This fair is suitable for people of all ages, and has a lot of activites catered for families,In the Octopus’s Garden those aged 9-99 are encouraged to take part in four fun activities in which Pierre Huyghe’s Frieze Project will inspire new ideas for thinking about and making art. For those younger children visiting the fair Forget Me Not motivates them to look out for people, food, art and specifically Laure Prouvost’s signs hung throughout the fair.

With London’s art world warming up for next weeks Fair, Cumberland hotel will be showcasing a unique Banksy installation parked outside, A Lorry, fully stencilled by the elusive artist.

Related posts:

1. Luxury Travel Fair coming to London
2. Sheffield Mencap – Christmas Fair & Charity Gig
3. Life in London – October 2009

To start with, the flexibility of courses was refreshing, you were paying for 3 courses and how you mixed and matched these was completely up to you. If you wanted 3 deserts for your lunch that was absolutely fine…… and I know a lot of people who would have gone for that!

When the food arrived it tasted exceptional. I had the confit, followed by the pork belly and finished off with the crumble (if you want the full details, a copy of the lunch bites menu can be found on Gordon Ramsay’s website). Maze states that it serves French cuisine with Asian influences, whether it does or not I cannot confirm or deny as I am no expert in either. However, what I can say it that the food was excellently served, beautifully presented and incredibly tasty, if a little on the small side!

I suppose the clue was in the name really, ‘Lunch bites’. I like that lunch is a light meal but given that we were having three courses, I really expected it to fill me and keep me going for the rest of the day. This was not the case. To be honest, four ‘lunch’ bites and each course was gone, but boy they were four brilliant bites!

In addition to the portion size, the cost of drinks was shocking! I choose Maze because £25 for 3 courses in a Ramsay restaurant in London seemed good value. However, like so many restaurants these days, not just in London, most of the profit is made on the drink. So tip of day, always check the wine list online to get a gist of the prices before booking, as 3 vodka and cokes and the cheapest bottle of dry white cost more than the food!

Overall Maze was a good choice and it offered a great eating environment. Relaxed, yet formal. Trendy, yet refined. The location is great, the food excellent and service sublime. Would I go again, absolutely….but probably if somebody else was paying!

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1. Possibly The Best Motorhome Around
2. Free taxi rides to encourage lunchtime diners at The Gun
3. Life in London – August 2010

The good news is that we have now got around to pulling it together, in fact as there are so many great photos we’ve decided to split it between two posts, so here’s part one.

In January the year started with freezing temperatures and snow fall across much of the country including London. So our first photo comes from Sue’s snow covered local area of Notting Hill.

Notting Hill in the snow

Later in the month Sue took in the Artfeelers tour in London’s East End, below is a photo of some street art (the squirrel) taken during the tour.

Street Art - The Squirrel

Heading into February London celebrated the Chinese New Year. The area from Trafalgar Square through to Soho was packed with visitors and residents enjoying the explosion of red lanterns, firecrackers, Chinese music and the massive choice of restaurants packed into a small area.

Chinese New Year celebration in London

March saw a world record attempt outside Parliament as campaigns met to form  the world’s longest toilet queue as part of a charity event for Wateraid.

The world’s longest toilet queue

Heading into April and it was once again time for the annual London Marathon. As usual there was thousands of runners some of whom were dressed in fancy costumes including this Darth Vader.

Darth Vader takes part in the Marathon

Another highlight from Sue’s April post was the London Duck Tour, a tour which takes place on both land and water on a single amphibious vehicle.

The London Duck Tour

May saw the arrival of some unusual visitors to London in the form of 250 life sized baby Indian elephants scattered across London. The elephants moved around regularly so wherever you were there was a chance you’d bump into one!

Elephants in London

Later on in the month Sue was lucky to be by the Tower Bridge on a fine Sunday when a sailing ship passed through. This photo captured the moment when the bridge opened for it.

Tower Bridge

May was a busy month and a further highlight was the canal boat cavalcade in Little Venice. Every May Day hundreds of long boats gather on the Regents Canal just by the Paddington Basin for a festival of all things boating.

Canal Boats in Richmond

In June the Elephant models all gathered together and this photo with Battersea Power Station in the background shows them in all their glory.

Elephants in a row

June is the time for one of London’s most popular annual tourist events The Trooping of the Colour, a major annual royal event when the Queen and most of her family gather in Buckingham Palace as she inspects her troops to mark her official birthday. Sue managed to take this fantastic photo of The Queen and Prince Philip.

The Queen and Prince Philip

So that’s it for the first half of 2010 but check back soon for part two when we’ll look back on July to December.

If you’r looking for a fantastic London tour guide take a look at Sue’s website – Itsyourlondon

Related posts:

1. Life in London – May 2010
2. Life in London – January 2010
3. Life in London – June 2010

Selfridges at Chrismtas Carnaby Street at Christmas

Carnaby Street at Christmas

If you are looking for great family entertainment you can’t beat Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park where there is a huge annual fair. You can scare yourself on some horrible looking rides or go on the kids ones (best if you have a child to go with!) including the lovely train in the photo. There’s a huge inflatable snowman, an ice rink and a massive wheel – all in the photos.  For the shoppers there is a big section of German style chalets selling all manner of possible presents – for others or for yourself.  And finally, you can eat and drink your way around the venue tasting German sausages, mulled wine, candy floss, donuts, burgers and more.   We went at night but it’s just as good by day.

Huge inflatable snowman at Hyde Park

The giant wheel and ice rink at Hyde Park

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

 

 

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Another fun thing to do in December in London is to risk life and limb at one of the many temporary ice rinks. They are set up at some of the most iconic and lovely venues in London such as the Tower of London, the Natural History Museum, the London Eye, and Kew Gardens.  I love the rink in Somerset House’s courtyard and I visited it on a snowy day but the brave skaters carried on.

Somerset House Ice Rink

Talking of snow, 2010 brought London an unusual amount of snow and having had some in November we had much more December and London went into a bit of spin – sadly upsetting lots of Christmas travel plans when Heathrow had to close for a few days.  For those not affected there were some beautiful sights before the ice set in especially my garden and my street but then I’m biased!

The snow in London

More snow in London

 
Trafalgar Square hosts one of our great Christmas traditions as the Norwegian people send us a Christmas tree every year to thank us for our support during the Second World War and it is a lovely sight in this magnificent public space.

Trafalgar Square at Christmas

One more Christmassy event to mention is the market on the south bank of the Thames where lots of stalls set up and provide a great shopping experience and a fun place to hang out with friends. In this photo you’ll see how busy it was and this was taken on a cold and quite miserable day.  But being Brits, we make sure we still enjoy ourselves whatever the weather!

Shopping by the Thames

Enjoy 2011 and I’ll be back in February to tell you how the year had started in London.
Sue
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London – December 2009
2. Life in London – October 2009
3. Experience Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland

My Japanese maple tree

I’m really torn between so many fun things to tell you about this month and will have to leave out so much that I would tell you about, but here goes and I’ll have to be brief to squeeze loads in!  Hyde Park was the scene for a new installation from Anish Kapoor with several pieces but one  of them was really spectacular. It is curved  piece of heavily reflective glass which shows the visitor upside down on one side and both reflects the scene behind it and blends into the scenery around it on the other. I took loads of photos and here are just a few to give you an idea of this great fun work.   It’s wonderful that this is just sitting there in the Kensington Gardens part of Hyde Park and anyone can walk up and enjoy Anish’s efforts.

Anish Kapoor installation

Anish Kapoor installation from the front

Vinopolis was the scene for Chocolate Unwrapped, part of the national Chocolate Week.  Vinopolis is the home of wine and does wine tours and lots of wine related stuff but this month they joining in with the chocolate fest.  There was everything in chocolate from shoes to toy trains (see photos) to beautiful displays of truffles and explanations of where chocolate comes from with fabulously coloured pods – also in the photos. We went to talks by great chocolatiers like Paul A Young who tempted us with his marmite chocolates (not everyone liked these!), we tasted far too many offerings from the numerous stalls and I even won a cookery book in a raffle.  We staggered out feeling ever so slightly sick and had to go for a good long walk to recover!

A chocolate shoe

A chocolate train

Chocolate pods

Chocolate display

So we’ve done art, food and now for cinema and a strange twist on the normal experience at a pop up cinema on Portobello Road, Notting Hill.  Under the motorway they have set up a decent sized screen, chairs and a curtain as a door but there is no skimping on the quality of picture or sound.  The film we saw was West 11, a very early Michael Winner about post war bedsit land and to our surprise up popped Michael himself to take questions afterwards.  The film was good and very atmospheric of a different era although it was still recognisable as NottingHill, hence the name as the local post code is W11.  These photos give you an idea of the set up of the cinema and a shot of the director himself.  It was certainly a different movie going experience and at £4 a ticket, a much cheaper one than other local cinemas. 

The pop-up cinema

Michael Winner answers questions after the screening of W11

One more thing I must tell you about is the Ai Weiwei installation at the Tate Modern as there has been so much in the press about this and the artist himself.  He was planning a party at his new studio in Beijing but due to his outspoken activities, he has been under house arrest.  His work at the Tate Modern is extraordinary with 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds filling the floor of the turbine hall.  Each one is individually hand painted and show has messages in it about individuality in a world of mass productions, talks to the starvation of the Mao era when sunflower was the only food for many and that Mao himself was often depicted as the sun.  The accompanying film gives great insights into the production of the work and a chance to hear the artist himself.  Go and look at it all if you are nearby – it’s free!

Ai Weiwei installation at the Tate Modern

A close up of Ai Weiwei's unique piece

Before I sign off a quick mention of a visit to the Houses of Parliament which is normally only open during the summer but they are now testing out Saturday tours. Once you get past the understandably heavy security, you get to see the House of Commons and House of Lords and the extraordinary Great Hall which is all that is left of the original medieval palace and the only place you can take photographs – so just one photo in this section.  It’s brilliant to have the chance to tour the ‘mother’ of parliaments so locals and visitors alike should book themselves in.

Houses of Parliament

I have to stop now and will miss telling you about so many other great October events in London but hope you have enjoyed these few highlights.

Sue

www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London – January 2010
2. Life in London – August 2010
3. Life in London – October 2009

The event was the late night opening at the Natural History Museum which was great fun. ‘Science Uncovered’, as they billed it, was a chance for the public to meet the top scientists that work there and this event was part of a pan European initiative happening the same time in 200 other cities. It was absolutely mobbed and we had difficulty getting anywhere near a scientist but the crowds surrounding them were engrossed in what they were saying. We had a lovely time wandering around the galleries with a glass of wine! We really hope they have another late night soon as there is so much to enjoy including the huge dinosaurs, especially the one that takes up most of the ground floor (see photos)! The outside was lit up by an eerie red light and flaming torches so even queuing to get in was fun.

Dippy the Diplodocus greets visitors to the Natural History Museum

Here’s the whizz through some fun evenings out so take a deep breath – this is what you could have been doing in September in London….

Stewart Francis was recording a live DVD in front of an invited audience (that’s code for free!) and he’s the king of one liners. Also in the world of comedy was a recording of Jason Byrne’s new radio show at Broadcasting House, the home of BBC radio which is being redeveloped into a wonderful new broadcasting centre whilst keeping the old 1930s heart. The art gallery Salon Contemporary was hosting a party for a local magazine which was celebrating its first birthday so the guest list only event (still code for free) included cocktails and a 40s style singing trio.

Broadcasting House: Home of BBC Radio

Waterloo station was the original home of Eurostar to France but these platforms have stood empty since Eurostar moved to St Pancras. Empty that is until the Railway Children hit town and they have creatively used the platforms to stage this much loved show and as the track is still there, a wonderful steam train puffed its way into the show. The train arrived with great bursts of steam which meant any weeping at the key moment of the story could be excused by ‘steam in the eye’! Another theatre outing was to see La Bete because of its top cast: Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce (still known as Niles from Frasier) and Joanna Lumley. Good films were around at last after a quiet spell and ‘The Town’ and ‘Made in Dagenham’ are on my recommended list.

What else? The Wolseley restaurant is one of my favourites because it is a beautiful room with excellent food and service. It’s a brasserie so you can never be there at the wrong time and they graciously watched as we enjoyed ourselves so much we were almost the last to leave – a prize we were in competition with Joanna Lumley for as she was seated just near us looking as absolutely fabulous as ever but seeing her twice in one month was unexpected! I was treated to a pub tour on an old London routemaster bus thanks to Geronimo Inns (that means free too!). We had loads of champagne and a chance to visit 4 of their pubs and despite the champagne I’d still say they are worth looking up as they have over 20 around town. The weather was good enough for one outdoor BBQ and another evening saw a long evening of drinks in my garden before the rain set in from the middle of the month.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these glimpses of life in London, there is of course so much more going on but I’d need to write a whole website not a blog post!

Related posts:

1. Life in London – August 2010
2. Life in London – March 2010
3. Life in London – October 2010

The Notting Hill Festival

A parader at the festival

Each day there is the parade which goes on all day with hundreds of floats with sound systems and steel bands, followed by thousands of paraders in amazing costumes and carnival goers just joining in. We have over 40 sound stages around the area blasting out all sorts of musical styles at an ear splitting, sternum vibrating volume. There are stalls selling all kinds of nick knacks and most importantly a tasty range of Caribbean food including goat curry, jerk chicken, plantain and saltfish and ackee. It’s like being on holiday and I love showing people round and this year had several sets of visitors wanting that carnival experience. Here’s a few of the hundreds of photos I took to give you a flavour of all the fun to be had.

A Sixt van in action at the Notting Hill Festival

 
The BBC Proms is a 76 concert, 2 month long classical musical festival – the greatest in the world. Sensibly they make this an indoor event except for the last night which has events in parks across the UK at the same time, the biggest of which is an all day music show in Hyde Park. I went to an all English concert of Elgar and Vaughan Williams which was really lovely and the inside of the Albert Hall is a wonderful place to be so I’ve popped in a photo to show you.  The BBC pays for most of this season with a bit more money coming from ticket sales but for those with less to spend, you can get a £5 standing ticket for any concert and there are over a thousand of them each day. It’s all over for 2010 but keep an eye open for the 2011 season. 

The BBC Proms

 
Another musical event every summer is the Kenwood Picnic Concerts held on Hampstead Heath in front of the beautiful Kenwood House. We went for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and certainly had our share of different weather including the most amazingly full on rainstorm just as we’d got our picnic set up!   I was so wet that my trousers were still damp on the way home a couple of hours later…. However it was still good fun and here’s a photo of the stage once the sun had gone down and the rain had stopped.

Kenwood Picnic Concerts held on Hampstead Heath

Maze in Trafalgar Square

I like to give a glimpse into the variety of life in London so here’s an arty thing. The Tate Britain has a special exhibition of Fiona Banner’s latest work called Harrier and Jaguar and as you might expect from that title, she features the two planes. They are actual planes within the gallery space and only photos can do this justice and show you the impact of such large machines indoors and close up. 
 

Harrier and Jaguar Exhibition

A Harrier at the exhibition

That’s all for now but there was so much more happening that it would be a very long post to cover even half of it. September is looking good too!
Sue
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London… a look back at 2010
2. Life in London – June 2010
3. Life in London – July 2010

Wimbledon is one of the high points of a Londoner’s year and we all become massive tennis fans for 2 weeks of the year. I was lucky enough to win 2 tickets in their annual ballot and although they were not for Centre Court, they were for the last day of the tournament on Court 1. This meant we could stroll in at 11am past all the overnight queue-ers, wander around the whole site, enjoy a leisurely coffee before settling down on Henman Hill for the men’s’ final. It’s still called Henman Hill despite an attempt to remain it Murray Mound but that doesn’t work as well. The Hill was packed (see photo) and is very steep so it is all too easy to find yourself sliding downhill into your near neighbours when you try an energetic cheer!  After the final we popped into Court 1 to enjoy our allotted seats and saw a women’s invitation match with Martina Navratilova looking good and back to form after her recent cancer scare. She is a star and was clearly having a great time, but still really wanted to win – and did.  We also saw Pat Cash in doubles (still a bit of a favourite of mine), some British boys with good potential, drank some Pimms and had a great day out. 

Wimbledon Court One

Henman Hill at Wimbledon

I had some clients visiting London with my travel company (It’s Your London) and we went to many of the key sights – Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Houses of Parliament, Downing Street etc – we did some more unusual visit at their request. Billingsgate is a huge indoor fish market just next to Canary Wharf in London’s Docklands area. The current market is in a new building but fish have been traded in the area since the 16th century.   If you are strong enough to be up very early and get there for 6.15am you can join a guided tour of the floor where tons of all kinds of fish are traded each morning.  The guide will explain the difference in quality and freshness of the fish and shell fish in a very candid way which is really illuminating.  The tour finishes with a breakfast in the traders cafe – we had bacon sandwiches as we had seen enough fish by then!  A couple of photos show you the floor and some of the fish displays.

Billingsgate Fish Market

Billingsgate Market Traders

On the food theme, my clients also went to Camden Market which was brilliant and had plenty to see on a Wednesday lunchtime. We popped into the new ice cream parlour where they use liquid nitrogen to make their basic custard mixes into ice cream before your very eyes!  You can see from the photo the moment when the nitrogen hits the mix and it looks like a science experiment!  Whatever next….. ? Camden feels very vibrant again with a great mix of new one off fashions, vintage clothes and collectables and more food stalls than you can ever need.  Well worth a visit.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Production

It’s been great weather this month, with plenty of sunshine and dry days.  Our parks and gardens have been packed and there have been festivals on every weekend.  One special summer event in Hyde Park is the annual Serpentine Gallery competition to build their summer pavilion won this year by the architect Jean Nouvel. His huge red building is fabulous, standing out against the green of the park and the classic style of the gallery itself. It’s a great place for a refreshing glass of wine as you take some exercise in the park. Hyde Park will be the venue for the Olympic Triathlon and they were hosting one last weekend so we are beginning to really feel the build up with just under 2 years to go now!

The award winning Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

August will be a good month with the Notting Hill carnival as its highlight so I’ll be back soon to tell you all about that massive event.

Sue
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London… a look back at 2010
2. Life in London – August 2010
3. Life in London – February 2010

The elephants have been a feature of London life for many weeks now and have graced this blog previously too. If you missed it, there have been over 250 life-sized baby Indian elephants each one individually decorated placed all round London to raise awareness of the plight of these wonderful creatures in India. The London ones are now all gathered together in one spot for viewing ahead of the fundraising auction at the weekend. So I headed down to their parade ground and the sight of them together was truly delightful and hundreds of Londoners were there with me with cameras and lists to catch them all. Here are just a few highlights: Sherlock Holmes (yes!), a full row with Battersea Power Station behind them, taxi, grassy and an international one. I miss seeing them on the pavements already……

Here are some photos of the elephants all together…

The Trooping of the Colour is a major annual royal event when the Queen and most of her family gather in Buckingham Palace and she inspects her troops to mark her official birthday – being Queen she has two birthdays and the real one is in April. This event has more marching bands than you can imagine and more men, and women too now, in uniform than you can count. If you get there around 9am you can bag a good spot and see it all happen really close up. After all the marching up and down the Mall to Horse Guards Parade  there is a fly past as the royals gather on the Buckingham Palace balcony and with a good zoom you can catch them all. 2 photos here show you how close you can get to the Queen and one for you to see how many of the royals you can name!

The Queen and Prince Philip

The Royals watch the fly past at Buckingham Palace

One cultural highlight to mention was the live screen of ballet from the Royal Opera house to a massive screen in Trafalgar Square. The first ballet blew us all away with its raw power and driving musical score. It was Chroma by Wayne McGregor, a mesmerising ballet with dancers in singlets and no ballet shoes performing extraordinarily fluid and extreme  movements and we had the benefit of TV close ups. These photos give you some idea of the dancing and how the screen looked within the square when showing the inside of the ROH – spooky shot eh? Shame the heat wave hadn’t started by then as it was a bit chilly but well worth the effort.

Chroma Ballet on the big screen in Trafalgar Square

Chroma Ballet on the big screen in Trafalgar Square

Last month I talked about Richmond but failed to mention one of its great delights – the amazing Richmond Park and its deer herds.  The park is just 30 minutes drive from the centre of London and you enter a very different world as you drive into and around this wonderful and huge park although I always feel I should be walking, running or cycling but certainly not driving! However with the car you can track down the deer more easily as they do roam some distances but are not at all afraid of humans or cars. Here are a couple of photos to show you just how lovely and accessible they are!
I’m off to the USA for a couple of weeks but will be sure to have enough London stuff to report back to you from the other 2 weeks!
Sue
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London… a look back at 2010
2. Life in London – May 2010
3. Life in London – August 2010

Moonwalkers Bags

The Moonwalk is an overnight marathon and half marathon walk for over 10,000 brave souls around the streets of London and this year is was a very cold night in May. This is a major problem as the walk is in aid of Breast Cancer research and many walkers bare their specially decorated bras for the walk! I was volunteering not taking part so spent the night taking in and handing back bags to weary walkers which is no easy task as we had thousands of bags to sort through at one point – see the iphoto evidence!

A huge ship in a bottle is not what you expect to see in Trafalgar Square but the empty Fourth Plinth continually delivers the unexpected.

The Ship at Trafalgar Square

Last year saw ‘One and Another’ a 24 hour a day, one hour per person, public access to the plinth to do anything they wanted (legal and decent of course) and it was amazingly varied with some incomprehensible ideas and some poor folk getting the wet 3am slot.  This year has a massive ship in a bottle which is Victory, Nelson’s ship from the Battle of Trafalgar where he died in 1805. The ship has fabric sails in African batik style to remind us of the complex and rich history between Britain and this wonderful continent.  It’s a beautiful and striking sight.

Now what’s this about elephants in London? We have over 250 life sized baby Indian elephants all over town bringing joy through these wonderfully decorated beauties as well as raising awareness of their plight in their homeland.  They move location so you just never  know where they may pop up but the ones that stay still are mapped and you can see Londoners wandering around with their maps and cameras trying to track each one – that’s a big job!  Hard to chose between them as to which ones to show you but here are a few examples to enjoy.

Elephants in London

We’ve had some fabulous summer days as well as the cold weekend of the Moonwalk and one fine Sunday we were by the Thames when a sailing ship pulled up to Tower Bridge which obliged by opening up to let it through.

Tower Bridge

It’s amazing to see this machinery at work and the whole opening and closing process takes about 5-6 minutes before the road reopens and everyone is on their way. It’s been doing this since 1894  when this revolutionary bridge idea was conceived to enable a bridge to built far upstream without stopping the river traffic – so clever and such a good looking bridge, well done those Victorians!

Richmond feels both part of London and a little bit out in the country and we went there on another fine day to have a wander along the river and a good lunch. Richmond is famous for its huge park with herds of deer which I’m hoping to photograph soon but this visit was just a stroll along the towpath which was beautiful – see this photo.

Canal Boat Cavalcade Little Venice

We had drinks at the Bingham Hotel which is stylish and has a great riverside location and then nipped through their back garden to Gaucho, an Argentian steak group of restaurants where the quality of the meat is guaranteed to be good and we could watch the passers by – on foot and those in boats too.

One more fun thing to mention – the canal boat cavalcade in Little Venice. Every May Day hundreds of long boats gather on the Regents Canal just by the Paddington Basin for a festival of all things boating.

Canal Boats in Richmond

It’s an amazing sight and huge fun to find out more about the extensive canal network in England and the boats you can hire for a holiday trip.  This photo shows the boats all lined up for inspection as there is a competition of some sorts they all go in for.  Well worth dropping by.

June’s looking like a top month so come back in a month’s time to find out – Wimbledon and World Cup fever will hit town so big screens will be out and pubs will be full!

Sue
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Life in London… a look back at 2010
2. Life in London – June 2010
3. Life in London – July 2010