Good grief!
Today's forecast - an unbelievable 22C/72F, sunny intervals. And they say climate change is a hoax - how can it be a hoax when at the end of October in the SE of the UK it's summer temperatures!! The average temperature this time of year should be 14C/57F....
Yesterday evening's trip out to the Waldorf for an anniversary meal with our friends (who were also married the same year as us in October) was sooooooo good! We got a deal on the price, but it was still eye-wateringly expensive, but it was outstanding food. We enjoyed it a LOT. Under the cut for what I had to eat (mostly so I can remember it!
Cured Hampshire Chalk Stream Trout(Dill cucumber, raspberry gel and trout roe with a charred mushroom tuille over the top)
Heritage Beetroots(Crispy polenta, pickled radish and butternut sauce and port reduction)
Lemon Cheesecake
(deconstructed of course with ice cream!)
Today we were up early to catch the train up to go up to London again. We started off by queueing for brunch at The Breakfast Club restaurant in Soho. It's a very popular restaurant, but I'm not surprised as they are very keen to offer sustainable, good-quality food and it's very quirky. After a filling breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and avocado, we walked to Oxford Street to join our guide for a guided 90-minute "Art Deco walk around Soho". It was a really interesting walk and we saw many buildings that I'd not seen before (and some we had) mostly built in the 1920s-30s, but some in the 1980s when the style seemed to come back into fashion. Under the cut for a few highlights.
To see details feel free to click and zoom in!
The old Bourne and Hollingsworth building in Oxford Street has a lot of classic Art Deco twiddly bits!
This is a bit of a mystery building, as no one seems to know who originally built it or owned it, but it's definitely Deco!
The Prince Edward Theatre (a classic!)
Inside .....wow!
The former HQ of The Moving Picture Company in Wardour Street (home of many a film-making company in the past). It's been owned by many film companies over the years including Columbia.
Another nearby building - if you zoom into the top left of the building you'll see an amazing Deco relief sculpture
A Deco car park was built at the height of motor car production in the 1930s. This included accommodation for your chauffeur, beautiful bathrooms for ladies and gentlemen to freshen up and change into their gorgeous gowns and evening dress for their trip to the theatre, and also space for the car to be kept safe!
A close-up of the detail
Lastly, a classic Deco building with cream tiles and details picked out in a darker beige. This is now called Quadrant 4 (a luxury apartment complex) and the facade was restored in 2018
By the end of the tour we'd run over by 25 minutes and walked over 5 miles. It was really interesting and we enjoyed it - so we'll look out for more tours by this guide as she's very good.
We walked back down to Charing Cross and caught a train back after we'd popped into the Paul bakery near Covent Garden to pick up some delicious bread and a couple of palmiers (our favourite!). We got home and mostly have been resting our feet. My watch says I've nearly walked 7 miles so that's enough for today!
Just time for a meme question: 29. When were you packed in tighter than a can of sardines?
When we were walking across Leicester Square on the way back to the station - London is heaving with people again!! You end up weaving around all over the place to get to where you want to go......
Yesterday evening's trip out to the Waldorf for an anniversary meal with our friends (who were also married the same year as us in October) was sooooooo good! We got a deal on the price, but it was still eye-wateringly expensive, but it was outstanding food. We enjoyed it a LOT. Under the cut for what I had to eat (mostly so I can remember it!
Cured Hampshire Chalk Stream Trout(Dill cucumber, raspberry gel and trout roe with a charred mushroom tuille over the top)
Heritage Beetroots(Crispy polenta, pickled radish and butternut sauce and port reduction)
Lemon Cheesecake
(deconstructed of course with ice cream!)
Today we were up early to catch the train up to go up to London again. We started off by queueing for brunch at The Breakfast Club restaurant in Soho. It's a very popular restaurant, but I'm not surprised as they are very keen to offer sustainable, good-quality food and it's very quirky. After a filling breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and avocado, we walked to Oxford Street to join our guide for a guided 90-minute "Art Deco walk around Soho". It was a really interesting walk and we saw many buildings that I'd not seen before (and some we had) mostly built in the 1920s-30s, but some in the 1980s when the style seemed to come back into fashion. Under the cut for a few highlights.
To see details feel free to click and zoom in!
The old Bourne and Hollingsworth building in Oxford Street has a lot of classic Art Deco twiddly bits!
This is a bit of a mystery building, as no one seems to know who originally built it or owned it, but it's definitely Deco!
The Prince Edward Theatre (a classic!)
Inside .....wow!
The former HQ of The Moving Picture Company in Wardour Street (home of many a film-making company in the past). It's been owned by many film companies over the years including Columbia.
Another nearby building - if you zoom into the top left of the building you'll see an amazing Deco relief sculpture
A Deco car park was built at the height of motor car production in the 1930s. This included accommodation for your chauffeur, beautiful bathrooms for ladies and gentlemen to freshen up and change into their gorgeous gowns and evening dress for their trip to the theatre, and also space for the car to be kept safe!
A close-up of the detail
Lastly, a classic Deco building with cream tiles and details picked out in a darker beige. This is now called Quadrant 4 (a luxury apartment complex) and the facade was restored in 2018
By the end of the tour we'd run over by 25 minutes and walked over 5 miles. It was really interesting and we enjoyed it - so we'll look out for more tours by this guide as she's very good.
We walked back down to Charing Cross and caught a train back after we'd popped into the Paul bakery near Covent Garden to pick up some delicious bread and a couple of palmiers (our favourite!). We got home and mostly have been resting our feet. My watch says I've nearly walked 7 miles so that's enough for today!
Just time for a meme question: 29. When were you packed in tighter than a can of sardines?
When we were walking across Leicester Square on the way back to the station - London is heaving with people again!! You end up weaving around all over the place to get to where you want to go......