London: Tea Time in Wonderland

At the first ray of sunshine, people tend to rush to the lawns and beer gardens (often looks like a giant barbecue to me after a few hours). I love to stroll through a green oasis instead. Why not enjoy the rose garden in Hyde Park, planted in 1994. Isn’t it magical to caress the petals, compare the textures, smile at a bee’s drunken ballet?

End of June is the best time too – the roses are in full bloom. Splendid notes of orange, pepper, vanilla are in the air. Some are double, shy, bright purple, freckled, others blousy and seem to be opening very slowly like The Little Prince’s one.

The gardens are narrow but go on for ever. Narrow paths serpent through them, a few benches, lovely statues, an arched tunnel coverel with white blooms…

The best place to read this summer’s romantic novel!

Rose Garden
Hyde Park
London W1

Free

A great escape to the countryside is to drive down to Mottisfont Abbey – what a fab collection of roses they have there! (a few pics here)

London counts more than 600 wonderfuls gardens, some widely know, others hidden away from view (have you tried the Phoenix Garden or the St Thomas hospital one?)

Just in front Kensington Palace is their sunken garden – strangely often unknown although it is adorable and free. With spring it gains such a range of vibrant colours! A soothing view and you’ll find benches on the promenade surrounding it.

To parallel the Enchanted Palace exhibition, the arches have been jewelled with wonderful iron lace, best enjoyed at sunset time…

Sunken Garden
Kensington palace
202 Cromwell Rd
London W8 4PX

Free

Pssst: to discover many more private gardens, don’t forget that June 12-13 is the Open garden Squares week-end! A few pics from last year this way.

Bubble tea lovers, rejoice! Here is another bubble tea address!

My friend Melody found it for us. Hidden in a corner of Chinatown, you could actually walk past without noticing the colorful sign leading you to the first floor. Take the table near the window – lovely view one of the sculpted doors of the neighbourhood!White walls, modern, lots of light. Not your expected Chinese cafe. But do not worry, the menu certainly is exotic enough and we were the only two European looking sitting there. Everything is trasnlated in English of course and the staff is adorable and discreet.

You now get three different options:

o Bubble juice – fruit juice and tapioca pearls

o Bubble tea –fruit juice, black or green tea and tapioca pearls

o Bubble milk – that one’s new to me, flavoured milk and tapioca pearls

Even better, those can be served cold or hot. By 25 degrees, the choice was pretty obvious but I can’t wait for a rainy day as an excuse to go back and try the other version.

And 30 flavours to choose from! Watermelon, honey peach, coconut, kiwi, passionfruit, green apple…

Verdict : the mago bubble tea is very velvety and you could drinks liters of the red plum bubble juice. Somehow you could stay there all day. the drinks are served in sundays kind of glasses are certainly are the best I have tried so far.  Even the tapioca pearls are just the way they should be, chewy but not too much.

The menu also proposes a wide range of Eastern deserts I will need to come and taste -  this makes me so curious: soya milk with jelly? Tapioca pearls desert with syrup? Coconut jam? It looks straight out of a manga and even if you are not convinced, your mind switches on the I wonder how its tastes? mode…

Add to that the free wifi -  I’m surprised they don’t propose fidelity cards yet!

Candy Café
3 Macclesfield St
Chinatown
London
W1D 6AU

Bubble Milk: £3.55 to drink in, £3.40 to take away
Another address? Jen cafe, two streets away.

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!

Close to Tower Bridge hides historical quarters. Tourists rarely fo further and prefer to cross over to the Tower. Shad Thames, I have to say is a very quiet place.

But the stories it could tell! You seee, in Victorian times, the biggest complex of warehouses was built here to welcome merchandises from the colonies: tea, coffee, spices… were brought from the ships to the buildings around or from the same buildings towards different ships and new destinations.Imagine the noise, the mix of languages, the sailors, the horses. Streets and yards were names logically: Cayenne Court, Tea Trade Wharf…

In the 20th century, the harbour proves too small for the increasing trade: new warehouses are built further east. The neighbourhood falls back into silence. It will have to wait for the 1980ies to be in fashion again: entrepreneurs invest in the now empty buildings and transform them in smart, expensive flats. Some overlook the Thames, have a great view on the bridge or the City… Others have kept their original windows – small ones which temper the view a little. Upmarket restaurants flourish along the Thames, the Design Museum is built.

From its historical past remain a few signs: names on the brick walls, a cobbled street, winches…

… and this:

These sky passages were used to roll barrels from the Butlers Wharf Building to the Cardamom one. These days, they belonged to the flats nearby and are used as extended balconies.

Suspended in time somehow.

Tourist stepping into Harrod’s are often so fascinated with the richness of the food court that they forget to raise their eyes to the Art Nouveau tiles… Sadly, there’s no information to be found abour them on the web. Only the artist’s name, WJ Neatby, does come back as well as the creation date, 1902 (this Harrods building opened in 1905).

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

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

It may be particularly central, but I tend to avoid charing Cross Tube station. It seems more greyish, more depressing than any of the others… Although I read cineast do prefer it when they need a “modern” station in the background!

I took a different entrance than I usually do and suddenly found this black and white mural. Quite a long one – a hundred meters, inspired by medieval design.

This scene was drawn by David Gentleman to commemorate Eleanor de Castille’s (Edward I’s wife) funeral trip.

What interest? Wait – it’s quite an atypic last journey…

Edward I had business to do in Nottinghamshire. His spouse followed, though at a slower rater as she was feverish. She will not reach th final destination, dying a little before Lincoln. The King arrives in time to listen to her death wishes. He’s heartbroken – 36 years of marriage – she was only 13 when they wedded – 16 children and one of the happiest royal marriages in the British History…

The Queen wanted to lay in Westminster Abbey. 145 miles from there – we are in 1290 and the roads are not so good. She is therefor embalmed for the journey. That implies evisceration… her organs will be buried in Lincoln’s cathedral (and are still there to this day).

The trip back will take 12 days. Inspired by the French King Louis IX’s funeral procession (the only French king to have been cannonised, by the way), he decides to have a cross put up each time they stop for the night – a symbol of his grief and a hope that traveller’s will pray for Eleanor’s soul. Time is short, it will first be a wooden cross, replaced in the following years by sculpted stone ones. All of them must follow three steps: the lower base must show the late queen’s coats of arms, the middle level have statues of Eleanor then finish by a column topped by a cross.

Out of them all (Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, Westcheap, Charing), only three survived. Note that the last one was in Charing… which name transformed in time in Charing Cross… Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the Civil War, and replaced by an equastrian statue of Charles I (considered as the true center of London). A more intricate copy was built during the Victorian times, just in front of the actual Charing Cross railway station, a street from there.

Following her wishes, her body rests in Westminster Abbey… and her heart in the Blackfriars priory.

And you thought it was just a silly mural, eh?

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?

Fed up with the Xmas spirits, the enless chase of the perfect gift, the false beards on Santas? Would much prefer to press fast forward to your ski holidays?

Well, I have the perfect break for you – climb up to the Rooftop Alpine Lodge. Chalet atmosphere, very cosy, wooden decoration, fur on the stools, bowl of nuts with a nutcracker on the side, open fire, logs… have a look outside – the mini-terrasse is covered in snow, the trees are silvered and there’s even a mini helicopter.

You forget everything instantly. Take your shoes off, indulge with a pair of thick socks – plenty available for free when you come in.

Order a mulled wine – peppery, lots of orange notes, the best I have had in years. But be warned: you’ll feel so comfy, hypnotised by the dancing flames of the fire that there are high chances you will either spend the whole afternoon there if not fall asleep!

Mulled wine is at £4 – other cocktails (including some caramel vodka) are available. Or order some charcuterie, tartiflette, fondue to share (for £2, count £18/£20/£20).

The rooftop Alpine Lodge
2a Tabernacle Street
London EC2A 4LU


Booking: 07000 847876
Open till the end of February 2010