- Fancy a free haircut on Friday? Check this way…

- The Natural History Museum will stay open late. Jazz? Glass of wine on the Darwin center terrasse? Night walk in the wildlife garden?

- Party @ the V&A Summer Camp. Bombay Sapphire will have a design cardboard bar with stylised cardboard glasses (but real cocktails). A great way to enjoy their late evening.

- You can even go on to the Serpentine pavillion and sleepover… Midnight feast, films and even breakfast in the morning…

- I really must try to find a free Saturday morning and do this guided tour of the Somerset House!

- The extraordinary Chilly Gonzales will be @ the field day on Saturday…

- Latin fever @ the Carnaval del pueblo!

- Even more music with the Croydon festival…

- A classic, but have you done it yet? Buckingham Palace is open for the summer….

- Have a spooky evening…

- Saturday, head for Brick Lane: free cocktails, demo of Urban Art and even a tattoo session! You might also decide to stay around and go bowling in this fab diner… Perfect for Sunday’s festival: bowling but British, music and dancing!

- It’s open air cinema season! A whole programme @ the Somerset House… Act crazy for Mamma Mia and choose funky colours… The Wapping Project proposes a barbecue with your movie…

- You already knew routemasters could ne recycled as veggie restaurants (the root-master is my favourite). Well, one of those goes around, proposing German food!

- Oooooh, as soon as I’m on holiday, I am going to book myself one of those fab afternoon teas… Now, chocolate or pink? (vegan and gluten free versions are proposed)

-What about the kids? Little ones will love the teddies picnic @ Covent Garden on Saturday… Teenagers will much prefer to go to the underage festival!

- Give! Exchange!

Pssst, heads up for next week! There will be a maze @ Trafalgar (with dragons and Chinese cooking on Tuesday). And Selfridge’s is to open their Xmas shop too…

Hey, anyone has a great address for a roof terrasse for cocktails?

- Waterloo is offering a food festival -  have a look this way for the program….

- Is the sea too far for you? Well, you can always pretend with Sergent’s gorgeous paintings…

- Do your gourmet shopping in Soho with this brand new Saturday market!

- Stroll through Portobello and try this new ice-cream parlour. Liquorice ice-cream? Ice-cream served on an espresso? Mmmmmh….

- See London differently. Why not with a canoe?

- Be French! Go and play petanque and grab a glass of Ricard…

- Grab friends, a picnic, a nice bottle of wine: it’s the season for open air cinemas!

- Are you a MRavel/Twilight/Star Wars fan? Rush to this festival!

- Dance, play, sing in Shoreditch! The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will play on Friday evening and there will be fireworks. The rest of the week-end will be more family-oriented.

- Oh, and the newest pop-ups… Cheers to Courvoisier (cocktails, massages, martial art)… With Campari, you’ll have cocktails with a view… Play ping-pong for free with Puma (100 tables will be dispatched around London until mid-August)

- Have you heard of  Short and Sweet? this cafe proposes an evening of short films every Monday. Entry is free.

You’ll find me… looking at elephants – yep, those you’ve seen around London, only half size. They’re being sold in a 5* hotel on Friday evening (all the info is on their facebook page)
After that, I need to try and exhaust my daughter @ Legoland. what are your plans?

- Thursday, rush to Trafalgar square, it’s Canada day! Cirque du soleil, music, hockey tournament..,

- Were you wondering how pop-ups could be even more suprising? Well… This one proposes thai sauce crickets amd white chocolate scorpions every Thursday in July. For free. No worry, they also do propose more conventional dishes (though you will have to pay).  Nice place to take adventurous friends (and if they do like insects, there is a range at Fortnum and Mason’s and Selfridges)

- Like to travel through time? Then you’ll love this retro evening -  a drive-in! The cars are already there, you just need to snuggle and order some popcorn from the waitresses skating around….

- The Tate Modern is such a sweetie – litterally! – for the festival of architecture…

- Talk to strangers (and have a free meal)!

- have a look at the disused Aldwych tube station, reopened for a very limited time…

- Photo amateurs will love this discovery day of Shoreditch…

- Kensal Green, one of the beautiful Victorian cemeteries of London proposes guided tours of its catacombs…

- Are you a quick swimmer? Well, splash and see whether you can win this race! Your prefer a gentle swim? Head for the city’s lidos.

- Take your Eisntein Juniors to the Science Museum’s new exhibition -  Who am I?

- Last year, the British Museum celebrated India, this year it’s Africa’s turn…

- Too hot… Thanks God for the beer festival!

- Or have your pint with a pinch of blues…

- have a different Sunday and celebrate American style…

You’ll find me… picking strawberries and raspberries… Having yummy food with delicious friends @ Jamie’s Italian… And picnicking @ Kew Gardens (they also have a cute photo exhibition).

How about you?

- Well, how lucky, there is a tea dance @ Spitafield Friday afternoon…

- Don’t forget the V&A late night opening, dress up to it!

- Celebrations definitely are in order with the Greenwich beer and jazz festival… Unless you’d prefer a free cocktail?

- It’s that time of the year again, the famous Chelsea Flower Show is open! Harvey Nichols even has dedidated a floral afternoon tea to it…

- Alternatively, Kew gardens also is in summer mode…

- Wanna play the culture card? Well, the Natural History Museum new exhibition on abyss fish certainly looks amazing… So does Exposed @ the Tate – paparazzi pics or paused ones, cctv or real camera and of course classics like Cartier-Bresson or Lee Miller.

- Marilyn Monroe fan? Stop @ Harrod’s to see three of her dresses on show…

- Of course, there’s plenty of events linked to Sex and the City II these days…

- Kids in tow? Why not try the animation film festival? They could also meet sheep @ the Spitafield fam wool festival. Or have a picnic @ Alexandra Palace!

- Gourmet will rush to the Hampton Court food festival…

What are your plans? I’ll celebrate the week-end with friends with a bubble tea @ Chinatown. I will anticipate a very hot summer with Pimm’s sorbet.  Oh, and I need a closer look @ the Trafalgar Square boat, didn’t get a chance to see it yet!

- 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?

- Go and enjoy the East London Festival – so rich in music festivities, world culture, architecture, guided tours…

- Play with words @ the London Word Festival

- Add a splash of colour with this Hindu festival

- take the kids to a different week-end @ Barbican – poetry, Indian lanterns, bollywood dances…

- Since you’re @ Barbican, try a little alternative music. Yep, those are real birds. And it’s free!

- Fancy a little Alice in your week-end? Here a Mad Hatter Ball, here a little bit more about Lewis Caroll’s talents, and there a colourful tea-time…

- Oh, don’t forget, it’s National Pie Week! A few tips here and there…

I’m planning an easy week-end – cinema! Spoilt with both the new Tim Burton and Banksy’s first film, Exit through the gift shop. Which by the way plays @ Barbican, in case you feel like a whole day there. Oh, and maybe I’ll go and try those Asian sweets too…

- How about a very poetic walk?

- To be followed by an excellent hot chocolate…

- Maybe a classical music concerts, candlelit?

- Alternatively, you can try the cinema screening on the National Theatre roof -  bring your blankets, champagne and picnic!

It’s also the Chinese New year – a roaring Tiger year! The official celebrations ave been postponed to next week – love marketing obliging – but you still can…

- Go to the National Portrait Gallery on Saturday. At noon, 14h00 and 16h00 there will be traditional dances, martial art and Chinese legends storytelling…

- or rush to the Museum of London Dockland Museum to taste some lovely tea, see a few screenings and enjoy the paper cutting workshops…

What about kids?

- Take them to the Wetland center to pet farm animals…

- or to the Horniman Museum for the Myths and Monster exhibition!

A few more options:

- Star Trek fans, be on the Millenium Bridge Saturday at 13.00 – preferably with your costume on!

- Pack some bargain at the market…

- Go and marvel at Judi Dench in a Midsummer’s night dream…

- Enjoy winter sports @ Trafalgar -  the Vancouver opening ceremony will be projected on a giant screen, vitual video games proposed and there will even be a giant ice sculpture of the olympic rings…

- Rediscover the fab Imperial Museum of War and enjoy their Ministry of food exhibition – extraordinary war posters like the famous Dig for Victory

- Stop at Lulu Guinness’ pop up shop in Carnaby street and be a fashion victim

Pssst! Don’t forget Shrove Tuesday next week -  head for the famous Spitafield pancake race!

Here’s to put you in the mood:

- The Portobello Winter festival starts this wednesdau and will have thematic nights every Wednesday till Xmas

- Don’t forget to get prepared for those Xmas parties and meals: celebrate Thanksgiving!

Feeling better? Here’s for the week-end:

- Head for the new pop-ups before they blow away with the fashion wind… Nes-cafe @ Liberty and the famous Parisian Colette on Brick Lane

- Need your weekly dose of street art? Hoorray! Mutate opens its doors again @ Portobello.

- Even Damien Hirst is back @ the White Cube Gallery. It’s still time to see his No love lost @ the Wallace collection

- Spendid news pictures @ The Royal Festival Hall…

- Alternatively hum Only you @ Proud Chelsea… Great pics of a young Elvis.

- Kids will find happiness in Covent Garden – there will be a real reindeer to pat Saturday afternoon. Parents will probably prefer the amazing jewel exhibition that flashes magic lights under UVs…

You’ll find me @ the Secret Cinema… and having an underground afternoon tea. What’s YOUR program?

Secret? Yep. The location changes each time. You’ll only know a few days before the event where to go. The film remains untold until the very evening.

A little risky, I hear you say, given the ticket price: £18! Is it really worth it?

Well, I decide to give it a try for their Halloween session. The tone in the messages was – willingly -  military: missions, recruits… We were asked to dress in white. Female recruits were not to wear dresses.

As soon as you get off the tube, you’ll find the others. Smiles are exchanged – we all know, dressed like that, that we’re going to the same place.An incredible white crowd. We’re a thousand, all in white. Add to that Halloween disguises – I’m a zombie/mad scientist. We’re managed, again very army-style. Instructions. Decontamination. Distribution of flashlights and white boilersuits. We all laugh. Imagine all those vampires, ghosts getting fressed in the street, helping each other, queing niceling. Drivers slow down, gasping. A window shows a space team having breakfast, getting ready to go out -  white, glossy environment. A spaceship taking off is projected on the walls, sound included. From time to time a jeep arrives, unload more army guys in white suits.

You get in, per group. Sirens call, red light flashing, urgency, attention, instructions shoutes. Get ready. Fog, this si some kinf of adventure. You take steel ladders and corridors, go left, right, see astronauts getting ready on the way. You arrive in a dimmed room, two giant screens on the side, concret walls. More spationauts walking around, helmets on, flashlight in hand. In a corner a desolated landscape hads been recreates, giant eggs moving left and righr. Suddenly a shape appears on the form – greyish and shiny, threatening: an Alien like int he movie! With this glossy helmet trup of head and sharp teeths. All around us, green laser in which you walk in deep.

Further on is a kinf of canteen. Prices are high but profits go a charity. They sold, for the occasion, astronaut ice cream. Scientist work on the side on bloody and blueish pieces of meat. Whind a glass lay a man’s body, his head trapped by an alien. In a corner, the film traitor, a robot, lies in pieces, his head moaning a few words as in the iconic scene of the movie.

People mix -  a real babylon tower, you’ll hear French, Spanish, German, Russian… Fab mood – people are happy to chat along, remebering the first time they saw the film, what they thought of the sequels, comparing with other classics of the era.

A few popcorns late – the queue was amazing -  the film finally starts. Projection is excellent, the osund a bit too loud at first was quickly fixed. The chairs could be a little more comfortable – we’ll spen two hours there. Good leg room. Time just flies. I’m not particularly an Alien fan, but  it also shows a aparticular time – make up, hair style… Classic scenes still get gasps and screams from the audience (me included) to everyone’s delight. The double-jawed monster could stand proud in todays productions – so modern, so convincing still! I wish they had done an Alien night, really, I would have liked to see the other twos in a row.

The screen turns black. The night continues with a DJ, light effects. The public stays quite happily, sit around a drink, dancing around.

Have a look here for pics!

Very atmospheric – the next session is on November 26. Just can’t wait.

Secret cinema

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