London: Tea Time in Wonderland

Allergic to technology? The mention of Html leaves you blank-faced?

Try the Decode exhibition @ the V&A. Code lines transform into colourful works of art, recreating themselves constantly in elegant curves… waves reacting to visitors’ movements… You can even have a ghostly picture of yourself projected.

A fab place for kids, really. Many presentations are interactive – like this tree reacting to the wind blowing outside the museum and shedding its leaves of light on the floor – shuffle through them. The best one certainly is this canvass on which you can project splashes of colours just by making your hands dance… Highly enjoyable, whether you’re a two year old od a full grown maestro. Alternatively, play with the 3D model of a city or carress the LED reeds that will light up as you brush past them….

Modern but enchanting – @ £5.90, a lovely occasion to experiment electronic poetry. Ideal with kids. Especially as with this 2 for 1 offer until January 31!

You might as well stop for a cupcake too @ the Hummingbird bakery, close to the tube station. Or maybe you won’t be able to resist Ben’s cookies, with their melting chocolate chips… (just at the exit of the tube station)

Decode
V&A
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL

Until April 11, 2010
£5 / adult

Tottenham Court Road is certainly my favourite Tube station. Busy for sure, but hey, it also shelter 1000 square meters of crazy and colourful mosaics. I never get tired of fixing the geometric shapes, discover a new object each time… Butterflies, masks (many references to the British Museum), saxophons, a heron, a cow, a chicken, a satellite…

This work of art by the Scottish artist Paolozzi (the pioneer of pop art in England) however proves very tricky: how to renovate and modernise the station without destroying them? It took years of work in the early 1980ies and will take as much to take the tiles down…

Had never heard of the guy? You probably already know another of is sculptures though – the giant holding a compass at the entry of the British Library. Why not hunt his other treasures with this Londonist list?

Oh, feeling so lazy these days. But come on, plenty to do!

- Admire extraodinary ice sculptures @ Canary Wharf Friday and Saturday…

- Enjoy the V&A newly openedMedieval and Renaissance galleries. You think you’ll just walk through them and end up staying an hour!

- Redecorate your house thanks to the London art Fair…

- Learn about 200 years of North-American rituals and traditions @ the British Museum…

- See something new @ the Saatchi Gallery: Richard Wilson’s new structural art work, 20:50…

- Turn slow movement into art…

- Take the kids to the mime festival…

- try the new pie and mash restaurant in Covent Garden…

- Find a colourful way back home, at nightfall, through Jubilee Park…

- and sleep @ the Natural History Museum! £45 for 5 children 8-11 and 3 adults. A night visit, torch litof the galleries, a film projections, talks about insects… Ideal for adventurers!

You’ll find me instead… cocooning in front of a roaring chimney fire with a mug of cocoa in Cheshire. How about you?

My friend Celine mentioned it on her blog -  have you seen the London ice polar bear on Trafalgar square?

Interesting ides of the WWF to symbolise the melting ice and the ecologicale consequences on the animals. We went there together, loved the poetic side of it but wondered, looking at it melting by the minute: what impact will it have when only the paws would be left?

But the artist had been clever, constructing it around the animal skeletton, appearing as the ice disappears. Last week, passers-by marvelled, carressed it, vaguely listened to explanations, took a picture and left smiling. Now it hits them. They gasp, are shocked and troubled by it, they stop in their tracks and ask.

A successful little project who has melted many a heart this week. Take the kids there, the bear will be there until December 21.

Fed up spending your evenings wrapping a mountain of presents in golden gift paper? Chill out!

- Mix your own soda on Thursday…

- Take your kids to the Scoop on Friday to sing Xmas…

- Or play Gay Bingo on Friday at Selfridge’s…

- Munch your way through the slow food market on Southbank or at the Real food market at Covent Garden, more gourmet.

- Have the kids create their own Xmas disguise…

- Or ride in a carriage at Kew Gardens…

- A little flight simulation, guys?

- Or would you prefer a pint and some table football?

- Have a look at the new Sherlock Holmes @ Mme Tussaud (and double the occasion with the Sherlock Holmes museum a few steps away)

- Listen to poetry and short stories in Hyde Park while eating mince pies…

- Grab a glass of mulled wine and listen to Xmas carols @ Covent Garden…

- Stop at St Pancras and see ice sculptures…

- Watch the Chinese Circus and dream…

- Add a little pop street art…

You’ll find me at the All of everything exhibition between two suitcases to be packed…

I usually walk up Fleet street at week-ends. Although I have always wondered about this amazing hive, the door below has always been shut by a heavy grid.

Weekdays, though, what a treasure! Doulton tiles, glossy, varnished, hand painted, floral theme, sculpted fishes everywhere, not a single space left not decorated from gorund to ceiling… Luxurious.

Nearby sits the tiny Twinings Museum. The Twining inheritants, having made their fortune in the tea industry, decide in 1825 to starrt their own bank on Fleet St. In 10 years, they’ll grow from a simple desk, juggling between trade and banking, to building their own at number 215 – just next door to the Lloyds building.  A first fusion takes place in 1892: the Lloyds Bank, Twinings Branch. This will later lead to a complete absorption and the whole company will move under Lloyds – Richard Twining III will even be one of its directors.

I can’t find much on the architecture of the place though. It originally opened in 1883 as a smart restaurant. A revolution at the time, it provided air-conditioning! Miraculous? In fact, two women pedalled in the basement on a tandem actioning a whole air system. Go and see, it is still there!

And you thought finance was boring?

Lloyds TSB
222 Strand,
Covent Garden
London, WC2R 1BB

Have a look at this pub a couple of streets away!

In parallel to the Earth exhibition, and just a few steps from it, Stuart Haygarth brings a new light on daily objects.

Not those collectables or cute ones you put on your shelves. The broken ones which you brush quicly to the nearest bin.

Recycling, and using an objets for anohter use – we all know that. But here, it is turned into an art, transformed into better objects than they ever were. You have no idea what gorgeous chandelier those spectacles glasses could become…

…or their branches! Actually, you have never considered glasses at all before. Their shape, any details suddenly becomes extraodinary.

Same goes for car viewing mirrros -  shattered, they suddenly star in a room. Spendid work on lighting.

By the way, I’m sure you’ll find a new interest in your grandma’s collections, the ones you previously labelled as absurd!

A small show, but so worth the stop. And free as well!

Found
Haunch of Venison
6 Burlington Gardens
London W1S 3ET

Free
Until January 30, 2010

Why not discuss it with friends over a scrumptious cake of the Sketch pop-up?

Fed up with Xmas shopping? A few ideas to forget all about it…

- Well first, you need energy. Carluccio’s has a special -10% on their deli this Thursday. Best of all, you’re welcomed with mulled wine and canapes…

- T’is the season to be eating finger-licking good treats! Head for the chocolate festival on Southbank.

- Don’t forget the new exhibitions: question your identity @ the Wellcome Collection or test artistic technology @ the V&A.

- More of the street art fan? Head for the Flying Eyeball.

- of course there is the pop-up of the week-end: Elton John’s clothes and stage outfits on sale, profits going to his AIDS foundation. Not whithin your budget? Try Barnardo’s vintage shop on Carnaby street to pack a bargain!

- Rediscover England with fascinating landscape pictures @ the National Theatre…

- Take the kids to a panto: there will be a toy Aladdin one @ Covent Garden on Sunday…

-… or pet an ice polar bear on Trafalgar Square….

- … or your toddlers to a Baby disco party on Saturday! Shake it, baby!

- Why not an interactive Treasur Hunt?

- a last festive note: the Tate Britain is setting up its artistic Xmas tree this Friday.

Did I forget anything? Leave me a note!

You’ll find me @ the Earth exhibition (then trying to choose from one of the gorgeous cakes at the Sketch Pop Up) and at the strange and amazing House of fairy tales

The afternoon tea is the British tradition I savour most. London particularly provides such a choice of them -  each 5* hotel proposing his own, adding a different signature.

Sometimes though, I get fed up with scones and clotted cream or cucumber sandwiches at 5 o’clock. Silver teapots and little finger in the air do take a toll. I feel like painting the white cups fushia.

Yauatcha probably is my best refuge in London. Bless them, they propose two versions – a classical and an Asian one. The deco is modern and colourful, the collection of teas is to die for.

And the three-tier-serving stand is a painting of its own. Miniature treats at each level. A feast not only for the eyes. Lovley selection of  dimsums, ones with barbecued pork, another with venison – oh what a taste! And a collection of mini-pastries, half French, halsf Japanese, ganaches mixed with passionfruit, litchee jelly with whole raspberries, macaroons with a fragrant filling… Pause between two mouthfuls to have a bite of the splendidly presented exotic fruit. Great idea -  not only is this an idela palate cleanser but it does help exploring more level of savour in the sweets. You’ll struggle to eat them all: the tastes are so rich, so full that you feel wholly satisfied.

You ask for the bill. The waitress looks a bit upset: don’t you worry, your scones will be there in a minute. Scones? Oh, that won’t be manageable! But here they are, artisticaly folded in a crispy white napkin, their perfume enticing you to come closer. Eat me…! Of course you will – nice chance to have mascarpone than clotted cream and tea jelly too. And what a revolution! Green tea, coconut an chocolate chipped scones. Very light, very much make an impression on you. The last ones particularly would deserve to be sold in the shop -  I would get a load of them every week-end.

Really can’t eat anything else? Not to worry, Yauatchea is well prepared and will place the leftover sones in a colourful bag for you to take home. What a luxury breakfast the following morning!

Are you a fan lover? Try Lady Gray’s heavenly ones!

Yauatcha
15-17 Broadwick Street
London W1F 0DL
www.yauatcha.com
£25

I stumbled upon this Japanese garden in Holland Park. It just invites you to sit and forget about your day…

This originally was a gift from the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce for the Japanese festival in 1991. Very traditional. Trees are cut respecting the natural shape of the branches. The cascade is in 3 steps and represent miniature mountains and gorges while the pond symbolises the quietness of the ocean.

It’s easy to be hypnotised byt the clouds refecting in the water – soothing. Only the koi, the Japenese carps will wake you up with a splash of colour…

51.5032 -0.205736 http://www.qype.co.uk/place/170694-Kyoto-Garden-in-Holland-Park-London/photos Kyoto Garden in Holland Park