Beautiful Somerset House

You get an hour slot which I definitely think is long enough (it gets quite tiring – going round and round). There is quite a wide variety of music to skate to and if you go later in the evening they even have a DJ playing.

Skaters.....

I would say that most people on the ice are of a similar standard i.e. definitely beginners but it doesn’t take you long to get into the swing of things and find your balance.

Christmas Tree

The lights and Christmas tree there are simply stunning and certainly gets you into the festive mood…

The Tiffany Hut

This year the sponsors are Tiffanys and there is a hut there where you can buy some presents (we did not venture inside for fear of temptation…)

Tiffany Cupcake

Of course the experience would not be complete without a large mug of mulled wine – perhaps a wise thing to do after rather than before the skating?

My tour mini

I was given the Royal Tour which lasted approximately 30minutes (traffic permitting). This included such sights as Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. Oli was a very knowledgeable guide, describing all the usual things as well as throwing in a few never heard before anecdotes. He certainly knew his stuff and was most affable.

If you love minis (which are quintisentially British) then this could be the tour for you. They will pick you up from your hotel and drop you off where you wish. There are about 7 different tours to choose from but they will also tailor to your interests – with prices starting at £54 for the mini.

They also do a tour of two cities. First you get a tour of London and then they drop you off at St Pancras where you catch the Eurostar to Paris. When you arrive you are met by a guide who drives Citroen 2CVs and then taken on a tour of Paris. So if you want a flying visit to both of these great cities this could be the one for you.

Kenwood House

In the Orangery there there was a Christmas sale going on which normally I would love to have had a look at, once again not possible with our little furry friends. So we set out on the main purpose of our trip – a long bracing winter walk.

View from Kenwood House

We walked down across this view, past the lake and towards Parliament Hill and were just marvelling at the sheer ruralness of the heath when suddenly the heavens opened… the wind picked up, the rain came down in icy sheets and there was thunder and lightening. By this stage we had walked quite far from the house and being fairly unfamiliar with the heath, we weren’t sure which was the quickest way back to the car. I forgot to mention that we were totally unprepared – no umbrellas, not even a hood and definitely no towels to dry off the poor soaking doggies.

Up close

We did finally get off the heath and walk back to the car and the rain did eventually subside. However all future plans for the day were scuppered as all we wanted to do was get home and get out of our wet clothes.

The calm before the storm

Hampstead Heath is a wonderful place to get away from it all in London – it’s amazing how rural it does feel. The views across the city are stunning. I am looking forward to another Sunday morning walk there, preferably when the sun is shining.

Outside the O2.

Last Thursday evening I went with a couple of friends to watch Muse at the O2. I have to say that I am not a Muse fan – my friend had a spare ticket and invited me along. It was also my first trip to the O2 to see a concert – I have been before and that was two years previously when I went to see the Tutankhamun exhibition. It really is huge – we were sitting at the side and had a good view of the stage as well as the whole arena. I don’t suffer from vertigo but I don’t think that I would want to be at the very top looking down.

Surveying the crowd.

You can see from this photo how many people were there and the venue can fit…….

The stage.

The stage was not too far away but still I had to squint to make the little men out.

Can you see the boys?

They were really good – he (I am just going to google the main man’s name) Matthew was a great showman and engaged well with the crowd. As  I mentioned before I’m not really a fan and did not know many of their songs but I had a great time. They were compelling to watch, the crowd went wild and the atmosphere was electric.

The main man.

M U S E

At the end they released masses of balloons filled with confetti – I know this because the man behind me popped one right over my head.

And the balloons came down.

Great concert, great venue but we did the sensible thing and left a few minutes before the end, we didn’t fancy catching the tube with 15,000 fellow concert goers. I recommend you do the same!

At the fireworks on Clapham Common

I went to 2 firework displays this year. The first was actually on Guy Fawkes night (5th November) and the second was on Saturday night. The first one was on Clapham Common and it was free for all. The fireworks definitely got better towards the end but let’s just say that they weren’t a patch on the ones in Battersea Park on Saturday night (which they charged £6 entry fee for). This year the theme was love – have a look at the heart below.

The smoking heart.

They were co-ordinated to music and were the best fireworks that I have ever seen and probably the most popular – the queue was so long.

Fireworks

They  only lasted about 20mins but were spectacular – afterwards everyone descended on the local pubs. We headed to the Lighthouse where they were doing a special bonfire menu including huge hamburgers and fish and chips.

And some more fireworks...

Best ever….

Some flowers.

If you are ever up at a reasonable hour on a Sunday morning and keen to get out and do something, I cannot recommend a trip to Columbia Rd Flower Market enough. Especially on a sunny morning with bright blue skies and no rain!

Yes there are lots of flowers and plants but it is also a excellent place for breakfast/brunch/coffee. We had a delicious coffee at Campania Gastronomia sitting in the sunshine.

Some more flowers.

There are also some great shops down there – clothes, shoes, household stuff, design, art etc…. A favourite which had some lovely things for the kitchen as well as selling artistic (and tasty) looking cupcakes and other cakes was Treacle. I was also very tempted to buy a magnetic world map (reflecting the proper land mass sizes) at Futuremaps.

End of the flower road.

At the end I fought my way back through the crowds and treated myself to a couple of bunches of bright pink roses for the princely sum of £5. I can’t wait to go back which I might do for one of their special Christmas Wednesdays. From 5-9pm on the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd of December.

Outside the shop on Regent Street.

Last Friday saw the opening of the first European Anthropologie store on Regent Street. As I had visited Anthropologie stores before when I’ve been in the States, I was very much looking forward to seeing what their first European branch would be like and it did not disappoint!

The amazing wall.

Expecting it to be heaving on the first day, I was pleasantly surprised. The store is beautiful, have a look at the above wall – a stunning sight! The staff (mostly Americans from what I could hear) were exceptionally helpful and friendly. And the changing rooms, wow, they were huge and very well equipped! I didn’t even have to queue.

I thought that many of the clothes were lovely but certainly not cheap. I struggled to find much under £100.  I did, however, treat myself to a new top. A little more than I usually spend but I think it was worth it!

The home stuff and jewellery is also worth a trip for. The store is not divided up properly into specific sections – everything is mixed up together but it works, very well in fact.

The first floor.

There are three floors and as everything is well spread out it makes it very easy to browse. I am so glad that Anthropologie has finally arrived in London and in my opinion it is the best one I’ve seen!

I did a London walk this week. There was me and two fellow Brits – a Yorkshireman and his daughter from Leytonstone.  There was also an American chap and an American family who were now living in London. And of course our guide, Corinna, who was also an actress with a very theatrical voice. This is her below.

Corinna talking outside St Barts Hospital.

We met outside St Pauls Tube (Exit 2) to be precise. You don’t have to pre-book just turn up and pay your £7 and off you go. The walk lasts approximately 2 hours. And it was a very interesting 2 hours – probably too much information to digest thoroughly in such a short space of time. However even as a Londoner there are so many nooks and crannies that you just wouldn’t know about. For example the hidden pub below is a typical of  a tavern found in Shakespeare‘s time.

We ended up close to Farringdon Tube having gone past the Old Bailey, St Barts Hospital and Smithfield Market. Close to St Barts Hospital we went into the church yard of St Bartholemew the Great. Going in though is a whole different tour and more money…  But we did see pictures and it looked beautiful inside. It did look vaguely familiar as it is often used in films, most famously it is where Hugh Grant had second thoughts about his marriage to Duckface and she consequently socked him one at the altar in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Entrance to the Church.

It was an interesting couple of hours and I definitely plan on doing some more – I am sure all the guides have different styles and there are lots of walks to choose from.

]]> http://planmylondon.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/a-london-walk/feed/ 0 planmylondon The Guide http://planmylondon.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/dinner-at-apsleys-restaurant-the-lanesborough-hotel/ http://planmylondon.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/dinner-at-apsleys-restaurant-the-lanesborough-hotel/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:03:50 +0000 planmylondon http://planmylondon.wordpress.com/?p=14 ]]> The Lanesborough has a new restaurant called Apsleys (the real Apsley House is just over the road). The man in charge of the kitchen is celebrated chef Heinz Beck . This is his first restaurant outside Italy (his main restaurant is La Pergola in Rome) although he is German born. If his name sounds familiar it might be because he cooked for the G8 Summit in Rome this year  .

I had read Sarah Brown’s tweet about enjoying his signature carbonara ravioli. So I had made up my mind what I was going to try…..and it was good, really good in fact my friend ordered a second one. Not too rich and not too much, just perfect.

To follow between us we had the super sweet banana and chocolate souffle which was also amazing and the refreshing sorbet. Delicious. The staff were all charming and very obliging to our rather haphazard ordering style, which many places would not have been. We didn’t want all the courses and we were never made to feel any less welcome.  The actual restaurant is incredibly luxurious and very comfortable complete with sofas – but not the type where you can’t sit properly at the table.  Although it is certainly not cheap it represents  good value for money and we heard at least three rounds of Happy Birthday chorus… It’s definitely a lovely restaurant for a special occasion.

The Library Bar is one of the best bars for a civilised aperitif in my opinion of all the big London hotels. The service is impeccable and the list is long but to save disappointment don’t arrive too late.  It is a fantastic place for people watching – there are certainly some characters to be found in there.