Archive | August, 2008
25 August, 2008 

Istanbul

Snaps from a trip to Istanbul few years back.

All I remember is a visit to the Princess Island where I met crazy donkeys. Took a traditional hammam where my skin was removed and had some fruit off the street vendors which gave me bad tummy. I also visited the Grand Bazaar, pretty crazy place, I felt bit overwhelmed by all the salesmen trying to flog leather jackets and fake bags, while serving us super sugary apple tea.

The Blue Mosque is very impressive. We had to remove our shoes to go inside, the interior was stunning however the carpet was very damp which was not very pleasant.

My favorite part of this trip was a sail down the Bosphorus at night. I am sure I will be back to Istanbul as my last visit was a short work trip and I didn’t see a lot. My biggest regret is missing Hagia Sophia.

24 August, 2008 

Hampton Court

Once home to Henry VIII and William of Orange Hampton Court is a truly spectacular place.

From royal kitchens to bedrooms to wonderful gardens one could easily spend hours exploring the place.

The kitchens display all kind of utensils, pots, pans, china and actual food, beautifully smelling sage and rosemary (fresh), stinky pots of boiling meat (all the meat and fish on display is plastic and the smell is artificial). It is the biggest 16th century kitchen in Europe and a good insight into Tudor diet.

The building has got a variety of styles that are well presented as you walk through the palace. It has been extended by few monarchs and late medieval style clashes with baroque. Visit Queen Mary’s State Rooms, the Chapel Royal and the Wolsey Rooms.

The oldest tennis court is here and it is still in use.

Outside you will find gardens with deer passing by, the Maze and the Great Vine.

Unfortunately none of the rooms have any descriptions, all the information is in one place making it difficult to remember, and lack of signs doesn’t help either.

The cafe is very English – vegetables boiled to death and scones with clotted cream :-)

24 August, 2008 

London Food Quest – Back To Basics

Back to Basics is one of my favorite fish restaurants in London. Based in Noho in a quiet side street just off Great Titchfield Street it has lots of tables outside and not many cars passing by. The fish is delivered daily and the menu is always varied.

Inside, the decor is pretty average. The staff are awful – sleepy Polish girls with bad English and no energy, so you’ll be lucky to get your drinks within half an hour.

But, once the wait is over and the food arrives, it’s all worth it. I had tiger prawns with garlic to start with and skate with butter and caper sauce. Divine. The wine list is pretty good too.

24 August, 2008 

John Soane Museum

Sir John Sloane Museum is a great place to visit. The museum is based in Sir John’s house in Lincoln Inn’s Fields in central London and it is free to get in however they only allow few people at a time so be prepared to wait.

Sir John Sloane was a Neo-Classical English architect whose some of the most famous buildings include The Bank of England and The Dulwich Picture Gallery. He loved clean lines that characterize the antiquity and smart use of light, paid an extreme attention to detail and admired simple forms.

His house has been turned into museum of architecture after his death in 1837. All the rooms are in their original form and the whole place is peppered with artifacts like clocks, ancient vases and furniture.

The museum houses lots of his architectural drawings, many of them portrait Sir John’s ideal London including the Royal Palace. It also displays William Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress, three major works of Canaletto and Seti I’s sarcophagus.

My favorite bit of the house is the room of architect’s imaginary friend. The room is in the basement, has a couple of chairs and a table with a human scull, the walls are full of paintings and sculptures and one of the hidden basement rooms has got a human skeleton – rather spooky.

Moving through the back part of the museum is like going through a doll house, the place is absolutely packed with items, sculpture and pictures, even the most narrow corridors are richly ornamented.

This place requires few visits as it is quite overwhelming.

24 August, 2008 

Notting Hill Carnival

The biggest street carnival in Europe takes place every last weekend of August in London’s Notting Hill.

I used to live in that area so had no choice but to be a part of it. Great time to have a party on the first day, not so great to listen to the sound systems on the second day when you face a major hangover.

The carnival is a messy, crowded, loud event, I would not go again. My only memories are loud music and curry goat, crowds of people, no space to move around and no toilets.

View from my old house on Ladbroke Grove.

17 August, 2008 

London Food Quest – Rootmaster

London’s East End it the place to be. With new restaurants and cafés popping up on a weekly basis it is hard to keep on!

I’ve been introduced the Rootmaster Bustaurant and absolutely loved it. Cheap and cheerful, good honest food and friendly staff make this place special. It does get a bit hot on the upper deck as the kitchen is just below but the experience is worth it and you can always sit outside.

The food is locally sourced and all the take-away packaging is bio degradable making the place environmentally responsible.

17 August, 2008 

Secret Places in London 1

Isn’t it amazing when we stumble upon real treasures in huge cities? Cities that have every inch discovered and documented by its inhabitants?

I found one yesterday. I was at a picnic in Highgate, in a small quaint park, hidden behind trees and bushes. A bit of green space away from a busy road with an amazing view of Alexandra Palace, a place only locals know about.

While we enjoyed each other, we were approach by a lady who told us a little secret about the place – it is an old cemetery where black plague victims are buried.

We all felt like we have learned something which made our day rather special.

17 August, 2008 

China Part 4 – Food

I was really excited about eating authentic Chinese food. However, I had been warned about lack of vegetarian dishes. It was hard. Most menus don’t make any sense as names of dishes are translated directly from dictionaries so you often come across things like Barbecue Speculation, Third Time Explosion or Buddha Jumped Over Great Wall Soup, whatever they can be!

I’ve tried dishes I’ve never heard of before, one of them was Mongolian hotpot (like the Japanese Nabe). You are presented with all kinds of bits and pieces like cabbage, fish balls, mushrooms and cook it in boiling stock. It was very very tasty and a healthy option too. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photograph of it as my husband was being force fed by an over-friendly waitress while I was left with some scraps.

I love street food and Beijing has lots of it – buns and pancakes with cabbage and garlic filling, sweet buns with coconut and caramelized onions (it does work). I did draw the line at fried silkworms and locusts.

I’ve discovered a brilliant dim sum canteen called May 1st in Xi’an – super cheap, tasty buns and dumplings, with lashings of MSG.

After a 20h train ride, arriving in Shanghai, I really craved European food. The first stop was M on the Bund – a flash restaurant with one of the best views of the waterfront – the Bund. We started our evening with cocktails at the Glamour Bar, one floor up from the restaurant, moving to M for a tasty feast of spring risotto and salt baked lamb for my other half, washed down with good Riesling. M has got a big balcony overlooking the Pudong district and the view is truly magical. The evening was perfect.

The best restaurants and bars in Shanghai are in exclusive shopping areas on the Bund. We visited Landis, Whampoa Club at Three on the Bund and Bar Rouge at Eighteen on the Bund.

Landis has fabulous European food, we went there for brunch. I had poached eggs with truffles followed by a fruit plate and my husband had the prefect omelette followed by cinnamon doughnuts with fresh chocolate, very naughty.

Whampoa Club serves modern and sophisticated Chinese food and I was very happy with the vegetarian lunch which had the prettiest dumplings.

One of the best teas I ever had – fresh camomile flowers and goji berries. Gillian McKeith would approve :-)

16 August, 2008 

Tate Modern – Street & Studio

This summer Tate Modern is presenting another great exhibition called Street & Studio An Urban History of Photography.

They have work from the world’s most famous photographers: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Lee Miller, Richard Avedon and Wolfgang Tillmans.

The exhibition is displayed in 11 rooms starting in late 1800s with fathers of photography like Louis Vert and Charles Negre going on to cover topics such as celebrity, everyday passers by, tramps, post war imagery and modern youth.

Even though there were a lot of big names, I hadn’t seen a lot of the work before so was pleasantly surprised.

Street & Studio shows till August 31st.

Cy Twombly’s retrospective is on at The Tate Modern till September the 14th but I couldn’t see what all fuss was about.

10 August, 2008 

China Part 3 – Shanghai

Our last stop of the trip is Shanghai. This time we spent 20 hours on the train, a massive journey!

My favorite part of the city is the Bund which curves round the Huangpu river. The street is peppered with Art Deco buildings and gives an incredible view of the Pudong District with Shanghai’s landmark – The Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

We decided to focus on the modern art in this place and our first stop was Shanghai Sculpture Space. There are quite a few sculptures outside in a garden but the main exhibition space is inside a concrete space which houses China’s most famous contemporary artists.

M50 is another modern art complex similar to the 795 Art Zone is Beijing but on a much smaller scale. It became a home to about 130 artists, interior decoration shops and small cafes. You can easily spend few hours there wandering from one studio to another.

The last place we visited is MOCA Shanghai based in the middle of People’s Park. This modern art museum doesn’t have a permanent collection, it focuses on European art however efforts are made to shift the focus on Chinese artists.

MOCA Shanghai

View from The Bund

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