Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

First stop London and Kensington Gardens

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First stop London.
Or rather secobd stop actually. I started the day in Oslo with meeting, then continued here. Came to "my" hotel, where they recognized me and gave me a much better room than last time :-). Left my suitcase, and walked out........to breath this metropolitan city which I love so much.

 

First thing I did was to check on my camelia, but the season is over. Though I found a blooming camelia in bath not many days ago, there were none left on "my" bush.

Then I walked down to Kansington Gardens. I hadn´t eaten since lunch, and was starving, but I couldn´t let daylight pass. Evening light is often perfect photo light.

Goal - bird watching and photographing.....

....but when I look through my photos, I must search for the birds.

Or is this a big blue bird learning to fly?????

But these are not birds, are they??????

Some birds tried to hide....

Others acted like they owned the world.

The first bird, the black one in one of the first photos must be some kind of duck. The second is a dove or a pigeon. Then comes a grey heron. But what about this beautiful one?
Can it be a Grebe? A Great Crested Grebe?

I could live my life in the parks and gardens of London!

A Hotel in London

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When I was 19 I went to London for two weeks with a childhood friend. It was not my first time in London. A few years before I had spent three weeks in Southern England at a language school. During those weeks we went up to London twice. One day for sightseeing. One night for a musical, Jesus Christ Superstar.
But I had never before stayed over night in London. 

My friend and I had two marvelous weeks.

London stole a piece of my heart.

Three years later I went back.

Again for two weeks.

It was my honeymoon.

 

The next visit came a few years later. Two small boys, pregnant with a little princess. My parents agreed to look after Torgeir and Øystein for a week and Terje and I fled to "my" city.

 

Since then I´ve been back again and again.

And always staying in the Queensway /Bayswater area.

Three years ago I was on my way to a conference in London. I gave myself a few extra days to visit a friend, but something unexpected turned up and suddenly I found myself sitting at the airport with no place to stay the three nights until the conference started.

Almost panicking I called a friend who runs a travel agency "Jorunn, please, can you find me a cheep and central hotel in London for three nights" "Sure I can, when are you leaving Norway" Jorunn replied.
"I am leaving NOW, in 10 minutes"

Jorunn made it.
Again in the Queensway/Bayswater area. 

Close to Kensington Gardens.

 

The original hotel has closed down. The one Jorunn found is nice but a bit too modern for my taste. When I decided to give the girls a trip to London as a Christmas gift, I started to search for a place more like the first one, a Miss Marple style.

With a small breakfast room where the chef comes out to shake your hand, a reception where the workers know your name, tiny room, steep stairs, faded charm.

Now I´ve found it.

St.David, 3 minutes to walk from Paddington station. Quiet. Charming.

 

And lucky me. I am soon going back.

But that´s another tale........

 

....may be for tomorrow.

Here is a link to the hotel´s webpage

 

I miss London.
If I am lucky I will soon be there again.

What is your favorite thing to do in London?

Sisters in London

images proud mother

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colours, and a hunt for Luca Signorelli

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There are so many colours to be seen.

Everywhere.

One of the best things about London is - NO SNOW, no icy roads,first spring flowers blooming.

And then there all the colours.

And all the hidden treasures to seek out.

I went to look for one of the hiden treasures, a painting by Luca Signorelli, the old Italian painter.
Can you remeber I looked for him in Venice as well? 

Without finding him.

This time The National Gallery was my goal. I knew from my reading that they have several of Signorelli´s paintings.

Coming in I went right over to the information desk and asked: "Please sir, may you tell me where I can find the paintings by the Italian Luca Signorelli?"
The man behind the desk search on his computer for some time: "I am sorry Madam. It seems like we have only one Luca Signorelli, and is is hung in a gallery which is open only on Wednesday afternoons"

No Signorelli this time either?
But what about my collection?

 

I walked on anyway. The National Gallery has so many wonderful treasures.

I enjoyed Rubens for a long time, then decided to comfort myself with other Italian masters. A guide lead me over to room 58 and 57: "You will love our Botticellis Madam!"

Of course I do. They are all gems. Dreamy. Perfect.

On my way out of the gallery, a long time later, I walked through room 60.

And there it was.

THERE IT WAS!

Luca Signorelli´s The Adoration of the Shepherds

 

Not in a hidden, closed gallery.

But there for me :-)

When nothing goes like you planned you might be in for a super day

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We had planned a Sunday morning up in Camden Town. After breakfast we walked up to Paddington Station and bought three one day tickets at the tube/bus, only to discover that the tube line up to Camden was closed. We might probably have found a bus, but decided to change our plan, and soon we were on a train on the way to Tower.

At least that´s what we thought. There was a lot of work going on on the London transport system yesterday, and to travel from Paddington to Tower would need quite a few changes. And the day was bright and sunny, so when we came to Embankment we left the train, passed the river and started to walk down The Bank.

 

On Saturday my mind was filled with books. On this walk it was impossible not to be filled with architecture.

The skyline of London is amazing.

And even more so when broken by two beautiful girls.

Being an architect?
No, that´s not for me.

Apprentice of seing beauty?

Yes.  

Going back from The Tower of London area would be easy......I thought. Just take TheTube, to somewhere closer to the city.

The Tube station was closed, you got it! And we started to walk on a whip to find a bus.
With sore feet.
Blisters.

But London was welcoming us, again, showering me with camelies, and a bus coing from nowhere, stopping right under a sign "bus stop not in use", takling us almost to the front door of the restaurant I wanted to visit most of all.......

 

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Can you remember when I was in London, finding a treasure when searching for something else?

Now I found the magic again, or rather, this time it found me.
Restaurant Sarastro.
Coming right out of 1001 Night.

Lunch.

Resting feet.

Opera music.

And then a live concert, with the quartet wandering around among out tables. Even sitting down. Tasting food.

Lunch finished.

And still the day had treats for me, and for us.
But that´s for another post!

London, the city of books

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For me London has always been the city of books, the city of book shops.

For my kids 10th birthday I´ve given them all a travel, with their mamma of course. I took Torgeir, Øystein and Ingrid to London, Marta to Venice (and then we let pappa come with us). When Ingrid was 10, we stayed in a small hotel in the Bayswater area. One day we took a bus tour to Stratford-upon-aven. Ingrid heard about Shakespeare for the first time in her life. She was thrilled by the guide´s tales, more so when the guide told that Shakespear might not have been Skapespear after all.

Every single night Ingrid and I spent in a BooksEtc in a mall on Queensway. She played in the children´s area. I read books, read books, read books........and no nights I could resist buying one.....or a few.

Three yeards ago I was in London again, stayed near Queensway and went back to the same BooksEtc. Read, swam in memories, bought a book,no..... a few.

Two years ago Terje, Marta, Ingrid and I were back in London, again close to Queensway. BooksEtc were not there anymore. Both Ingrid and I felt sad.
This time we stay in the Paddington area. Still not far from Queensway, and Ingrid wanted to go back to her Mall. "Mamma, can you remember we stayed every  night in that book shop. It is sad it is closed now"

 

For me London has always been the city of books, the city of book shops.

When the girls left the Portobello area yesterday, to go to Oxford Street for shopping, I stayed behind. For a book shop safari.

If I happen to be in London on a Saturday, I always go to Portobello Market. I have never known that the area is a gem for book shops. Not until my blog reader and friend Fran.H.B sent me a small, hand drawn map after my last visit there, two years ago. Now I know better. It is a paradice :-)

Fran´s map showed me the way to the tiny travel book shop featured in the movie Notting Hill.

I never watch movies, so I have not seen this one, but heard enough to know it is good.
We have the dvd at home, so I guess it is now time to watch it.

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After Fran sent me the map, actually quite recently, she has discovered another book shop in the area, Lutyens & Rubinsten. Before leaving the Portobello/Notting Hill area, I visited there. And I fell in love! With the shop. With the books.

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 I came with a lot of extra space in my suitcase.

Now it is filling up.

Oh, the sweet memories

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When I was 19 I spent two weeks in London with a friend.

Our main goal was shopping.

Right now I am spending a few days in London with a girl aged 22 and a girl aged 16 (in a few days). 

Their main goal is shopping.

Shopping with a sister, with a friend, or being a happy, proud, blessed mother, watching her two girls shopping.......

.....that must be close to heaven on earth!

Owls are a hit in London as in Norway as in the rest of the world.

When we are 19, my friend and I did a lot of shopping. For two weeks. Every afternoon when we came back to our hotel, we spread our treasures on our beds and took photos.

Today my two girls did the same.

Sweet memories.

 

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I wonder where my photos from 1977 are!

The Christmas gift, a London trip

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Marta was busy wrapping a gift for Christmas. Layer after layer of paper, in the end a huge box. The gift was from her and me, for Ingrid. It contained a card made of Marta with the writing - in February we are going to London, you, me and mamma.

On Christmas Eve Marta was so excited she could hardly breath. Ingrid got the gift and started to unwrap. The whole room could feel Marta´s excitement, and suddenly, completely out of the blue, Ingrid said: "Are you taking me to London?"

The air exploded right of the balloon and for exactly two seconds the room was completely still. Then all six of us started to laugh!

 

This morning we left a House in the Woods covered in snow, a pappa and husband in charge of the ploughing in half of the city.

And here we are. In London. In temperatures which feels like spring for us.
Pizzas. Smiles. Sister love. Proud mother.

 

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I passed my camelia o the way back to the hotel tonight, and it is blooming.
I picked one rose and will sleep with it under my pillow.

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See you tomorrow. 

Kind of a - booktalk on a Sunday 36. Dervla Murphy and two fearless ladies.

I was on my way to meet Terje, Ingrid and Marta and enjoyed a late lunch in a small, charming Italian restaurant near Royal Geographical Society. The meeting with Dervla Murphy was still what filled my mind.

The door to the restaurant opened and in walked two elderly ladies. Both with walking sticks, the first one came in and headed for a corner table close to mine. The other bent almost double, could hardly walk. From the door there was a tiny little step up to the main floor, and the lady was unable to climb it. Trying a couple of times without luck, she looked up at me with a smile, blinking her left eye as she reached out the hand without the stick, calling for the young Italian waiter. He came running, helped her and led her over to the table where her friend already sat studying the menu.

I had finished my lunch, Terje and the girls were waiting, but I still sat for a few moments, reluctant to leave the two old ladies, listening to their conversation with the waiter about what to order from the menu.........we come right from church, we need a real meal, no plain bread but alot of garlic please, and pasta with alot of chilli.........yes please, two big glasses of wine........

"Certain interludes seem quite separate from the rest of one's life. They have the simple perfection of a Tang lyric, a Chopin étude, an Inuit carving. And they do not drift away, becoming blurred by time; mysteriously they continue to give sustenance. For me that first day of our trek was one such interlude. I experienced pure happiness - something quite different from the everyday underlying contentment which is my fortunate lot"

The first lines of chapter 3 in Dervla Murphy's Cameroon with Egbert.

The morning with Dervla Murphy was a highlight, a dream coming true, something I never will forget. The few minutes with the two elderly ladies was an interlude, the simple perfection of a Chopin étude, something which will not drift away but giving colour to every corner of my heart, telling me not to fear. When I turn 100 I want to be like them, still globetrotting the world - east of the sun, west of the moon, or from an armchair or a bed in some home for elderly people.

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• thank you Dervla for your words which follow me every day, one of your books is always on my bedstand or on my studio desk
• thank you dear, old ladies of South Kensington
• thank you Kelly for the comment you left at Greetings from London yesterday. I can't tell how much I am looking forward to hear about your ferry ride and about Anderson Island.

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Photos from Portobello Market. The same musician as I met last year was still there when I came there with Terje and the girls.

Finding a treasure when hunting for something else.

Terje and the girls had gone back to the hotel to rest before the Afternoon Tea and the musical. It was our last full day in London and I had no time for resting. There were still so much I wanted to see. 30 years ago, when Terje and I visited London during our honeymoon, we stumbled upon The Old Curiosity Shop quite by chance. I am reading Dicken's book with the same name right now, and wanted to see the charming house again. I had a vague idea where to find the house and after waving goodbye to the others at Picadilly Circus, I started to walk.

Walking in an unknown part of London without a map.......yes, I know I am crazy. But craziness pays off. Suddenly I had to stop and grab my camera. Right there, among high, grey, boring buildings I found a piece of paradise.......

Sarastro Restaurant...........how inviting it looked.

I had already had my lunch at Bella Italia with Terje and the girls, we had an Afternoon Tea planned (which meant no need, no money for dinner later) and it was our last day in London. Well,, I could always look though the windows and dream of a late, romantic tete a tete dinner......

I took some more photos and then continued my hunt for The Old Curiosity House...........

but I couldn't forget this piece of paradise......and let my path pass by again after finding the old Dickens' House......

The place looked to inviting. I opened the door carefully just to get a glimpse indoor and was met by a smiling young woman; "hello, welcome in". "Og thanks, I've had lunch already, I just wanted to have a look.........eh, can I sit down for a glass of white wine??????"

"Sure" was the smiling answer, and all of a sudden I found myself in a theatre fairytale.

The glass of wine came, and also a bowl of black olives, a basket of breads and a plate of tomatoe paste. "No food for me thank you, I've just had lunsj. Just a glass of wine is fine" "Sure madam, this is just a complimentary starter"

Sure. I was in heaven.

A perfect place to write in my travel diary, to dream, to enjoy the wine.....

 I wonder how many unexpected corners there is in paradice. Do you know any?

  Next time I come to London I'll have dinner at Saratro. Do you want to join me?