Weekend of Loveliness Series - #2

As I said a couple of days ago, I'm splitting the photos from Saturday into 3... This post is basically a bit of a love letter to London, so please stay with me on this one as I post some of my favourite places.

Every day in Cambridge, I miss London a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, this place is beautiful, but after three years of being surrounded by academia, and it permeating Everything you say and do, and being ground down by the constant deadlines and made ill by the lack of real routine but essays, I miss home like hell. I miss the variety; the constantly changing landscape; the feeling of being in a place where you can go anywhere and do anything at any time; the fact that it's so eclectic and eccentric and whatever you do, you're accepted for being the person you want to be, rarely judged, left to get on with your life; the joy of the fast pace and the discovery of something new... It's not the place for everyone, but it's the place for me.

I love things like this... This house is basically just one room thick. I think it's to accomodate the railway line, but it's slim sillhouette fascinates me. It's like one of those dollhouses that only had one room so you could display everything framed by pretty windows. I love it when old buildings are renovated and they leave up the facade but completely knock down the building behind... We get that a lot, especially in the City - like this building that is opposite my mother's office near the Royal Courts of Justice:

Don't let the grey put you off... This was taken ages ago, on my phone,  on a rather foggy day in central London - rather industrial, isn't it ;-D

This is one of the candy coloured houses from where we did Saturday's photoshoot... Walking down here always makes me feel like I've been transported to a little mediterranean fishing village, and each of the houses is a different vibrant pastel shade. It's pretty much directly of the King's Road, and if you get a chance to wander down here, it'll put a smile on your face! :-D 

This is the old Michelin (tyre company) building, that's now a Conran restaurant, Bibendum. I love this place as on the side it has tiles depicting classic cars from the early 20th century... An absolute gem of a building, made all the sweeter by the stained glass and the flower stall out front...

Just one street up from the photo two back... These painted shutters remind me of parts of Italy where the past seems omnipresent but corrupted. (In a good way - at least here - I think...) I can see colonialism + 90s Brighton + 80s Miami combining in one house's facade ;-D Got to love the attempts at Palm tree growing too. I think this road is opposite the KR starbucks (- the 2nd one you pass, if you're walking from Sloane Square tube).

I LOVE the windows of Joseph on Brompton Cross at the moment... This window display is on the opposite side of the road from Chanel, and I have to admit, it distracted me from my usual bag drooling ;-D How kwl is this!?!? Especially with the sky reflection too... The display is basically a cityscape on the heads of the mannequins. Freaky but uber-immense too! Especially considering the gorgeousness of the clothes too. I didn't get a chance to inspect the clothes as we had to move on to photoshoot-ness / getting the car, but I hope it's still there when I'm next around!

British town and street layouts are like none other I've encountered... Everything's just so squished. Siena is the only other place I've been where things are such a beautiful mishmash of old and new, but in London I guess it's all just a bit more grey. And I'm biased anyway ;-D

All the above photos are from the Chelsea area, but I promise that's not my only hangout... I'm also a big South Bank girl - find me in the summer, stretched out in the park by Gabriel's Wharf; eating the butternut squash and goats cheese salad in Riviera restaurant; hidden in the dark watching an old movie at the BFI or rummaging through the book market outside. And there are many more places besides, from the South Bank to Westminster, Euston-wards, Marylebone, Notting Hill, Carnaby Street and many more. We just didn't take photos of them this weekend!

Right. Back to dissertation gloom...

Xxxc