London: Tea Time in Wonderland

The first thing you need to know is that this guide is in French. Entirely in French. If you are not confident reading French, read no further or your frustration will be endless…

Ready? Here we go.

Once upon time was a very magical blog promising to make you see wonders in London.

Once back in Paris, the authors took their best magic wand ans shazam! Jeux de piste et enigmes a Londres was born.

At first, I wasn’t convinced. Looking at the pictures, it seemed I already knew… quite a lot already…?

But the whole secret of the book is elsewhere.

The walks proposed -even in those streets you’ve walked through a million times- have this sparkle I so love in geocaching. they make you stop. Really look at this statue you’ve passed 10 times before. Really enjoy a moment, a detail. Discover there were plenty little details you had seen but not aborbed before.

For each neighborhood, you are to find and collect clues, words, numbers that will help you fill tables, crosswords, etc… These will help solve the end of chapter enigma or game. So do keep your eyes open.

Is the book for you, then?

You do not often have the opportunity to come to London but love the place? You have lived there and are nostalgic? Then yes. Just go for it. Marjolaine and Fabien know exactely, with simple words, how to make you visualise a street, a place. You will sometimes almost smell and taste a memory (I particularly thing of their mention of the roasted caramelised nuts on Westminter bridge). Plenty of anecdotes too -  you end up going through it as if it were a book rather than a travelguide!

It has been extremely well thought. Walks are easy. Maps are available. Pics (often original one of a classical place) illustrate each part.

Maybe not your first guide for London. Not that you cannot do it – on the contrary. Everything is so very well explained that you have very little chance of getting lost! Sans doute pas le premier guide a acheter pour decouvrir Londres. Les promenades sont particulierement bien expliquees et je doute que vous risquiez de vous perdre.  But you may benefit more from it if you’ve already been through the wole “classic tourist experience” and have breathed in London first, the atmosphere, the mixture of it.

Are you a London expert already? Well, do give it a try like I did. I exclaimed regularly Oh, that’s right, I wanted to go and see that and forgot it existed! Plenty of great anecdotes too in there. And let’s be frank: when you know a city sooo well, any guide that can make you discover even one or two new secrets is worth having.

What about parents? Can they handle it? Thanks to the riddles, statues and places to find, this is your lifesaver book. it will transform any child who hates to walk into the perfect Sherlock Holmes (and don’t forget to go to the museum

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere.

But surely that’s a possible follow-up for the authors? Same themes but adapted to 3-5s? With that many statues, fab playgrounds, kids activities in (free) museums in London, there’s plenty for them to cover!

Haven’t you ordered the book yet?

Jeux de piste et enigme à Londres
Marjolaine Koch & Fabien Benoit
8€

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