Tag: London

  • TRAVELING SOLO [Tricks of the trade]

    TRAVELING SOLO [Tricks of the trade]

    I’m a woman and I travel the world. Alone. (With some occasional exceptions.) Alone, I’ve stayed in a stone cottage on top of a mountain in Tuscany, an 11th-century fort on an island off the coast of Brittany, an estancia in Argentina, and a riad in Tangier. Alone, I’ve shopped in chaotic flea markets in…

  • EXCEPTIONAL EATERIES | London | Time for Tea at The Langham

    EXCEPTIONAL EATERIES | London | Time for Tea at The Langham

    “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” Henry James (1843-1916) American expatriate writer When in London, one (well, I) absolutely must have afternoon tea.  The tradition of the English afternoon tea dates back to the 19th century, credited to the Duchess of Bedford,…

  • Style Moment | London bookstore

    Style Moment | London bookstore

    “A book can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) American author

  • COOL HOTELS | London | Number Sixteen

    COOL HOTELS | London | Number Sixteen

    I love this hotel.  I want to live in this hotel.  I won’t go to London unless I can stay in this hotel. At 16 Sumner Place, in the South Kensington neighborhood of London, in a row of white houses that all look the same, is Hotel Number Sixteen.  There’s no “hotel” sign out front,…

  • FLEA MARKETS | London | Portobello Road

    FLEA MARKETS | London | Portobello Road

    For me, there is no better way to spend a London Saturday than Portobello Road market. Portobello Road is a Victorian street in the Notting Hill district of London. The market began as a fruit and vegetable market in the 19th century, and antique dealers started setting up stalls in the 1930’s. (There are still…

  • Weird but Wonderful | Peace in London

    Weird but Wonderful | Peace in London

    “Any peace cutlery, £1” Portobello Road market, London

  • FLEA MARKETS | London | Spitalfields

    FLEA MARKETS | London | Spitalfields

    On a London Saturday, the Portobello Road antique market stretches through Notting Hill. On Sunday, across town, is Old Spitalfields Market…a market of a very different color. Each day of the week, various vendors sell their wares here, but Sunday is when the covered market comes to life, with the creations of young artisans and…

  • London | Royal Wedding Adventure | Celebration

    London | Royal Wedding Adventure | Celebration

    The wedding of Will and Kate is over, but the occasion is still very much alive in London.  Everywhere I go, people are talking about it…where they watched it, how lovely the dress was, how sad it was that Diana wasn’t there to see it, how poised the young couple was, how wonderful it is…

  • London | Royal Wedding Adventure | The Big Day

    London | Royal Wedding Adventure | The Big Day

    The atmosphere in London is positively jubilant.  People from all over the world have gathered to watch, and be part of, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Some have camped out for days, and, even so, the mood is simply one of great joy.  Unusually, I didn’t have a plan.  I set out…

  • London | Royal Wedding Eve

    London | Royal Wedding Eve

    On the evening before the Royal Wedding, the crowds have gathered to camp out along the Mall, the wide boulevard leading to Buckingham Palace.