London Life, Summer 2014

When the grey clouds gather over London and the sun starts setting earlier each day; flicking through photos of summertime becomes the inspiration to make it through another Northern Hemisphere winter. This blog post sums up the activities we did to keep ourselves occupied in the City - in between watching World Cup games and Mei taking a two month sabbatical from work-life to explore London's museums, public gardens, coffee shops and street markets - pretty much being a tourist whilst the sun shined.


Buildings and Blooms

At some point from early Spring, the pubs and local councils in London start an obsession with hanging baskets of flowers from lamp-posts or balconies - buildings bloom with a multitude of colours and the streets resemble an urban beekeeper's paradise. Overall, Summer 2014 didn't disappoint with weather and sunshine, inspiring many lazy days hanging out in parks or the tourist spots like Covent Garden or Trafalgar Square - people watching, eating ice-cream and just soaking up the atmosphere of London life.

The Plough Pub, Bloomsbury

Restaurant covered in flowers near Aldwych

Open Garden Squares Weekend

Occasionally an event advertised in the Evening Standard or Time Out magazine catches our attention and we book ourselves into some kind of unique cultural activity. Once a year, the Open Garden Squares Weekend (organised by the London Parks and Gardens Trust) is held to unlock people's appreciation of public squares and private gardens - some never open to the general public. Tickets were purchased in advance from the website and a guidebook arrived by post within the same week. This became an invaluable resource for planning a strategy to visit as many gardens as possible.

Nomura International PLC

Our first garden visit was based just north of London Bridge in the rooftop of Nomura International - a glass office block that faced the River Thames. We took the lift to the canteen that connected to an outdoor patio with a difference - a large grass lawn and garden beds located six floors above ground.

The rooftop gardens at Nomura International

In addition to the stunning views of the Shard and other features of London's skyline, the gardens were host to a Birds of Prey exhibition with the cutest little owl that looked sleepy and did not object to being stroked.

View of the Shard from the rooftop gardens

The cute and furry owl

The not as cute larger owl

Carlton House Terrace and Gardens

Carlton House was a mansion in the St James's area of London that was home to the Prince Regent (later King George IV) from 1783. After being used extensively to host society events, it was demolished in 1825 and the area is now known as Carlton House Terrace. Two buildings on the site are home to private member's clubs - the Turf Club and the Royal Society. The gardens reflected the elegance of the surroundings - an exclusive green oasis down the road from Buckingham Palace.

The gardens at Carlton House Terrace

Inner and Middle Temple
From the 14th Century, the Inner and Middle Temples were Inns of Court - a society for barristers and law students, located on estates once owned by the Knights Templar, an order of crusading monks that protected pilgrims to the Holy Land. The gardens are famous for being referenced in Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 1 where the noblemen pick white or red roses from the garden to show their loyalty to the rival Houses of York or Lancaster - hence the 'War of the Roses'.

The Temple gardens are beautiful and full of flowers, although tucked away behind some imposing buildings, so hidden that many Londoners may not be aware of its existence.

Beautiful stone archway and gate

The flowers - Middle Temple

The gardens of Inner Temple

Winfield House - Residence of the US Ambassador
A couple of venues participating in the 'Open Garden Squares' weekend were only available subject to a ballot system - eg. 10 Downing Street. The week before the event, we were invited to put our names down for a 'secret venue' subject to a security screening process. This sounded interesting and when our names were selected, it was exciting to find out the venue was Winfield House, residence of the US Ambassador, located in a corner of Regent's Park.

Unfortunately there was a no-photos policy on the garden tour, but it lasted two hours with the head gardener who shared many stories of the challenges that came with accommodating garden parties and visiting presidential helicopters. We also spent a short time over drinks with the US Ambassador, Matthew Barzun who came out to welcome us to his residence.

Southbank Festival of Love
Love was in the air in Southbank where Festival Hall played host to many artistic interpretations of the theme, including the 'Seven Kinds of Love':
1. Agape -love of humanity
2. Storge - family love
3. Pragma - love which endures
4. Philautia - self-respect
5. Philia - shared experience
6. Ludus - flirting, playful affection
7. Eros - romantic and erotic love

Our kind of love - sharing travel and cultural experiences

The 'Leaves of Love' exhibit invited you to write a message on a paper heart and add it to others linked by ribbons.

Instructions for the Leaves of Love

Olie attaching our heart to the ribbon

Richmond Park and Isabella Plantation

Sunny weather signals the need for a traditional picnic in the park. Although taking place in mid-May, we celebrated our wedding anniversary with champagne, cured meat, cheese and pastries in Richmond Park and one of the highlights was visiting Isabella Plantation - an ornamental garden where 15 varieties of azalea and 50 species of rhododendron were in full bloom when we visited.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and F1 Fan Zone

We didn't just visit parks in summer to see flowers. When the weekend of the British Grand Prix arrived, we decided to watch it with a bit of atmosphere - buying tickets for the F1 Fan Zone at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, right next to Stratford City Shopping Centre - less atmosphere than being at Silverstone but a lot more affordable.

Formula One Ferrari display

Tour de France
Cycling has never been high on our sporting watch list, so when the Tour de France came to the UK, it was nice to join the crowds watching it go through Canary Wharf. However the soggy weather (typical of whenever London hosts an event) dampened any enthusiasm for seeing it up close and instead the window at work offered a more comfortable viewpoint.

View of the crowd waiting for the peloton to pass

Imperial War Museum

The 100th anniversary of Great Britain's declaration of war on Germany (World War I) was a reason to head to the recently renovated Imperial War Museum. The exhibits were amazing - although you needed a lot of time to soak in all the information and navigate through the crowds. 

How did they get the plane inside the building?

An army truck driving into the courtyard

Tchaikovsky Gala - Royal Albert Hall

Our appreciation of classical music has grown considerably since we have been in the UK. We have seen a number of musical performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - our clear favourite is the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky performed with pyrotechnics and cannons inside the Royal Albert Hall.

The Albert Memorial, outside the Royal Albert Hall

Inside the Royal Albert Hall

Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go

It was a great performance at the O2 Arena - original, clever and unique. However not being 'die-hard' fans, we did ourselves a disservice by not watching some of their skits before the performance and some of the character references and points where the rest of the audience were in fits of laughter were slightly lost on us. 

Goodbye Pythons - group hug

Titus Andronicus at the Globe

Titus Andronicus - the most violent piece of work by William Shakespeare, was the complete opposite to any theatre show we had seen in London. Dark and gory with audience members fainting when the fake blood came spurting out. Our tip would be to make sure you are in the 'standing room only' section to get the feel for audience participation as the actors are constantly running through the crowd with large Roman style props. 

The Globe Theatre

Standing room area in The Globe

Secret London
Over the two months that she was a 'Lady of Leisure', Mei decided to explore historical areas of London with the help of a Secret London walks guidebook that she had picked up from the Museum of London. The photos below are some of the City's lesser known attractions and unique expressions of 'culture' that were by-chance encounters during our weekends in town.

Bunhill Fields Cemetery - Memorial to Daniel Defoe

Two illustrated benches in tribute to James Bond; and Pride and Prejudice. Signage outside the Charles Dickens Museum.

Views of Queen's Square, Bloomsbury

Historic plaques at the former residences of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Oscar Wilde 

The Ferryman's Seat and the plaque outside Christopher Wren's House, Southwark

Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark

Battersea Park

The artist that paints old chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge

London Naked Bike Ride

The sand artist at Gabriel's Wharf

Summer Eating

The last section of this blog post is devoted to a gallery of all things food related - the restaurants and foodie events we experienced over Summer. Our stomachs are rumbling from just looking back over these photos. Enjoy!

Paternoster Chop House, near St Paul's Cathedral

Our tip: go for the steak!

Dragon Castle, Elephant and Castle

Our favourite dim sum restaurant in London 

Hakkasan Hanway Place

Tip: Try the Sunday champagne and dim-sum tasting menu
and leave room for desserts

Tirage - Champagne et Plats

Great tasting menu at this Champagne bar in the City

Vivat Bacchus (Wine Bar), Farringdon

French charcuterie platter

Amazing artisan cheeses

Vivat Bacchus (Wine Bar), London Bridge

Great for group wine and cheese tastings

Burger and Lobster, St Pauls

Lobster, fries, salad and yummy melted butter

Duck and Waffle, Heron Tower

Like eating breakfast with a view anytime of day

Bibigo (Korean restaurant), Soho

Tip: The set menu is value for money
and the fish waffle was interesting

Dragon Boat and Food Festival, London Regatta Center, Docklands

Dragon boat racing next to City Airport

Urban Food Fest, Shoreditch

A ramen noodle burger - very challenging to eat

Ciderdog Festival, London Bridge

Over 100 different types of cider and perry

Billingsgate Market

Cooking crawfish for the first time

Kerb Ice-cream Adventure, Kings Cross

Celebrating 25 years of Magnum Ice-cream, Selfridges

Bling up your own Magnum

Ropewalk at Maltby Street Market

WaffleOn - best 5pound bacon, egg and maple syrup waffle

The Real Food Market, Festival Hall

Creperie Nicolas, best Breton style crepes

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