When London caught Royal Wedding fever!

This was the week when London caught Royal Wedding fever and I’m going to show you just how much we were taken over by it! The weather was beautiful, London looked amazing and we really got into the party spirit.

The first set of photos show you the streets and shops all decked out in bunting and flags. You can see Notting Hill streets, street stall,, even Ann Summers getting covered (just) in the flag, and the most over the top of them all – Regent Street – winning the prize for the most possible flags in one street award!

 


Finally the day of the wedding arrived. You had to get up in the middle of the night and ideally camp out for several days to get a spot on the route itself and I decided not to try this as being rather short of stature I’d probably not see very much . I was offered an exclusive ride on the London Eye to see the procession to the church so here’s a photo of the royal car passing Big Ben and a shot of the Mall as it looked the day before the big moment. From the Eye we walked through to Trafalgar Square to see the service on the giant screen where it was absolutely packed with people trying to catch a glimpse and be part of the party.
The next party was Hyde Park where, surrounded by thousands of Londoners and visitors, we saw the balcony moment, the WW2 fly past and then the band struck up and there was dancing and flag waving everywhere! Dressing up as well of course with knights and lots of brides. And finally the street party back in Notting Hill. What a day!
Good job we had a long weekend to recover!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye for now.

 

Sue

 

Sunshine and Rain

With a visit to the theatre on the sunniest afternoon of the year so far, an art exhibition at the Tate and a boat ride on the rainiest one, Somerset House in the sun, a Michelin star (well 2 stars actually) lunch, and a film preview, it’s been a good week.

 

The Tate Modern is showing an exhibition of the work of Van Doesburg and the International Avant Garde. I’d not heard of him but really enjoyed the wonderfully laid out exhibition. He started an influential magazine, De Stijl that became a movement and you can see Mondrian and the like in his work which is called ‘geometric abstraction’. We had lunch in the members’ room which has a wonderful view over the Thames but it was a rainy day so no good for photos. The Tate building itself is wonderful and worth a photo from a previous day. We took the boat to the Tate Britain which is a great ride and had a quick browse around the older Tate brother. What a treat to be able to visit 2 great museums in one day.

 

One of the big tickets in town for the theatre is Jerusalem starring Mark Rylance and we opted for a matinee for this 3 hours blockbuster and yes it was warm and sunny that day! It’s a powerful play about Johnny Byron (Rylance) who lives outside of mainstream society and the play takes swipes at both lives with wit, bravado and some menace. Worth the ticket and the 3 hours!

 

Somerset House was showing 100 years of world photography in aid of homeless charity Crisis. There were wonderful shots from famous photographers, including one from Malick Sidibe whose solo exhibition I’d seen the week before (strange coincidence) and some from people helped by the charity. The famous shots were of a previously homeless man and Prince William, taken by each other and the first shot of a royal taken by an ‘ordinary person’. The fountains were on full pelt in the fabulous courtyard and made for great fun for all ages.
Michelin stars this week were courtesy of The Ledbury, Notting Hill and very nice it was too. these lunch deals are affordable and the place was packed, including a large table of French people who were not on the 2/3 course lunch but the 5 or 6 by the look of it!
The film preview was a new film called Boogie Woogie, which is the name of a Mondrian painting in an odd coincidence having seen some of his work at the Tate early in the week! It’s all about the London art world and was enjoyable but a little bit too ‘in’ that world. Great cast from Gillian Anderson, through Akan Cummings, to Charlotte Rampling, Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lee and Stellan Skarsgard.

Just one more thing – there are dinosaurs in Oxford Street! Don’t believe me? This photo was taken from the bus just by Selfridges….
Bye for now,
Sue