The Fourth Plinth

The Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds.
After over 150 years of debate and a commission of three artworks by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (love that name!) to be displayed temporarily on the plinth in 1998 it was finally decided to keep a rolling program of contemporary artworks.

After last year's very blue ( and arguably french) rooster by Katharina Fritsch, Hans Haacke's Gift Horse will be installed this Thursday.

found here

An electronic ribbon is tied to the front leg, displaying the ticker of the London Stock Exchange. I am intrigued!

Boats preparing

for the River Pageant tomorrow

Aesthetik Nomad

It was a nice atmosphere this afternoon. Whilst walking along the river we and a few hundred other Londoners admired the first boats getting ready for tomorrow.

Thames River Pageant

More than a 1000 boats will sail down the Thames this Sunday in honour of the Queen's Jubilee

more info here

It's a sunny Friday

We just ordered new gas for the BBQ, are planning a picnic in Richmond Park this evening with the kids (the park is open till 21.00) and might even venture into Soho on Sunday to visit the new Flea Market (if it is not too hot) on Dean Street. 

And for our well deserved drink, we will use these ice cube strawberries to keep cool.

Have a lovely Weekend!

Sun and Flowers

The sun is supposed to come back later today and I am looking forward to going to the Chelsea Flower Show - never been and looking very much forward to it. Tickets have long gone but there is for the first time the Chelsea Fringe to discover which covers the whole of London (more or less).

How to pimp your pavement

or how to transform the Canal into a Floating Forest are only two projects of an amazing program you can find here. It's on till the 10th of June.

Travelling in Style

St Pancras

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This is the entrance to St Pancras International Station and its Hotel. Recently renovated it does remind you of the glorious days of travelling.

These days, one needs huge signs to even find the entrance ...

King's Cross

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Flat or House?

Recently I find myself thinking that flat living might be the thing for us. At the moment we live in a rented house with a bit of a garden (a luxury in London - I know). Apart from the house prices which will obviously affect any kind of decision should we ever want to buy and having looked around I do think a big flat would be rather nice. However, and as I have mentioned before, family friendly most of them are not. I am hankering after a Parisian or Berlin style flat, maybe a bit like these here:

Paris

found here 

Berlin

found here

London flats have charm of course, but I discovered that square living is so much nicer than rectangular flats, which you can find a lot of in London - long and narrow hallways are just not my thing, but I am sure the perfect space is somewhere out there !!

London flat

found here

P.S. If you are like me and like to look around other peoples houses, check out freundevonfreunden.com which interviews interesting people in their apartments in more and more major cities around the globe.

Things to do at Easter

The Easter Holidays will start for a few schools today already!! And whilst some are slightly worried that they will have to hunt for snow on the continent during their skiing vacation, others are hoping for a warm and sunny Easter here in London.

Spring definitely has arrived for my husband with the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge, this year on the 7th April 2012. Blink and you miss them, but the atmosphere along the Thames is cheerful and you can check out this page for good viewing points and pubs, of course.

For a nice egg hunt try Kew Garden and their Mayan Adventure  or our favourite haunt for a hunt, Ham House.

But I take cookie dough, ready and handy from the freezer over a chocolate egg any day, I'm afraid. Be inspired by this recipe with a twist from Canelle and Vanille (it's a gluten free recipe).

And if you insist that not everybody can live on chocolate alone, try out Nigel Slater's Easter recipes (he is our favourite chef!) for your Easter lunch (+ pudding).

And make your own Easter Eggs, like these maybe

found here

Have a lovely weekend! 

Hackney Hear

Hackney Hear is an i phone App which - through GPS -  plays location specific stories, music and poetry. So, you still have to get out there and explore, but whilst you potter around East London's Hackney, the app will help you to uncover and discover. Nice idea!
Check it out here and here

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Crumpled

Last year I found these fantastic city maps, and today I stumbled over the superb kid's version on Chocoralie's blog. An absolute essential in my eyes for a successful city tour with kids. You might even be able to leave your GPS mobile in your pocket and let the kids be the guides. Get ready for London, Paris, New York, Berlin and Amsterdam!

found here

I need a drink!

It's only 10.00 and I am thinking of a drink already - that can't be right. Well, actually, I am thinking of an amazing elaborate cocktail concoction, something like this maybe

found here

or this

found here

I don't know about you, but this m&c (milk and cookie) cocktail  however

found here via

seems to be as far as we can stretch these days .... Valuable babysitter time is mostly spend going out for dinner or see a play, hardly frivolous. 

Being therefore quite out of touch when it comes to the London Cocktail Scene, I thought Peter Berthoud's idea of an evening tour of four of London's most distinctive, distinguished and stylish cocktail bars quite the ticket. He will be running his first one tonight and I will try to join when he hopefully repeats this experiment (maybe with a slightly later start?)

Accession Day - the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Today marks 60 years since Elisabeth II ascended the throne. The main celebrations will happen in June but do listen out today for - 41 Royal Gun Salutes in Hyde Park at noon and 62 at the Tower of London at 13.00.

by Lucien Freud

found here

A major exhibition of Lucien Freud's work focusing on his portraits will open at the National Portrait Gallery this coming Thursday (till 27. May 2012)

Dark London

found on iTunes 

Check out this new App Dark London commissioned by the Museum of London. Illustrated by David Folvari with haunting images,  Dickens' observations are narrated by actor Mark Strong, guiding us through the darker sides of the author's Victorian London.

An 1862 map can be overlaid by today's satellite images of the city, background information is also available. The App and the first Edition is free and more to come. Beautifully done!

found here

P.S. more on Dickens here  and here

One New Change

The City's shopping mall One New Change (by Jean Nouvel) might not be everybody's cup of tea, but the view of St Paul's Cathedral when you reach the rooftop is impressive:

found here

Chinese New Year

The year of the Dragon is approaching fast with the Chinese New Year beginning on the 23. January. London's Chinatown will celebrate the weekend after and there are more festivities to be found around town the following weekend. You can find more information here and here. And read about it in my posts from last February e.g. here. It's always quite a tumultuous and noisy occasion but great atmosphere and lovely food to be found.

found here

Happy New Year

One of my many New Year resolutions will be not to miss out on exhibitions, events, plays, concerts .... in other words: be organised!

Charles Dickens

found here

If you feel the same, want to feed your brain (I certainly need it after an indulgent Christmas)

see all the talks, films, exhibitions etc. around Charles Dickens 200th birthday here

check out the weekly Wednesday lectures at the Idler Academy (I wrote a post about them here),

go to the Wigmore Hall and listen to upcoming Soprano Anna Prohaska,

the AA - Architectural Association - has public lectures and events nearly every day

and update your style at London Fashion Week - starts 17. February 2012

via

Can't wait!

London on Christmas Day

What a lovely idea to do on a Christmas morning. One day we will try to do the same! Imagine pictures of London without people. Amazing? Spooky? Romantic?

found here via

On the Ice

Although we are a family with young children, we already have a few sacred family traditions. One was going to the ice rink at Kew Garden before Christmas. The setting was marvellous, just in front of the Palm House.
Sadly, they stopped it a couple of years ago. There are a few fairly recent new options around town now like the ice rink in front of the National History Museum, at the Winterwonderland in Hyde Park or the one at Somerset House, but we do miss the feeling of open space.
Therefore we might go and try out the ice rink at Hampton Court this weekend! Wish us steady feet!

by Ane Cathrine Buck 

found here

It's Friday

Here are some inspirations for the weekend


After a successful Tweedrun in New York recently, it is London's turn again this Saturday. Raid your Grannie's cupboard if you happen to not be quite on trend yet and on your bike - and the weather should be fine.

found here

Stay within the tweedy theme and visit a lovely little Tea shop in Barnes - the Orange Pekoe, close to the river. Super cosy and very good afternoon tea with scones and cucumber sandwiches. They also do breakfast.

It will get full at weekends, but the friendly staff will try to accommodate. Nice to warm up after a walk along the Thames.

via

Have a lovely weekend!

Hail a Cab

found here

I know, it's New York, but hey, they seem to have similar problems over there

With the party season starting, finding a cab is getting more and more difficult. So I was very happy to stumble upon a new App - Hailo - that seems to work (according to comments) like a dream. Download from I tunes and it calculates your position when you hale a cab, cabbies nearby are alerted and someone will accept and get in touch to let you know when he will arrive. Sounds brilliant! 

Payment is equally simple, either by card or cash, and they will email you a receipt. Whether they will make it south of the river is another question, though. I will give it a go.

(For more London Apps see here)