Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The London Journey...

A traditional guard outside the Tower's Crown Jewels Museum.
 
Cheers to Google Blogger!!! I think they have finally managed to straighten out the new interface, and I am ecstatic about it!!! Posting the last three weeks has been, to say the least, difficult! All better now, though.
 Just wanted to share a few more pics this post of my trip to London. My last post just wasn't enough to cover everything we were so blessed to go see and do. I also took lots of video from my IPad, but I promise I will not bore you with all of those!

 
This was our trip to the infamous Tower of London....

 
A true, authentic Beefeater was our official tour guide at the Tower.

 
The famous Bell Tower at the Tower of London.
 
Mary Kay and myself outside the British Crown Jewels collection....

 
 
The beautiful Victoria and Albert Museum...

 
...the white pointy 'awning' cover is a highway cone sculpture at the entrance of the museum.
 
 
Some beautiful antique clothing on display at the V & A...
 


 
 
 
The magnificent British Museum...
 
 
...just look how grand the entry way is, this museum is HUGE....plan a whole day for this one!

 
 
 
A very cool and colorful mural of the Queen just down the block from the British Museum...
 
 
...LOVED it!
 
 
 
This was our main form of transportation the whole trip...
 
 
...and boy did we see A LOT of these red trains. It was a great way to get around the city because they were fast, safe and very economical!!!
 
 
Mary Kay posing with the Queen...
 
 
...Now she can tell all of her friends she got her picture taken with the Queen! ha ha
 
 
 
This was our yummy and traditional British dinner after our museum visits...

 
...there was Yorkshire Pudding, Bangers but no Mash, Steak and Kidney Pie with traditional herb sauce (I passed on the Kidney Pie), delicious chips dusted with cheddar and my favorite part of the meal...a real authentic British made Ale.

 
 
 
 
Below is a fun looking pub on the infamous and several hundred year old Fleet Street....
 
 

 
....St. Bride's Church was a cute little old church tucked back in a little alcove of Fleet Street.
 
 
The view of St. Paul's Cathedral from Fleet Street...

 
 
 
I loved this old Fleet Street building and it's old, exquisite architecture...

 
...and one of my favorite London restaurants 'Pret A Manger' was just underneath it.
 
 
 
Our shopping trip to Carnaby Street was just amazing...

 
...there was lots to see...

 
...my new favorite London clothier, "Bolongaro Trevor", was there!
 
DJ's spun records and live bands performed on the sidewalks as we shopped...
 
 

 
 
 
One of our last markets we shopped...
 
 
...I loved it because there were British Flags everywhere...
 
....a live string band played beautiful classical music as we strolled the market's stalls...perfect music when shopping for antiques....

 
 
One of our favorite market antique dealers....Martin...

 
He always has boxes upon boxes of the best treasures!


 
...check out our fingers from digging through the treasure troves of fun!!!
 
 
 
And the very last thing we did...

 
...was to see the whole city at once from this magnificent structure...

 
...oh yes, the London Eye definitely did not disappoint!!!

 
 
...check out the sunset over Buckingham Palace from the very top of the Eye...It really felt as if we were at the 'top of the world'....

 
 
Mary Kay laughed and snapped this picture of me during our eye in the sky ride....

 
...she said it was mostly how I looked during the entire trip due to my excessive video taping.
 (except when I was digging for antique treasures!)   :-))
 
 
 
And finally some of my new favorite pieces I stumbled upon...
 
Old portrait pieces...
 
 
Fabulous English Whitby Jet...
 

 
 
Beautiful handcarved cameos and Victorian filigree...


Porcelain French dolls and stunning Scottish agate brooches...


 
Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures of my incredible London journey. It was everything I had expected it to be and then some. I highly recommend traveling to this truly fabulous city!Everyone there is so kind, the weather is divine this time of year, and the sights are amazing and full of history.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week and be sure to stop by my Etsy shop tomorrow because I will be listing some new designs with some of these exciting new pieces!!!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Fabulous London...


Our first stop!!!!


On the day we landed, we went straight to Harrod's for high tea. It was a dream come true experience!!!


Scones, Laduree macaroons, pastries and finger sandwiches from the exquisite high tea we had at Harrod's.




The beautiful and moving tribute to Diana and Dodi at Harrod's. You will get teary eyed viewing this emotional tribute!!!

Another really beautiful department store exclusive to London, is "Liberty". They make all of their own fabrics for clothing and accessories and their store is filled on every floor with beautiful fresh cut flowers.

First day and all excited at one of the markets.

Myself in the heat of  haggle at the markets.

There was such great food at all of our markets. We did not go hungry!!!

Our "Dim Sum" steamed bun lunch at the market.

a beautiful old and very large photo tribute to the queen on the side of one of the buildings downtown.

An iconic London pub, that has been around for years.


An old, old pub we ate at, that has hosted many of famous people in its over 400 years of existence. Charles Dickens and lots of other famous writers would come here to drink and eat back in the day.

Our delicious Wild Mushroom Pilaf we had at the old Chesire.

Fun and really crowded Portabello Road market.

The crowds at Portabello.

Lots of fun antique pieces to choose from down on Portabello Road.

My new favorite London store and clothing line. (more about this in a later post.)

We were in Heaven when we found this antique fair and market that took place in an old 19th century palace.

Imagine an old palace this size filled with nothing but antiques for sale!

Oh yes, we spent the whole entire day here, just drooling over the beautiful antiques on display.

Mary Kay and the London skyline just before we entered the palace full of antiquties.

Our lunch we munched was a "Bap". It's a big large powdery roll filled with really yummy things. Mine had rosted pork, applesauce, and homemade stuffing on it. Oh yeah, and I couldn't go without adding some fine English mustard!

Stay tuned, I will be back soon with more pictures from my trip and some new treasures I found.
I see blogger has not fixed their problems for posting, so trying not to make this post to long. This picture caption thing is driving me quite crazy, it seems to be the only way I can narrarate my blog these days.
Have a great weekend everyone, and see you back here real soon!!!