Knickers in a Twist

I just finished this really fun, clever book -  Knickers in a Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang by Jonathan Bernstein.

This is a great little book full of British slang. I consider myself to be quite the Anglophile so this book is right up my alley!

Here are some of my favorites -

Bloody Nora, Close your eyes and think of England, Slog your guts out;

Silly buggers, Sod's law, Bubble and squeak, Trainspotter, Twit, Toffee nosed;

Upper-class twit, Bobs your uncle, Blot one's copybook, Shipshape and Bristol fashion;

and Silly season.

If you don't know what some of those mean, you'll just have to get the book! I highly recommend it for you Anglophiles out there.  ;-)

 

London Bridge

 

Dreaming of Paris...

I was thinking about our trip to Paris in 2010 and wishing we could go again.  I happened to find this blog post on Gwyneth Paltrow's blog Goop where she talks about a trip to Paris that she took with her father.  The post includes places to eat and places to stay.  I'm not sure we could afford to stay at The Ritz but I can dream can't I? I would also love to stay at the Plaza.

I would love to return to London again someday as well.  I really enjoyed our time there.


http://goop.com/newsletter/23/?utm_source=Goop+Newsletter&utm_campaign=554390499f-Goop_Newsletter_182_06_14_2012&utm_medium=email

The Plaza Athenee

The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll write a longer review soon. I really enjoyed this one!!

Countdown to the Academy Awards

The 83rd Academy Awards will be on this Sunday.  I can't wait!  I think I have watched the Oscars every year since I was about 10.  This year I watched the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on BBC America.  We never got that channel before - it was really great! 

http://www.bafta.org/

Here's the site for the Oscars -

http://oscar.go.com/

More on all this later...

My photos

I want to give my husband the credit for all the beautiful pictures he took on our trip to Europe.  Most of the pictures you see here were taken by him. :)

London facts

I bought a bookmark in London with some facts about the city.  Here are some of them -

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom.  London is the most populous city in the European Union with a population of 7.5 million and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million.  Its population is very cosmopolitan, drawing from a wide range of peoples, cultures and religions speaking over 300 different languages.  People born in London or who wish to associate themselves with London refer to themselves as Londoners.

London is a major tourist destination, with iconic landmarks including the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and St.Paul's Cathedral among its many attractions.  We visited all of those places on our trip. 

London has 3,800 pubs, 233 nightclubs and 6,128 licensed restaurants that include menus from more than 50 major country cuisines.  The city has over 40,000 shops and 80 individual markets.  There are almost 21,000 licensed taxis in London named "Black Cabs."

Prince Albert  Memorial, Hyde Park

Lilacs in London

I have posted a small picture of these gorgeous lilacs but I thought I'd add them again here so you can enlarge them.  These lilacs were outside of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.  We did not take the tour there but we have several photos of the outside of the church.  The lilacs were very fragrant and I have never seen this particular type before.

Lovely lilacs

Afternoon tea

Jackson and I have enjoyed the treat of having afternoon tea in many different cities.  So when we were planning our trip to London I wanted to be sure and have tea in the famous department store Harrods.  Their Georgian restaurant is described on the Harrods website -

Afternoon Tea at the Georgian

The Georgian’s quintessentially English afternoon tea stands amongst London’s finest, and when enjoyed in such regal surroundings, is an experience to be savoured, remembered and repeated. Freshly cut sandwiches, scones and pastries are accompanied by your choice of tea from Harrods private tea gardens.

It is a beautiful restaurant with a piano and the piano player wore a tuxedo.  Our waiter was very attentive and I loved the little sandwiches and cakes.  It actually was a moving experience for me to have tea in Harrods.  I'm not sure why but maybe it was just another dream coming true on this vacation!

We bought some loose leaf tea in the gift shop.  It's a set of three fruit flavored teas including strawberry, lemon and kiwi.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Harrods

Beefeater Bear

I bought a small, adorable teddy bear at the Tower of London gift shop.  It came with this poem -

My active service is complete,
Yet still a role to play
Serving Queen and country
At the Tower where I stay.

I join the Guards with keys in hand
Each night at "witching hour"
I keep the ravens black as space,
Guardians of the Tower.
Yes I am a Yeoman Warder
And bearly can contain
The pride with which I serve
my Queen
And England once again.

I am a serving Yeoman Warder
Or Beefeater it is true
I'm honoured by the post I hold
And proud to inform you
Of history within the Tower
Of London and the fate
Of kings and queens and rebels
Who passed through Traitors' Gate.

My uniform is quite unique,
Upon my coat a crown.
A buckled belt and hatted head
Tradition handed down.

Tower of London

 

Jersey Boys

We went to see the musical Jersey Boys in London at the Prince Edward Theatre.  Jersey Boys is internationally acclaimed and I had wanted to see it when it was in Seattle.  Guess I had to go to London to see this wonderful musical!  It tells the story of the rise to fame of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  I didn't know the background behind the story of how four guys from New Jersey got together to form one of the most successful bands in pop music.  They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and their songs include Big Girls Don't Cry, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Walk Like a Man and My Eyes Adored You to name a few. 

When we got to the theatre some people were in our seats but they moved right away.  We sat next to a nice couple from Scotland and we chatted with them during the intermission.  The Prince Edward Theatre was beautiful and we had good seats.  The story was engaging and touching, the music was wonderful and cast was very good.  Jackson thought one of the guys didn't have a good Jersey accent but I liked them all.  We had dinner at an Italian place called Ristorante Cappuccetto which was very near the theatre.  I had pumpkin ravioli.  Here's the website for the restaurant -

http://www.alcappuccetto.co.uk/index.htm

As the Jersey Boys would sing - Oh, What a Night!  This show was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

United Kingdom Parliament

We went to the Palace of Westminster, home of the United Kingdom Parliament.  We couldn't see much of the House of Lords because the Queen had been there that day for the State Opening of Parliament, a ceremonial occasion.  The Queen's Speech (written for her by the government) sets the working agenda for the coming year.  We got a peek at the Chamber where the Queen and Prince Phillip had sat on fancy chairs with gold doors behind them.  We had to go through security to get in and we signed this Declaration -
"I undertake not to make any interruption or disturbance in the galleries and to comply with any instruction from staff in the House of Lords."  We were patted down to get a temporary ID with a blurry picture to get in.  I kept mine as a souvenir. 

Big Ben

We spent more time in the House of Commons.  We sat behind plexiglass in the gallery (not as elaborate as the House of Lords) to watch the Members of Parliament (MP's) discuss issues.  The Speaker of the House would call on different MP's to respond on behalf of their constituents.  It was interesting and to be honest, it was nice to be able to sit down after all the sightseeing!

House of Parliament

We walked around Westminster Hall which was completed in 1099 and is still used for ceremonial events.  The Central Lobby is beautiful!

Victoria & Albert Museum

Today I posted a picture we took of the Chihuly glass chandelier at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.  Here are some shots of it from Chihuly's website -

http://www.chihuly.com/installations/v+a/chand01.html

It seemed much darker in the lobby when we were there.  They were featuring a special exhibit called Grace Kelly, Style Icon.  Someone had left the May edition of Vanity Fair on the plane and I picked it up because it had Grace on the cover (I've always admired her).  The article mentioned the exhibit in London so that's how I knew about it.  Princess Grace was one of the most photographed women of the 20th century.  They had a lot of her beautiful clothes from her movies, her private life and her days as the Princess of Monaco displayed on mannequins.  There were a couple of short films, one was of her wedding, and they even had her Best Actress Oscar that she won for The Country Girl in 1955. Tragically, Grace Kelly died in 1982 in a road accident.  Her beauty and style will always be remembered.  My favorite show Mad Men, has been influenced by Grace and I'm sure the costume designer has studied her films.  I highly recommend Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and To Catch a Thief if you've never seen them.

There was much more to see in the museum but we were there late in the day and ran out of time.

London photos

I added a few new pictures taken in London.  Just thought I'd point out that the Millennium Bridge was used in the filming of one of the Harry Potter movies - I think it was the most recent one but I'm not sure.  Jackson recognized it right away.  We walked across the Bridge to get to the Tate Modern museum where we spent quite a bit of time.  St. Paul's Cathedral was the setting for Princess Diana's fairy-tale wedding to Prince Charles in 1981.  We went inside but didn't take the tour.  I have more photos taken outside of the church, it's huge!

St. Paul's Cathedral