Tea Time in Wonderland

Archive for the ‘Survie des parents / Parents’ survival kit’ Category

Fed up with the classic London shots? The usual view of Big Ben from the bottom of the London Eye, or from Westminster Bridge (where you have to fight against the constant flow of passers-by)? Fancy enjoying this iconic view but without the tourists?

Take your packlunch to the other side of Westminster Bridge – where St Thomas Hospital and the Florence Nightingale museum are. There also hides a lovely garden – relaxing, quiet, very often empty, but with a splendid view on the Parliament.

The hospital bursar used to have his house here – it was all bombed during the war. In 1972, it was decided to keep it as an open space with this abstract fountain by Gabo.

Particularly enjoyable @ sunset time…

St Thomas’ Hospital
Lambeth Palace Road
South Bank, SE1 7EH

More secret gardens?
- The Phoenix garden, close to the Soho buzz
- The Kyoto Garden, soooo zen!

On the right side of Westminster Bridge is St Thomas Hospital, which shelters the excellent Florence Nightingale museum, recently reopened after costly renovations: interactive, rich in anecdotes, it plays with a variety of supports to fascinate visitors of all ages (even the audioguide is disguised as a stethoscope!).

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?

So many times, I had stumbled upon Lola’s cupcakes stand @ Selfridge’s or read in magazines that they were indeed the best cupcakes in London. The crowd had always stopped me. From a distance, I could see colourful cupcakes, but well, you see those everywhere these days. It held no wow factor over me. I felt blasee, and had a few good addresses to satisfy my sugar cravings already.

But pregnancy, you see, has this effect on you: it seems you’re hungry all the time. Like, there, just in front of Lola’s counter and oh joy! no customer for one. I mean, isn’t that a non-disguised call? Have me, eat me, now! Why resist, right?

It’s late afternoon – most of the flavours have gone. One of their strengths is to bakes them in several batches throughout the day (hence always proposing moist cakes) rather than a sole morning delivery (and dry sugar by midday). I hear Cheryl Coles has a weakness for this brand.

Not surprising. *munch-munch*. They’re pretty gorgeous. Nice and melting as a they should. And the cake is flavoured too – I get bored with the endless vanilla – the carrot cupcake is a treat! The icing is butter based and the dose is just right for the mini-ones. I do not think I could manage a full size one without feeling a bit sickened at some point. But all the better: I’m much happier trying a few miniature flavours instead! Do try the banana one, it’s the perfect comfort food for grey, rainy days.

The range also counts some classic flavours and some appetizing one: peanut butter, banana-chocolate, vanilla-coconut… Also this month, a limited edition with Gu - a 70% cacao ganache, brownie effect for the cake. Come early, they sell like mad!

A birthday coming up? Try those giant cupcakes… (£45, though)

The best ones for me still remain Ella’s @ Covent Garden. To better sabotage your (or your worst ennemy’s) diet efforts, try those:
- The Hummingbird Bakery
- The Buttercupcake Shop
- Treacle
- Primrose Bakery

LOLA’s Cupcakes Bar
Selfridges Foodhall
400 Oxford Street
London W1C 2BU

Prices to go: £2.25 foor normal ones, £1.10 for a mini
A few tables on the side – enjoy with an espresso! Prices to eat in: £2.65 for a normal one, £1.30 for a mini.
Two other addresses, one @ Harrods food court, another @ Mayfair. However those sadly do not propose any table.

This week-end is planned to be rain-free – throw away your umbrellas!

- 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?

It’s been raining for days. When it’s not drizzling down, the heaviness of the grey sky makes you feel like staying under the cover.

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!

Strolling through London, you might meet these extraordinary characters…

What an extraordinary way to dress!

The coastermongers used these brilliant buttons on their clothes. Henry Croft, brought up in an orphanage close to St Pancras started to collect the lost ones he found on the floor. Then upgraded his own clothes with them, including his hat and wooden stick. He was nicknamed the Pearly King. Tis was in 1875 -  a real success: people would stop him, give him a coin or two which he then gave to his childhood orphanage to help other kids out. Little by little, associations, hospitals asked him to raise money for them. The demand was so great that he had to recruit other Pearly Kings and Queens.

These days, the tradition continues and they support a cause or the other. Oftenn, the suit is transmitted wihtin the family. I often see them @ Covent Garden, always smiling and ready to pose for a picture.

Look at the designs closely. Each circle is a one penny size and each sign has a meaning. Some are  logical: a horseshoe means luck, a dove peace. Others are more difficult to guess: an anchor would be hope, a flower pot a costermonger…

There is an official parade the first sunday of October – can’t wait to see this royal walk!

Have a look on their website for more pictures. Or watch Mary Poppins again, they do appear in the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

At Greenwich, this week-end, a Pearly King had brought his colourful royal coach…

- How about a ghost hunt with the London Ghost week?

- 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?

Bordeaux had seen a panda invasion. Bath had a pig one (including a flying pig). Londons had seen herds of cows and kangaroos.  But what would an urban jungle be without 250 extra elephants?

Usual story -  the sculptures were decorated by artists, designers, celebrities… In the lot: John Rocha, Lulu Guinness, Sir Terence Conran, Sir Paul Smith, le Prince et la Princesse de Kent, Cartier, Tommy Hilfilger. An inspired artist even used Swarovsky elements on his. They will be auctionned in July to support Elephant Family, an association protecting Asian elephants.

Up to you to fight your way through the London streets and catch them all. Some are really easy to spot, others blend in and can be passed without noticing.

The official map is here. The best place to start (especially if you’re taking the kids on an adventure) probably is the Scoop -  15 there. Or take them on a picnic safari @ Green Park and find the 25 hiding there!

If you do not have the time to play elephant bingo, you’ll find the herd @ the Royal Chelsea Hospital between June 23 and July 02.

The Elephant Parade

Through the whole of London, until June 22, 2010
@ the Royal Chelsea Hospital , from June 23 to july 02, 2010

- The London Eye has decorated Southbank… And if you fancy a ride, my friend Celine has found this 2 for 1 offer!

- 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?

A romantic week-end in London, miles of lovely walks, a musical followed by a pub crawl, a dozen or so postcards sent to make friends jealous, a suitcase overfilled with London souvenirs, a few vintage dresses, lovely chutneys from the Borough Market, the obligatory bag or tea caddy from Harrod’s…

Damned, you really wanted to bring something back for your best friend who soooooooo loves London.

Ah, but your bank accound has considerably gone down in the last few days.

Why not stop at the Japanese chian Muji and get this City in a bag kit? Ideal for fashionistas, design lovers, kids, Xmas stockings and even your shelves.

Light, does not take much space and costs a mere £5.95. I have offered so many of those I actually should buy Muji actions -  they always prove a hit.

Also exists as Paris, barcelona, New-York and Italy sets.

Muji

My two favourite addresses for Muji in London (more on the website):
- les than a minute walk from Tottenham Court Rd tube station (perfect occasion to see its fab murals then enjoy the Phoenix secret garden)
- In Selfridge’s basement