London: Tea Time in Wonderland

I keep looking at my Filofax -  September? Summer has gone so fast.  Only one solution can balance this: shop. New work clothes, bags, accessorie, killer shoes. Autumn leaves will not slow me down. Alernatively, try those ideas to keep a sparkling mood!

* Make yourself all beautiful at this gorgeous vintage evening.

* Enjoy a crafty night market.

* Meat balls are the new trend and frankly, our mouth waters at the thought of those.

* Our youth video games music will be played by a classical orchestra on Southbank -  a great way to rediscover them.

* Start knitting and be part of a work of art at the Tate.

* Discover the smallest cathedral in London.

* Try those miniature games on Southbank for the biggest fun.

* Marvel at these childhood inspired posters at the London Transport Museum.

* Have mojitos and pizza aboard a double decker.

* Try urban gardening.

* Those nails of your could be masterpieces, you know.

* See London from above. Through fab drawing here. While sipping a cocktail here.

* We all have stoped at cafés just to use their free wifi. Well. now, we can go for a pint too.

* Mary Poppins might have been right about a spoonful of sugar but these days it is all about a spoonful of London honey…

Pssst:
* Be on the lookout -  Terry Pratchett will stop in London to talk about his new book in October. Tickets will be on sale soon.

* Harry Potter fans will want to book those tours organised by Warner too -  you will get closer to the sets.

* Is you company installing of those free hives? let us know! We’d love to write about it.

* Already dreaming of your next holidays? Have a look at www.AFerry.co.uk. This website is a fab way of finding the best ferry prices to France, Ireland and even Holland. Have a look here for ferries to France, my home country.

Tonight, I am planning a romantic picnic: the Nomad Cinema will be setting up its screen in a royal park of Richmond. Watching a Miyazaki under a starlit sky while drinking some champagne really has some charm. Wave if you are going too!

* Love Japanese animation movies? This thursday, Summer Wars will be projected for free on Canada Square.

* Still on Thursday night (Thursday really is the new Friday you now), go to Southbank and try a few urban games.

* Get that keyboard ready: Café Luc’s £1 sale is near. Friday August 05 at 13.30 to be precise. You will have yo be quick! We have tried them in the past: so much fun and laughs and it is free.

* Selfridges wants to make you see la vie en rose. Well, possibly drink it too.

* Friday, go and see a rhino race. It seems they are getting ready for the Olympics.

* Summer holidays have well started and you are now short of ideas to keep the kids occupied? Try Lollibop, a festival dedicated to children in Regent’s Park. Once the entry paid, all the activities are free.

* Discover Pure Evil’s Warhol side.

* Conquer Windsor Castle’s famous tower – quite a view.

* Stroll along the Thames but on the Hammersmith side. Oh and stop at our favourite pub there, with a beautiful take on the river.

* Rewrite Dickens.

* Nothing like a pint in this weather – so try the very best ones at this beer festival.

* A department store dedicated to vintage has just opened – what a choice! For a more personal atmosphere, try Peekaboo Vintage (sumptuous dresses). Or just enjoy this vintage tea party!

* Remember House of Hackney baroque fabrics? They have created the sweetest gin den with Bombay Sapphire.

* Cider and magic? Yes, this way.

Pssst:

* Impress your guests and fool your kids. On August the 27th, The Culinary Academy proposes a fascinating course with the co-founder of Petit Pois -you know, the vegetable based cupcakes at Selfridges? You will learn how to cook a banana and sticky toffee cake, a chocolate cake with aubergines and courgette scones. Sounds very different? Yeah, and delicious too.

* On September 03 and 04, a secret location along the Thames will suddnly become very Californian for a Top Gun projection. Get those tickets now!

Like Alice’s white rabbit, I am runnign after time these days. But follow me through London-wonderland!

* For their late evening, V&A turns into a summer camp.

* The Urban Physic Garden offers more than a green oasis in the City. This Friday there will be dinner and theatre.

* Learn how to do a perfect ice-cream at this free workshop.

* Your heart will melt for this adorable café.

* But if you are looking for the best coffee in London, follow Time Out’s recommendation!

* Brunch and dance on the roofs of Kensington.

* Southbank turns vintage this week-end with a fabulous festival. Worth stopping, especially for the BA catwalk retracing stewardess fashion -  so elegant!

* Try a London buggy tour.

* Gladiators are back in London -  place your bets, the games are on.

* It’s shoe time. Apres Vivienne Westwood, Selfridges welcomes a Terry de Havilland retrospective.

* Love narguiles? Try those vodka, wine or champagne infused tobbaccos.

* An unusual bar -  try it quick!

* Nothing better than a summer fete on a Sunday. This one will be a delight for cyclists.

Pssst: Remember The Blues Kitchen? Join on a Tuesday note and pretend you are Indiana Jones. The restaurant proposes a Carnivore Club with a different exotic meat each week in August. Kangaroo on the 2nd, crocodile on the 09th….

A few evenings ago, inspiration was escaping me. I typed and crossed out sentences constantly – the letters of  the Delete button were in danger of fading away. And so I sighed. And I thought of the artists who used to find their muse in the Green Fairy. Did that really work? If so, should I be relocating my office in this new absinth bar, between the elegant fountains and delicate spoons?

if you, on the other hand, are in search of London inspiration, I have just what you need:

* Free burritos, Thursday and Friday at Canary Wharf.

* A touch of glamour at the National Portrait Gallery.

* Chocolate? For a good cause? Well, we can’t say no, then, surely…

* Kensington Palace gets enchanted in the evening for the summer. (Click here for a few pics)

* A few steps away… the Nomad Cinema will project at Kensington gardens this week-end. Truman show, Thelma & Louise, Fargo: yes, there are some spaces left.

* Rediscover the past Olympic games in pictures. Oh, for a bird’s view of the stadium, head that way.

* Support ukuleles. In the most musical way, of course.

* Explore the plant rooms and corridors under the Royal Festival Hall.

* Wow. Chaps have their own olympiade – all gentlemen games and vintage suits.

* Another journey in the past with those amazing pics of Tower Bridge being build. Saved from the skip!

* Circus time at Southbank!

* too hot? Get a glimpse of the Arctic.

* Join the swap and share picnic for a dose of happiness, fun games and craft.

Pssst: book now to get a chance to create your own gin.

London is fascinated by empty, wasted spaces. Rooftops welcome cinemas, parkings become gardens or art spaces, deserted buildings wake up for a few days or weeks through a pop-up shop or restaurant…

A different kind of recycling, when you think of it. Crazy little ideas that bring an old room alive again.

The latest in town is an urban garden, inspired by medicinal plants. A really passionate team decided to create a bubble of quietness in the city. Don’t wait too long -  this is only for the summer!

Each part of the garden is themed by hopital ward and present herbs and flowers that can be used in treatments. If your phone can read QRs, just scan the codes to know more about them.

We loved the recycling ideas and twists on daily objects like saucepans for flower pots or turning a skip into a ping-pong table.

Always in the therapy-theme, pour the seeds of your choice in a transparent pill-capsule and plant it once home – the kids love it.

Feeling hungry? Stop at the mini-café, called Rambulance. You can even brunch there at the week-end. Long sharing table, free wifi. On chilly day, a camp fire is lit. Bring your marshamallows… The atmosphere is ever so friendly here and you will end up talking to strangers about gardening, homeopathy, organic products, cooking with herbs… Have a look on their program to know more about workshops.

Urban Physics Garden
100 Union Street
London
SE1 0NL
Until August 15, 2011 – Free
Come on the very last day to adopt the garden plants.

The Society of Garden Designers and the RHS organise, a few times a year, the opening of private gardens. They always are little treasure, pieces of paradise.

Like today – the Blue Fin Building‘s, just behind the Tate Modern.

Looking up, no sign of a tree or a single green leaf. Did we get the address wrong?

On the 10th floor is a huge terrasse and a green oasis. Multiple chairs and tables enable the staff to have their lunch under the open sky. Benches hide behind a vine, a jasmine hedge, a line of rosemary. The sun is shining hard, creating a very fragranced atmosphere. Mathew Bell added elegant curves to what could have been a simple concrete space. Urban poetry.

Just imagine taking your sandwich break here. Or sitting on this roof top for the last debriefing of the day as the sky starts to turn pink.
Country Homes & Interiors have their editorial office here and took it a step further, creating a vegetable patch, using the abundance of light to their advantage. On the menu? Runner beans, salads, peppers, herbs, blackcurrant, courgettes, strwaberries… A fabulous idea worth stealing. Maybe even a tred: the Londonist also have started theirs.

I so wish those and kids nurseries were compulsory in any new building of that size. As space on the ground gets scarcer for parks and squares, why not use those towers to their best? Not only would that be more ecological but it would tremendously change the work atmosphere. Push people to have more social time at work rather than have their sandwich in front of their computer. Talk, exhange, get a little fresh air, destress.

Mark September 25 in your agenda to discover more of those precious gardens.

I watch the rain pouring down and cannot get this word off my mind: beach.
Toes in warm sand, grains rolling on skin made golden by the sun.
Soft wave music. Listen to the lids splash, laugh, collect shells and make castles.

London seems to have a thing for it too. London-on-sea. Southbank has a mini-kids-beach for the summer. The Red Market, who is finally opening in Shoreditch this week-end after many delays, is proposing an urban version. Palmtrees, pétanque, deckchairs and cocktails. Even pop-ups go sea-food style!

Are you next holidays way too far? Look for a few London ideas here insteas:

* Come and join hundreds of musicians on Southbank this Friday.

* Peyrton & Byrnes are opening a pop-up within Kew Gardens. Dinner will be enhanced with herbs and eatble flowers foraged in the park and served with a little jazz.

* Pretend you are Sherlock Holmes at the Natural History Museum.

* Sleep at the Barbican. No kidding: cushions, duvet and breakfast included!

* Didn’t get your tickets for Wimbledon? Opt for plan B: a 360 degree-view platform at Selfridges.

* Rush to Greenwich for their extraodinary summer festival.

* Be a yogabunny in Hyde Park.

* Food party in Soho.

* Learn to be a barista.

* Did you there now is a farmers’ market every week-end at Portobello?

* Manucure and champagne? Luxury down to your fingertips.

* Discover a roof garden in Southwark -  only open to the public this Sunday. Have a look at the artist’s (Mathew Bell) other creations in London.

* Look up and hunt for hints of the Old London.

* Next stop: Murakami!

Pssst: Are you one of the bloggers chosen by #Regenttweet to tweet the fashion news this Saturday? Leave us a comment and see you on Saturday at Swarowsky’s! Don’t forget your shopping bag…

This week-end will be a nice party with a long-time-no-see-but-never-forgot-you friend.
And so, there will be a shower of anecdotes from the good old times, a flow of pints in atmospheric pubs, walks till the end of the night. With or without umbrella, take your bets.
In a nutshell: make new memories.

For inspiration, we’ll choose a few of those:

* On Thursday, take your little artists to Covent Garden – they will have the opportunity to build an art structure with Louis Vuitton.

* Burlesque class anyone? I have always wanted to try…

* A gourmet pop-up on Southbank will serve very poetic food – rush there.

* Or would you rather go for a barbecue van?

* Dancing time at the Tate Modern.

* How about a free jazz concert in the V&A garden to start the week-end?

* Beware, naked cyclists on the go on Saturday. Litterally.

* Keep your eyes open -  yarnbombing is on the programme!

* Dare. Try this fish-therapy, you have been dying to.

* Discover London secret gardens and squares -  a beautiful opportunity to push usually closed gates.

* Brunch time! Our favourite is Dishoom, for its exotic touch.

* Street art tour? Yes, but on a bike.

* Londonus Dinosaurus.

* Circus and Cabaret united? Click this way to know more about this festival.

* Red, white or rosé? Fill your own bottle!

I miss, from Paris, going for a brunch on week-ends. It made waking-up easy, breakfast was to be a feast, you would meet up with friends and chat forever. From one place to another, the menu would be different, exotic, poetic, home-made, so much to choose from. It gave Sundays a touch of holiday feeling.

I found a similar atmosphere at Dishoom who does open for breakfast too. The very first Bombay café in London looks like a Parisian brasserie tinted with bollywood touches. Colourful posters, fun recommendations (No running away, no bare feet…), welcoming niches downstairs – you smile as soon as you enter. Victim of its success, the address often is full in the evening so mornings are a great time to enjoy it with no buzzing conversations intefering with yours.

Forget English Breakfast! We love this Indian twist, much more fun to the palate. Bacon, yes, but served in the most tender naan with a touch of chilli jam (£3.50). Enjoy every bite of the aromatic omelette (£4.90), a bit spicy (but you can ask for a milder version) with its roasted, juicy vine tomatoes. Sweet tooth? Go for the roomali (£4.90) a thin bread with vanilla mascarpone and extra fresh fruit, mango, raspberries, blueberries… Very refreshing a great way to stock up on vitamins for the day. Add some chai, served in transparent glasses or go for the chocolate version of the drink, great on a rainy day.

You’ll also find their ssummer pop-up on Southbank as they are taking part in the festival of Britain. Walk through the corridor framed by blue ribbons finished with tiny bells and singing softly in the breeze. Nice recyling deco – a wall is entirely made of rolled-up newspapers, overturned barrels with bright colours serve as stools…. The Dishoom favourites are on the menu from sausage naans to daal via calamaris. Anf of course some nice cocktails, including a Bombay Pimm’s. Open till minight Sundays to Thursdays and 01.00am Fridays-Saturdays.

Dishoom
12 Upper St. Martin’s Lane
London WC2H 9FB
Breakfast served till 11.00 weekdays, 13.00 week-ends

Chowpatty Beach Bar
Queen Elisabeth Hall Terrace
Southbank Centre
London SE1 8XX
Until October 04, 2011

Global warming and its consequences, by being talked over and over often bore the public. We know we should care, we know it is coming our way and we should do something but at the same time, the idea seems pretty distant. Yeah, we’ll start tomorrow.

This small exhibition puts art in the equation to show to illustrate ice melting, Thames overflowing, population left to use any left space to survive. In 16 views, no matter how utopic the view is, London is quite something else.

Postcard from the future – Until May 30, 2011- free
National Theatre
Southbank
London
SE1 9PX