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A Mexican Polish bistro, with a French name, in the middle of Mayfair, in a cutest little tucked away place called Shepherds Market, just off Park Lane. Unfortunately it was closed when I was there today but I will be coming back to sample the food as such (con)fusion of cuisines must be quite a thing!
Apparently the show itself is shambles, and opened to lukewarm reviews, as well as a scandal with Southbank Centre employees writing fake raving reviews on some message board or other to boost its reputation. The poster, however, is brilliant, looks stunning against the brutal grey concrete of the Southbank Centre.
Interactive fountain at the Southbank Centre. I say interactive, as you step on the grills and the water spouts up from the bottom in different places and you have to dodge it all the time to avoid getting soaked. Or not, as some kids do, delighted to get wet.Beautifully executed idea and delightful to watch. It is rare that you see such an innovative and engaging piece of public display.
Public toilet by the Clapham Common tube station. Bit of an odd subject, I know, but the ragged, shabby chic somehow caught my attention. It reminds me of the desolate, yet glamorously grim interiors in The Matrix.
Quite literally in this case. This little alley way just off Long Acre in Covent Garden is an odd one. It backs onto a back street full of old warehouses converted into offices and is usually completely empty during weekends despite the hustle and bustle of Covent Garden just around the corner. Someone scrawled their stream of consciousness on the wall in a pretty random way but it makes it strangely intriguing.
Here are the two political titans of modern history, Roosevelt and Churchill, sitting on a bench chatting casually, while shoppers rush around with bags stuffed with designer clothes bought in the nearby boutiques. An odd, yet strangely comforting feature in the middle of bustling Bond Street.
This is a statue of Beau (George) Brummell, the Regency buck, the man who invented the suit, which is worn today by millions of men (and women) around the world. Brummell was the favourite of Prince Regent, later George IV, and the equivalent of an IT-boy of Regency London. The Brummell craze at its height had people crowding at Beau's bedroom door to watch him dress and do his morning toilette. Brummell reinvented the male ideal and brought it back from the depths of the powdered wig and garish clothes of a Regency fop into the heights of what we now know as the quintessential male attire - the two piece suit.
Brummell ended up dying of syphilis while exiled in France for non-payment of gambling debts. He was without his adoring crowd but his influence on male fashion has been remained with this beautiful statue in Jermyn Street - the traditional home of the finest shirtmakers in England. Beau, who used to change his shirt three times a day, would be very proud!
This is the inside of the Royal Opera House just before the performance of Nutcracker - the ultimate Christmas ballet by Tchaikovsky. ROH is a very special place, one of the best opera houses in the world, with the unique touch of being, well, royal. From Queen's head watching you from just above the stage and the opulent interior to the royal crests emblazoned on the red velvet curtain you know that this is a place with years of tradition and not unlike Buckingham Palace.
The second photo is taken from the roof terrace of RHO overlooking the Covent Garden Piazza. London can be a tad grey and forlorn during winter months but seeing it this way lit up with the carousel banging out an old Italian tune makes you see another side of it.
