A couple of weekends ago I rugged up for a trip to South Kensington to visit one of the excellent museums in that area. I’d been wanting to go to the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum since I’d returned so that was high on the list. The fact it was the last weekend of a small story themed design exhibition named Telling Tales just helped propel me there (as did a quick look at the queues outside the beautiful Natural History Museum).

Before I rushed into the crowded world of weekend gallery attendance I made a worthwhile stop at the South Ken outpost of the Hummingbird Bakery. I sat for a while with a coffee and red velvet cupcake and I highly recommend it. The South Ken branch is marginally quieter than the Notting Hill branch on a Sunday which means you can sit and enjoy your purchases without having queued out the door and down the street beforehand (which I noticed people doing in Notting Hill as that branch is in the market area).

The cake tasted delicious....

Just to really rub it in

I had a wander around as I used to live about 15-20 minutes walk away and spent a bit of time in the area many moons ago. There have been a few changes and Old Brompton Road now consists almost entirely of cafes and restaurants whereas I remember a few more outlet luggage stores. The area around the tube station does seem to be a good place to head if looking for places to eat. I also came across this lovely bookstore in Thurloe St.

Piles of excellent books

Although it’s a discount bookstore, the items they have in stock are top notch and it was quite an effort to leave without weighing myself down with some purchases. And finally I made it to my destination – the actual museum. The V&A is a great place to go if you’re interested in art, design, costuming, textiles, sculpture and pretty much anything else decorative that you could imagine. It’s also free – which is even better.

One of the better entrance shots - still not quite sure what I was aiming for

One of the dining rooms - fancy huh?

entrance to the dining rooms from the internal courtyard

marble initials

light sculpture in the entrance hall

Although I spent a good amount of time wandering around looking at the displays, the V&A is a huge place and I need to make a return visit when the medieval galleries reopen later this year.

Hmmmm...I wonder

No prizes except the knowledge you know too much about pop culture archetypes.

Last night in Britain we celebrated the right to blow up things in our own backyards and local parks.  After catching a few impromptu fireworks displays coming from backyards on my way home from the shop, I decided to check out if there were any organised celebrations in the area. As it turned out, Southwark Park was set up for a free fireworks display courtesy of Southwark Council. I wandered along to check it out with one of my flatmates (and hundreds of other people).  I didn’t get any particularly good photos of the display, not because the camera can’t take pictures of fireworks but because it’s hard to capture them in just the right moment.  You really need a multiple frames a second job (which I don’t have yet, but give it time).  The display was quite good and a lot of locals including families turned out for it. Here’s a picture I took of the instigator of the tradition.

The man himself - Guy Fawkes

London is a curious mix of the old and new, stately and beautiful old buildings (and bridges) rub shoulders with the very newest developments. And yes, these are from a little while ago which is why it looks sunny and warm.

Tower Bridge with the Gherkin visible in the middle

light through the gap - south side between Tower and London Bridges

I think the structure on the left has some extra terrestrial purpose

One of these things is not like the other

Looking backwards R to L - City hall, Tower Bridge and hideous hotel on waterfront

A few weeks ago before The Globe season ended for this year I returned to see Love’s Labours Lost.  Also a comedy (though I wouldn’t mind seeing a tragedy/drama) it was another excellent afternoon’s outing. A revival of a 2007 production, it is now touring in America.  I cannot recommend highly enough getting to see Globe productions, wherever you may be.  They are very, very funny and treat the play with a lightness and sense of fun.  You can tell the actors are having a good time performing which is nice. Although these pictures don’t add much to the last Globe lot, here’s a slightly different set and viewpoint (because I had a different seat).

Note the leafy, forest banners

Groundlings in the knot garden - no sitting allowed

view to the left

view to the right

I visited The Globe twice this year and both were fantastic experiences that I hope to repeat next year when the season starts up again.

Although my current accommodation doesn’t have great views (though there is a nice plant outside the window) my room in the last sharehouse did.  I was able to take some great pictures from up there as well as getting a few when visiting other parts of the city.  Here’s a a few.

the brighter coloured trails are from planes landing at Heathrow in the west

view of houses and the Gherkin on the left (a bit further left, not in picture would have been the London Eye)

sunset over Columbia Wharf and the Hilton Dock seen from Canary Wharf pier

sunset from Greenwich looking towards Deptford/Rotherhithe

Not the most original post title ever but that’s what I’m working with.  I took a day trip to Canterbury for an appointment a while ago and although I’m not moving there, it was a nice day out. The town is lovely and it was interesting to see how it had changed since I visited it briefly nine years ago. I originally went to Canterbury while on a two week (I think) car trip around some of the more southerly parts of Britain with my Grandfather and Canterbury was one of our early stops on the drive from East Anglia.  This time I had a more work oriented reason for my journey but still had a look around.  The weather was really good - here’s what Canterbury looks like.

Royal Museum and Free Library (as per the sign) found on one of the main streets

Main gate of Canterbury Cathedral

This is the main entry point for the Cathedral. I didn’t get the time to visit on my latest trip but have been before and can highly recommend it (especially if you like Cathedrals). The building is stunning and the shrine dedicated to the murdered Thomas Becket is worth a look.  I would like to go again but that will have to wait for another visit.

There was a crooked house...

...and a crooked terrace of houses

The old city walls, now part of a carpark

The Canterbury Tales

And this beauty is the outside of a tourist attraction everyone should visit. It’s The Canterbury Tales - an animatronic rendering of the classic tale for everyone’s enjoyment. Sadly, like the Cathedral, I didn’t get to go in on this visit but I have been before. In fact, on my last visit to the UK I patronised a number of similar exhibits, a sort of oddly smelling, jerkily puppet-like tour of British history. I also visited the Robin Hood Tales in Nottingham because I am all class.  I do recommend it, they put a lot of work into it and they’re always amusing.

punting on the river

And last but not least, I finished the day off with a visit to Tiny Tim’s Tearoom for a delicious cream tea (also highly recommended) before catching the train back to London.

delicious afternoon tea

…brought to you by Borough market.

Despite spending about a month in Camden I haven’t really posted many pictures of the area and although I’ve got some that I’ll put up now, I think I need to go back and take some more another time. Some of these pics are of the markets and others are from the Camden section of the Regents Canal towpath.

EDIT: Hurray!!!!! It no longer takes me ten minutes to upload one photo – so here’s a post I started trying to load days ago.

Camden Market

Camden Lock Markets

Camden Lock - hence the market name

 And here are a few photos of the Camden/Regents Park section of the Regents Canal. Sadly these photos cannot accurately convey the glorious smells present underneath some of the bridges close to the Camden Markets.

Smile

Work that pointy tail

twin skulls

And to see what some of the canal towpath looks like…

How's the serenity?