13-14 October
Sunday and is raining and cooler. Parts of Wales have apparently washed away but London has escaped this. Just misty drizzly rain. Saturday was ridiculously warm and sunny. T shirt weather. Decided to visit Portobello Road markets at Nottinghill. Was not expecting anything too exciting but neither of us had been there before.
Packed as expected. Many antique shops, clothing shops, junk shops etc. Lots of silver and fiddly bits of antiques (or maybe antiques). Some very cute spoons - mustard, salt spoons etc that were allegedly old but one thought of the endless cleaning and happily walked away. Plus we have many spoons that are already good at... spooning things. Lots of atmosphere. We wouldn't return though. Bit over the whole market thing. The houses around Nottinghill are stunning - huge white terrace style houses or smaller brightly coloured terraces. Upmarket area. I guess one to tick off the list of places visited.
Got addicted to a British cooking show. A competition of chefs vying to cook for some NHS 'heroes' (their word) at a banquet. The finale banquet was held at the Great Hall at St Barts. That was the most interesting part. The staircase leading to the Hall is covered in paintings by Hogarth. Maddly googled while watching show to see if could get into see the staircase and Great Hall. Seems not. Not unexpected as St Barts is a working hospital. London is full of these places.
Also amused by the number of gin places that have sprung up. Very popular drink with 'Millennials' at home and obviously same here. As mentioned, found a City of London Distillery just down the road. They note that there was a gin craze in London some 200 years ago when nearly every street had a place selling and/or distilling gin. Nothing changes.
Walked to the Royal Festival Hall Saturday night - again a beautiful warm night so everyone out and about. Saw London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir (and the Tiffin Boys Choir - not to be forgotten) perform a Poulenc choral/orchestral piece which was lovely (Stabat Mater) and Orff's Carmina Burana which was incredible. Aside from the well known beginning (and end) it is a huge and unusual piece of music. Don't believe have ever heard it from beginning to end. It had everything including 2 grand pianos, a harpsichord, large number of drums etc. Listening to it you never knew what was going to come next - almost Spanish style rhythms to beautiful Germanic style solos. Even a duet between a flute and the timpani. French conductor and all soloists were from the UK. Sounded very difficult pieces of music for the soloists. Great night.
Rest day today. Think starting to suffer from sensory overload. London can do that to you.
Packed as expected. Many antique shops, clothing shops, junk shops etc. Lots of silver and fiddly bits of antiques (or maybe antiques). Some very cute spoons - mustard, salt spoons etc that were allegedly old but one thought of the endless cleaning and happily walked away. Plus we have many spoons that are already good at... spooning things. Lots of atmosphere. We wouldn't return though. Bit over the whole market thing. The houses around Nottinghill are stunning - huge white terrace style houses or smaller brightly coloured terraces. Upmarket area. I guess one to tick off the list of places visited.
Got addicted to a British cooking show. A competition of chefs vying to cook for some NHS 'heroes' (their word) at a banquet. The finale banquet was held at the Great Hall at St Barts. That was the most interesting part. The staircase leading to the Hall is covered in paintings by Hogarth. Maddly googled while watching show to see if could get into see the staircase and Great Hall. Seems not. Not unexpected as St Barts is a working hospital. London is full of these places.
Also amused by the number of gin places that have sprung up. Very popular drink with 'Millennials' at home and obviously same here. As mentioned, found a City of London Distillery just down the road. They note that there was a gin craze in London some 200 years ago when nearly every street had a place selling and/or distilling gin. Nothing changes.
Walked to the Royal Festival Hall Saturday night - again a beautiful warm night so everyone out and about. Saw London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir (and the Tiffin Boys Choir - not to be forgotten) perform a Poulenc choral/orchestral piece which was lovely (Stabat Mater) and Orff's Carmina Burana which was incredible. Aside from the well known beginning (and end) it is a huge and unusual piece of music. Don't believe have ever heard it from beginning to end. It had everything including 2 grand pianos, a harpsichord, large number of drums etc. Listening to it you never knew what was going to come next - almost Spanish style rhythms to beautiful Germanic style solos. Even a duet between a flute and the timpani. French conductor and all soloists were from the UK. Sounded very difficult pieces of music for the soloists. Great night.
Rest day today. Think starting to suffer from sensory overload. London can do that to you.
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