This post will look at my past two weekends in London, both of which started with few plans and ended up being absolutely fantastic.
The weekend of January 23 -25
On Friday, when I finished work, I had no firm plans for the weekend. My usual partners in crime were almost all unavailable and the one “plan” I had made was to do touristy things on Sunday with my friend Mike. Friday was spent doing a shop and watching a movie on Netflix, not the most exciting start to a weekend, to say the least.
When I woke up on Saturday to a bright blue sky with the sun shining I just KNEW I could not spend the day in my flat. I sent out a few texts and Facebook messages but decided that I would trek out on my own. My friend Shelby had suggested I walk along Southbank, a plan I had already been contemplating but his suggestion solidified my decision. I have been to Southbank before, I’ve walked from London Bridge to the Tate Modern and from Waterloo to Westminster Bridge but I had never walked from London Bridge all the way to Westminster, nor had I seen Westminster up close. So, with this plan in mind I set out for an afternoon of sights and sunshine.
I found a few lovely side streets and an interesting market type area with some fun shops. It was invigorating to get out into the sunshine with just a slight chill in the air just me, the sights, and my ipod. The walkways were busy and it was wonderful to see so many people out enjoying London in the beautiful weather. I also happened to pass by a sizeable group of people crowded around a gated side street. What could this be for I pondered but after looking up I realized I had finally happened upon Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives).
While I was out walking I got a text message from my friend Samantha who was free to go for drinks with me that night. She sent me a few ideas of places we could go for food or drinks and one of them was absolutely PERFECT. She suggested that we go to a place called “The Blues Kitchen” in Shoreditch where a live soul band, the Atlantic Soul Orchestra, was scheduled to be playing. For those who don’t know, I grew up on Soul and Motown music. I was a lead singer in my high school’s soul and blues band. Needless to say I was THRILLED to be able to go see my favourite genre of music live, and for free! Prior to the band hitting the stage the DJ’s were playing old soul and Motown songs, some of which I’d never heard before. The bar was packed, we had tried to reserve a table but all of them had been reserved so we had to make due with standing for about 2 hours before the band started playing. All that standing was absolutely worth it. The band was AMAZING! They played two tight sets and there were piles of people dancing and enjoying the tunes.
I ended up having to take two different buses to get home but not getting to bed until after 3:30 am was well worth it for the amazing night!
On Sunday I woke up feeling slightly wibbly but after a shower, and an egg and toast, I was right as rain and ready to meet Mike for our trip to Kensington Palace. Mike and I met up at South Kensington Station so that we could go for lunch before heading to the palace. We ended up going to Pizza Express where I had an amazing Calzone (great for the day after slightly too much revelry). Afterwards we walked over to Kensington Palace. Kensington was the childhood home of Queen Victoria and, as such, there is a large exhibit that takes visitors through various important events in her life. I know a bit about Victoria but I found the exhibit enlightening and beautiful. I was shocked to realize that there was a crazy height difference between Victoria and Albert, judging by the outfits that were on display her head must’ve just barely come up to his shoulder, she was a wee little thing!
After the Victoria Exhibit we went through the “Fashion Rules” exhibit which featured numerous outfits from the Queen, Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana. Although I’d seen pictures of the Queen as a young woman it was quite something else to see the outfits that she wore in the 50’s, they were so classic and youthful! I would wear almost all of the outfits that they had on display.
Princess Margaret was quite the fashion icon from what I could see, lucky being the younger daughter as she had far more freedom to wear edgier options.
At the end of the exhibit were some of Princess Di’s dresses which led me to conclude that even royalty couldn’t escape the fashion faux pas that was the 80’s. While two of the dresses were acceptable, the majority were horrendous reminders of why the 80’s should be a forgotten era in the fashion history books.
The last exhibit that we saw was that of the Georgians. Much like at Hampton court, there were historically accurate outfits made of paper that told brief stories of some of the important people that lived at or frequented Kensington palace during the Georgian reign.
The Georgian apartments were lovely although both Mike and I found the entire palace to be quite dark. I suppose that they use blackout curtains and keep the palace particularly dark in order to preserve the historic artifacts (no flash photography is permitted in the palace). Regardless, the dark wood panelling did not lend to a bright and airy feel in the apartments.
After our time at Kensington, we enjoyed a walk through Hyde Park to find the Peter Pan Statue. It was surprisingly fitting to see the one child who never grew up with an old friend. I’ve known Mike since first year university and it’s crazy to think back on where I was when I went off to Queen’s for my first year of university and where I am now. All children grow up…
After Kensington, I took a trip to Regent street to go to the Lush store there to get some conditioner that might help save my poor locks from utter destruction. I had also been reading about a product they sell called “R&B” which is an oil based product that is supposed to prevent further damage for curly hair. The reviews I’d read had been mixed with some people claiming that the product left their hair greasy. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend over £10 on a product that I might not even like. Fortunately, I ended up chatting with the nicest sales girl and explained my predicament to her and she was kind enough to gift me with an entire pot of R&B as well as some moisturizing shampoo. I ended up getting two products for the price of one! SCORE!
Weekend of January 30th to February 1st
My weekend started out much like the last except that I had plans for Friday and (I thought) for Sunday. After a crazy week with my usual reception kids I was in need of a fun night out. Unfortunately for Shea, my idea of a fun night out is going to “Lates” at a museum. “Lates” are late nights at museums, Natural History and V&A are on the last Friday of every month, where bevvies are served and many people dress up classily. Despite Shea being unsure of how much fun it could be to go to a museum on a Friday night she was kind enough to humour me.
Fortunately for me, it turned out to be an awesome time! How often can you wander around a museum with a drink in hand? Sadly, we didn’t get to see too much due to timing and spending a bit too much time sitting on a bench but we are well prepared for the last Friday in February! Next time, we will go straight to the dinos! One of the highlights had nothing to do with the museum at all but came whilst standing in line for a drink when I started singing “Bills, Bills, Bills” and a guy standing in line in front of us turned around “Are you singing Destiny’s Child?!” and started singing along with Shea and I. Pure laughs. I also learned that Richard Owen coined the term Dinosaur, which was an incredibly entertaining discovery for me!
On Sunday I was supposed to go to a vintage fair with my friend Samantha but I had also been invited to tag along on a trip to Columbia Road Flower Market in Shoreditch with my friend Kesten and her boyfriend. Since I hadn’t heard from Samantha by 10am, I messaged Kesten to see if she was still going to the flower market. It ended up being a wonderful afternoon filled with beauty.
I felt like I was in a modern day Pygmalion with flower sellers hawking their wares to a street packed with people. I didn’t purchase any flowers this week but the market is open every Sunday and I think I might have to go back next week so I can add a little colour to my room (not to mention the lovely fragrance). Tulips were all the rage this week but Kesten told me that different flowers are more common depending on when you go.
My personal favourite flowers are lilies but I think I might have to have a top five if I keep frequenting the market! One of the surprises of today was cheap street calamari, 1.50 for a cup of delicious fresh calamari…. I probably could’ve gone for a second helping but it’s also probably best that I didn’t. I might have to make the trip back to Columbia road just for the calamari! After the flower market we went for coffee at a café called “The Old Shoreditch Station”. It was a great place to sit and chat and warm up with a latte. I will definitely be going back to that café since the music was AMAZING; it was almost all old soul music, THANK YOU SHOREDITCH! I think Shoreditch is officially in my top 5 favourite pockets of London.
So… that’s what I’ve been up to. London is an amazing city and there is always something to do, even if it’s just walking down a new side street. This week I am going to be seeing “Made in Dagenham” (A musical) and heading out for a friend’s birthday on Friday (classy style!).
falling asleep midsentence 