I usually hate reading snall lines, prefering to scan through explanatory pannels. This is one of the first time I have so much pleasure reading every single detail. My daugter ran around, to ticking off key object on her kids’ trail, clicking on computer pannels, looking in the special windows at her level. She actually is the one who refused to leave!

Do go and learn about this formidable nurse who defied Victorian proprieties. Although from an upper class family, she will react as a feminist, refuse to marry and preferred to follow her vocation. She leaves for the Crimea wars and will fight to improve the terrible army hospital conditions there. Once back to England, the public supports her with generous donations: she opens the very first nurse school. What a recolution! Until then, nurses were middle class, learnt on a day-to-day basis from experience and were generally badly judged. She will never stop pushing for improvement in hospitals – whether civil or military – and even orphanages and workhouses. A prioneer for her time and truly inspiring still for ours.

Florence Nightingale Museum
2 Lambeth Palace Road
London SE1

£5.80/adult, £4.80 per child 5+
Pssst: why not rest in the nearby garden or try the Topolsky Gallery too, a 10mn walk from there?

- Museums will be open late this week-end – check the events here!

- Happy Birthday to the Tate, 10 years old! A fab program is planned for the coming days. The occasion to see their community garden too, generally closed to the public (a few pics here)

- Stop at Fortnum and Mason, skip the delicatessen part, head for the first floor and have a look at some calorie-free but appetizing works of art…

- Chase a giant banana, it’s for a good cause… Or would you prefer a few steps of tango?

- Surely you will not resist a little shopping? The Spirit of Summer Fair will compensate for the missing sun…

- A little girl’s dream: the dollhouse festival. So cute!

- Why not a pop-quizz @ Selfridges? (And if you are hunting elephants, you’ll find one close to their official elephant shop)

- Finf out more about the Women’s library archives…

You’ll find me… savouring tapas @ Casa Brinsida, discovering the newly re-opened Florence Nightingale museum, and -so not laugh!- at the cress festival to enjoy their farmers’ market. Your turn: what are your advice for the week-end?

Ah, but there is a 4 and 1/2 year old princess jumping up and down at your side. She really, really, really would like to go for a walk, please, mummy?

You’re counting your options. It is wet and muddy outside, so out are the countryside and the parks. You have been so many times to the Natural History Museum (renamed here the Dinosaurs’s house), the Science Museum and the V&A Childhood Museum that you could go round them in your sleep.

Where to go?

The Greenwich National Maritime Museum! Kids can run happily there, admire boats figures, learn how waves are created… The last floor proposes a hands on section on communication (flags, morse, radio), navigation (with a fab simulator system).  Kids activities are very often on at week-ends – colouring, cutting, even treasure hunting. There is a Paul cafe on the first floor (Hooray say all Froggies, real croissants in view!).

Most of all, do go for their actual exhibition Toy Boats, those adorable miniture ships children of good families sailed on ponds in the last century. Picture this – adorable little boy in a sailor suit…

A hundred are gathered here, amazing, gorgeous, some huge, and impressive in details.

What I had failed to understand is that they were not mere toys. Those became a real competition between brands, collections, pride of a country too. We start towards the 1850s. No computer or surreal games then: amusements were to reflect the outside world. The century to come will mark formidable maritime advancement in technology. Countries try to outpass each other: who will build the biggest? Fastest? Most beautiful ship?

What a great occasion for toy manufacturers. The people are fascinated. They crowd harbours to gasp at them. The publicity is taken care of already! They just need to create miniature versions, as close as possible to the real ones. Germany is the first in line, recognised world wide for the quality, the precision. They even develop a range of submarines. France is next in line. The toys sell like mad, the industry develops. Of course, little boys will want races! Twisted rubber bands, steam models (though this could prove dangerous), springs, the very first batteries…

A lovely cruise through time. Parents and kids alike will leave with twinkles in their eyes, longing for the next sunny day, hoping to sail paper boats on the river if they have not yet found the toy boat of their dream…

Toy Boats

Until October 31, 2010
Museum and exhibition free
National Maritime Museum
Greenwich
Romney Road
Greenwich, London SE10 9

Psssst! The Greenwich world food market is only a 10mn walk away, ideal for a week-end lunch!

- Yummy times! Head for the Real Food festival for a gourmet experience. Plenty to taste, countless demonstrations! Great for kids too with a butter churning workshop, milking demonstrations, animals to pet…

- Fairtrade fan? Join the party! Film and music also are part of the fun.

- if you love vintage clothes,  head for Clerkenwell!

- Add a little elegance to your week-end with the Grace Kelly exhibition @ the V&A…

- Take the boys (whichever age, grown ups included) to dream @ the Toy boat exhibition @ the Greenwich Maritime Museum. Adorable. There’s a pond whithin Greenwich Park where you can rent a small boat and go round or just bring your own toys to float… And why not stop @ the Greenwich food market for a bite?

- Don’t miss the Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet festival. We went last year and had a fab time with the non-stop Punch and Judy shows and admiring the collection of puppets… A few pictures this way (sorry, the text will be in French though).

- Why not a pics exhibition? Atlas presents faces of our times – splendid photos of famous people that marked our century. Albert Einstein, the Queen Elicabeth II, Picasso…

- if you like knowing all the tricks, try the I remember you exhibition, a film in which Keira Knightley plays. You’ll get to see how the scenes were prepared.

- Dance in the streets! Well at least, Carnaby Street…

- Finish with a hit and try these cocktails inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show…

You’ll find me hunting elephants in Green Park. I can’t wait to see the 200 Morris Dancers on Trafalgar Square on Saturday. What are your plans?

On the meat and fish side, the works are dedicated to the key animals…

Each door is surmounted by semi-circular pannel inviting the visitor to step ahead…

The theme is even kept on the fruit and veg side, lemoms and grapes up to the ceilings!

Keep your eyes up for this last one, still pretty modern althouh it is more than a 100 years old, a colourful stained windows ceiling…

And if you feel like practising your French (sorry! Plenty of pictures, though), have a look here for…
- the Egyptian escalator…
- the sweet side of the food court…

Harrods
87–135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London, SW1X 7XL

The work looks pretty futuristic, almost lacquer like, explosions of reds, blues, blacks, wish dashes of white bringing up an extraordinary luminosity.

But do come closer. The details in each paintings is rather amazing. A mix of technics, from those of a classical painter to those of a modern graphic artist. Landscapes are often guessed, characters very intimate, details brought to bright clarity with pink ink. A constant juxtaposition of pardoxes.

If the title of the show, Exodus, refers to his leaving the UK for the US, the apocalypse feeling, the jump into another dimension is also felt in his drawings, which fuse into each other. I particularly admire his skill for depixelling with only a brush. Fascinating technic.

An artist with infinite talent, to be followed with great interest!

Lazarides
11 Rathbone Place
London W1T 1HR

Until May 06, 2010 -  free

- The Easter passion played on Trafalgar Square: such a show deserves to stop by and have a look.

- Bet on Oxford or Cambridge for the traditional Boat Race… The Spitafield farm prefers to hold its yearly Goat Race (bottom of the page). I tried it last year and had a ball…

- Feeling a little elevenish? Hoorray, the Real Food Market is back @ Covent Garden!

- Womder what the hell chessboxing could look like…

- Are you in an art mood? Think street art @ the Black Rat gallery... Rediscover famous album covers here… Be amazed by bees… Or hop to Selfridge’s for some paper madness!

- Mmmh. Harpsichord and chocolate @ Handel House? Or more traditional @ Chiswick House – Easter bonnet parade, egg trail, teddies picnic…

- A winning recipe: Punch and Judy show and a mobile farm with chicks, lamps and rabbits to pet!

Where to find me? Well, I don’t think I can resist stopping at Haagen Dazs as they have a new Easter ice-cream… I will also be hunting the Easter Bunny @ the Childhood Museum – ideal on a rainy day. If the sun comes out, I’ll just jumps in a boat @ Little Venice and will stop @ the London zoo. What about you?

One floor offers entire shelves of curiosities – from totems to fakir shoes. There always is a free temporary exhibition on. And you can get some strengths back at the Peyton and Byrne cafe – always some scrumptious cakes to chose from.

Visitors rarely know they can find a unique work from Picasso too. Not surprising as it hangs in an unsual and most discreet place – just above the entrance door. Yep, not easy to make out as its sketch is very fine in line and is meters from you.

In 1950, Picasso travels to England – he has been invited to the World Peace Congress… which finally will not take place. Bernal, an Irish scientist also known as a pacifist, decides to throw a party to cheer everyone up.

A few drinks kater, the two celebrities are happily chatting together. Bernal asks the artist whether he would draw a little something on the wall nearby. Picasso obliges and creates this universal winged couple, adding the laurel wreath in symbol of peace.

Comes 1969 and the building is to be destroyed. Bernal has the mural chiselled out. It will later be sold to the Wellcome XXXX as it follows on its initial thought and hope: science and art coming together for everyone’s sake.

One of these precious London details that go unnoticed.

Wellcome Collection
183 Euston rd
London NW1 2BE

Free

- Still in an Easter mood? The try the Claridges’ afternoon tea with hot cross buns… and, my friend, a Valrhona hot chocolate…

- Emmenez les enfants decouvrir une tradition suedoise pour Paques…

- Fancy a little suspense? Learn more about Hitchcock…

- For something totally different, go and look at these surprising nail sculptures… or this floating one @ St Paul’s…

- Rediscover the British interior design of the last 150 years…

- or if the sun’s out, head for Greenwich! Have a bite to eat at the food market then learn a few things about the place. There’s even talk about a micro-brewery producing fab beers…

- Looking for a great place for a special occasion? Why not a brunch on the 29th floor with a 360 deg view? Amazing but , wow, £65…

- Empty your bank account @ the Spring Country Living Fair – so many unique and marvelous gifts there…

You’ll find me @ Kensington Palace, enchanted for a while… and at the Alice pop-up cafe @ Harrod’s..

We chose a lovely spring Sunday to stroll through the most famous and certainly the most atmospheric.

Highgate cemetary opened its doors in 1839. The gardeners decide to keep its meadow feeling, its countryside feeling. Situated on the side of a hill (131m, one of the highest in North London), it soon proves very popular. If this is, of course, a mourning place… it also becomes a fashionable place for its view of London, its prettyness, its elegant graves… These days, the trees have grown so tall they hide the view but the place remains elegant and serene.

In 1850, it proves so successful the company decides to buy 19 acres down the hill – this becomes East Highgate, the older part naturally renamed West Highgate. A problem arises: the chapel remains on the other side of the road. With so much money put forward for the lanf, there is no way they can afford a second church. However, once consecrated, a body cannot leave a graveyard. What to do? Have the road blessed? Categorically refused. It si finally decided to… dig a tunnel underneath it…

Comes the XXth century. Two wars, less money coming in as incineration is prefered… The west side closes in 1975. Thankfully, a group of volunteers create an association to protect it.

The West side can only be seen through a guided tour (which is sadly not accessible to children under 8. If you are lucky a devoted friend or husband will take the kids to the nearby park – plenty of swings, slides…). It is better to start with the East side anyway (where children are welcome. I even saw mums with a buggy. The entree fee is £3)

If you have already walked through Brompton Cemetary, you will be amazed by the difference. You wouldn’t have realised at the time but it was pretty much a city graveyard – no matter that it was on the outskirts of London. Remember – wide avenues, graves neatly organisez in rows. On a match day, the silence is regularly interrupted by joy or disappointed cries of supporters. No way you can forget civilisation there.

As soon as you step in, your pace changes. Cleared towards the entrance you quicly reach a wooded heart. Very green, very peaceful. Of course, some central avenues give you a guideline but it is so tempting to take one of those small paths between the lanes… It really feels like a walk in the woods. The Little Red Riding hood could appear any time, basket in hand. No wolves here of course, but foxes have been seen at dusk.

Leave the main axes behind. Nature soon claws back, velevery moss, ivy. weeping angels are embracesd by garlands of bright leaves.You’ll notice many army or colonial graves. Other are more simple Mother, Father… And if at first, the rows are quite organised, you will find pretty overcrowded sections!

You will sometimes find graves indicating… the address of the deceased (too many homonyms?)… or showing the sculpted portrait of the favoured dog…

It is very easy to spend your afternoon there, not even thinling of the time once.

oh, don’t forget to visit the most famous local – Karl Marx is buried there with part of his family. Lenin is said to have come regularly while living in London in 1903. Originally, the grave was discreet in a darker side of the cemetary. But revolutionarist friends had it moved to a more prominent position and added this extravagant bust – it really cannot be missed. Even today fresh flowers appear on a daily basis.

Spring is an ideal season to stroll along. The plants carefully planted on graves have happily spread and you will meet bunches of snowdrops, daffodils, muscaris, tulips here and there. Squirrels are much more shy than at Brompton – they would have run towards you, hoping for nuts or a biscuit. Here they’re more likely to disappear within seconds.

Want to know more about the Victorian mourning etiquette? Try Tracy Chevaliers’ Falling Angels which paints its story with hihgate cemeteray as background…

Highgate Cemetary
Swain’s lane
London N66PG

£3 /adult