from the Hill.

This link at the top is a downloadable route, you can download it on to your phone or tablet and follow it in real time as you walk. I am hopeful that you can expand the areas nearby on the map too, so if you decide to stop early, it is possible to see transport options nearby. If anyone spots a difficulty in using it, I would be grateful for feedback as, if it works well, I plan on publishing a list of my favourite walks from around the world.

Categories
Restaurant review

Hawksmoor, Air Street, London

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Hawksmoor was a talented architect of the 17th and 18th century; probably not somebody I would choose to name a restaurant after, given the manner of his death.

However, the food here is high quality and well prepared. We all had steaks and they were all excellent. The set cuts on the menu seemed large (400g – the rib eye) but when I said this to the waiter, she offered us smaller sizes – or larger ones if we wished to share. The chips were delicious as was the spinach.

The wine list is comprehensive and the bottle we chose was very good.

The décor is low key, art deco. The restaurant is cleverly laid out because the surprisingly large room still manages to feel quite intimate. The service was perfect; always nearby but never obtrusive.

It is quite expensive, even for London, but the experience was distinctive, right from going through the door and it does deliver value for money.

Categories
walks

A walk along Regent’s Canal

https://www.endomondo.com/routes/725067575

A walk from Warwick Avenue tube to Angel tube along the Regent’s Canal is a fine way to spend a summer day.

It starts off in leafy Little Venice with houseboats all along the canal. It skirts the edges of Regents Park where grand houses have manicured gardens that run down to the water’s edge.

The canal cuts through London zoo – you can look up to see the birds in the Snowdon aviary and see animal enclosures on the far side. Soon after you will come to busy, buzzy Camden Lock – you can walk through a door in the wall of a building on the side of the canal if you fancy a detour into Camden market.

Next up is urban King’s Cross, where it is interesting to see the inventive rejuvenation, for example the new circular apartment blocks being built inside the frames of 19th century gas holders.

Finally, Chapel Street Market is one of the few remaining old fashioned London street markets. It still has a wet fish stall and even a ribbon and haberdashery stall.

The walk is almost 10k; so expect to spend a few hours but it is varied, interesting and well worth the time.

Categories
Attractions Buildings Days Out

Eltham Palace, London SE9.

Eltham Palace from Garden.JPG

If you like historic buildings and Art Deco furniture and style, then you will not find anywhere better in London.

Many of the Kings of England lived here, including Henry VIII. It was lovingly redeveloped in the 1930s by Stephen Courtauld.  He restored the palace and added a new Art Deco house, decorated and furnished in the fashion of the time.

Currently it is in the care of by English Heritage. The circular entrance room is stunning and the art deco decoration and appliances are exquisite. The gardens are beautiful and have lovely views of the house and over London.

This is a fantastic day out within half an hour from central London.

Eltham Palace Bathroom 2

The photos are of the house from the garden and a marble bath in on of the en suite bathrooms.

 

Categories
Restaurant review

Tuttons, Covent Garden, London

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Tuttons is not cheap, the hamburger is £18 and the steaks in the high twenties.

As starters, the chicken liver pate was indulgent, the scallops had great texture and the oysters were very good. The hamburger was nice. The corned beef hash was light on the corned beef. The chips were delicious, not healthy (cooked in real fat, I’d guess) but who orders chips to be healthy?

We also had desserts and these were good, the raspberry cheesecake was unlike any cheesecake I’ve ever had but was great nonetheless.

Its position on the corner of Russell Street and Covent Garden Piazza could not be better, it is straight across from the Royal Opera House and close to many theatres.

The décor is classic, it has a pleasant atmosphere in which to eat. It even has seats outside for those hardy enough to brave the weather and the crowds!

The service was fine. The wine list had lots of choice, even by the glass.

I recommend it, especially if you have a tastecard, which gives 50% off food and makes it good value.

Categories
Restaurant review

Les Deux Salons, William IV Street

lds_top_home6We ate in the Bistro. The décor is authentically French. It is perfectly positioned for eating before the theatre as there are many within a 3 minute walk. We ordered 4 different dishes. The steak was not great and we sent it back, they accepted this with good grace and replaced it with our choice of chicken liver parfait – which was delicious. The nicoise salad, not having lettuce, anchovy or green beans, was unlike any that I have had before – but it was very nice. The salmon was good. The wine list is good and the quality of the wines by the glass is very good.

I loved the chandelier!

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Reflected in glory

Yesterday we visited the Recoleta Cemetery where for 200 years the great and the good of Buenos Aires have competed to build the most ornate mausoleums in stone and marble.

I loved the way that with a little care it’s possible to capture a brief vignette of the architecture and stained glass reflected in the glass of doorways used by relatives to visit their ancestors.

These are my favourite photos of the day.

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Hobbiton, North Island, New Zealand


Unsurprisingly photogenic!


 This is a well organised tour, the sets look just as they do in the films. You will leave this day with many great photos. We booked by phone in advance because the site says that it is often difficult to get tickets if they turn up at the shires rest. As it happens there were people managing to get tickets on the day as they arrived while we were there and this was on a bank holiday weekend.


 The beer and the cider in the Green Dragon are good too!


Thoroughly recommended.

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Uncategorized

Whale Watch, Kaikoura

 This isn’t the cheapest of the many tours in Kaikoura, but we enjoyed it and found it to be good value for money.

We liked the fact that if you don’t see a whale, they will refund 80% of the ticket. We reckoned that meant they must be pretty confident and indeed it turned out be the case.

We saw a sperm whale very close, and many many dolphins, also albatross. The guides were witty and informative. They do warn about seasickness and there were some who were but I recommend this trip heartily.