Oranges and Sunshine with some books

I went to the cinema all by myself today. One time when we went to the movies together, Boyfriend didn't particularly like one of the trailers. I could see that it wasn't his type of the movie. I, on the other hand, was very eager to go. Because there's a lower price for the tickets from Monday to Thursday before 5pm, I decided to go today. The movie is called Oranges and Sunshine, has very good reviews in The Times and Time Out. It tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals in recent times: the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. Almost singlehandedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. She discovered a secret that the British government had kept hidden for years: more than 130,000 children in care had been sent abroad to commonwealth countries, mainly Australia. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and been sent to children's homes on the other side of the world. Many were subjected to appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine, they got hard labour and life in institutions. There were very people in the auditorium, but after the last scene everyone went silent and there were sniffs during the projection. The saddest thing is that it was completely hushed and only recently British and Australian governments had the decency to apologize.

I had a lovely lunch in at the Soho Square - just like last week. The weather is so perfect, the sun is shining and all the news are screaming that UK is hotter than the Mediterranean! I sat for more than hour with my Pret-a-Manger sandwich (with some mustard - I forgot how mustard tastes!), latte (again, mostly milk than coffee) and Time Out. I scouted few new interesting exhibitions and wrote them down in my little notepad. I was sitting back to the sun and my neck is now sunburnt. 

 

Because it's not in my style to be at Tottenham Court Road and not to go to the bookstores, I went to Blackwell's. They have "3 for 2" offer. Of course I bought three books: Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I'm looking forward to read them, they seem mucho interesting!

Madame de Pompadour - costume talk

I have no idea how I'm going to go clubbing tomorrow and before travel to Kent and meet AW's baby boy. My feet HURT. I went for the PT session in the morning, came back, took a shower and went to The Wallace Collection. My feet hurt when I stepped outside the door, going to the tube. So now, they're like numb. 

I wanted to cycle to The Wallace Collection, but of course the weather in London is so unpredictable that it was sunny and warm, when I took my winter jacket, scarf, gloves and... umbrella! It is just confirmation of the rule that when I take umbrella with me, it almost never rains. 

At The Wallace Collection I've spent almost an hour taking part in a costumed talk about Madame de Pompadour's life as mistress to the King of France and as  a great patroness of the arts. The lady was dressed in a beautiful dress, had a full make-up on and even her hair was styled! It was really great and I'm so happy that I went to see it. Some of the things I already knew from the Tour we went together with the Boyfriend on Sunday, but most of them were totally new. I checked out a bookstore at the museum, but sadly there was nothing on Madame de Pompadour, only Marie-Antoinette. 

unfortunately picture made from the museum's booklet

Later, I went all the way down from Bond Street to Tottenham Court Road - all the way down the Oxford Street. I stopped at Body Shop to buy little gift for AW, Boyfriend bought another gifts for her husband and son. Feels weird saying that she has a son. I ate a small lunch at the nice little park, right next to the WarnerBross London office. 

that's where I had lunch...

...sitting on this bench

Then I decided to go to Foyles and Blackwells (two nearby bookstores) and search something about Madame de Pompadour - all in all, it was her day today. But even though I've checked the websites before, there was nothing. Again, only about Marie-Antoinette and not even the books I've read about on Amazon (I'm addicted to the Amazon reviews). 

Besides, my cupcake bag was so heavy, that I already felt like a camel. Going back home from the tube was one of the longest walks of my life. Now, I only want to go to sleep.

Wallace Collection and Hyde Park on Sunday

One of my favourite museums in London is The Wallace Collection. The Wallace Collection is a national museum in an historic London town house. In 25 galleries are unsurpassed displays of French 18th century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world class armoury. 

The Wallace Collection is a national museum which displays the wonderful works of art collected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess. It was bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Richard's widow, Lady Wallace, in 1897.

Displayed at Hertford House, the main London townhouse of its former owners, the Wallace Collection presents its outstanding collections in a sumptuous but approachable manner which is an essential part of its charm. It is probably best known for its paintings by artists such as Titian, Rembrandt, Hals (The Laughing Cavalier) and Velázquez and for its superb collections of eighteenth-century French paintings, porcelain, furniture and gold boxes, probably the best to be found anywhere outside France. There are also splendid medieval and Renaissance objects, including Limoges enamels, maiolica, glass and bronzes, as well as the finest array of princely arms and armour in Britain, featuring both European and Oriental objects.

unfortunately I am on all the pictures, so I had to crop this one.

It is a real house filled with the antique and beautiful things. It's like moving back in time to late XVIII century Paris and France. The clocks are ticking and playing unique sounds every fifteen or thirty minutes - in every room there's different one! I became familiar with this place after Mother wanted to see one of the Delaroche portraits showing Virgin Mary. Apparently, the model was Izabella Potocka - Polish aristocrat living in Paris during the time when Poland was non-existent. Mother loves her and she read almost every book on her, so it was great to actually see the portrait she was reading about and saw it in the book!

Boyfriend and me cycled to there today from our usual spot - St John's Wood - that's the nearest docking station from us. This time we took a different route and cycled through Regent's Park - there is a footpath available for cyclists too! Then we entered Marylebone High Street and passed by the old AM's flat, where her sister currently lives. It was great to cycle on the Sunday morning - there streets were mostly empty, I think that the time change had something to do with it!

We went out early today, because on 11.30am was a free Public Tour around the place. A very lovely woman told us a little bit of history of the place and we covered few major pieces of exhibition. Now I want to buy a book about Madame de Pompadour - I had no idea she was such a vital person in promoting arts. 

Afterwards, we grabbed a quick lunch - vegetarian Sunday roast - and went to see Limitless. I liked the trailers, I read few reviews and I heard that the movie is on top of the list in the USA. To be honest, I was disappointed. I was expecting something ground-breaking, but it was an action movie. In my opinion, there was no need to focus so much on fights, blood and chopped hands. The idea behind the script was great, but I think the screenplay had been lost somewhere along the way. Unfortunately it's a typical guy movie. 

The weather was so nice and it was barely 3pm when we walked outside, so after quick chat we've chosen to take a stroll in Hyde Park. It was packed. On Speaker's Corner, people listening and just general madness, at The Serpentine (a huge artificial lake in the middle, created for the Queen Caroline in 1730) people were paddling in boats and the birds were just mad with happiness. We walked all the way to the South Kensington and Harrods, then turn left to Green Park. We walked for 3 hours and I could certainly feel it in my legs. But it's great to be so tired.

Fun day cycling with London protests in the background

Today was the perfect Saturday. It was just perfect, despite the fact that there were huge anti-government protests in London, we were in the middle of them and had few encounters with anarchists on the way. I was seriously scared a couple of times, but there was A LOT of police, so that made me feel safe a little bit more. 

1 1/2 house

But the day started with meeting Dom-dom at Finchley Road, walking to St John's Wood (longer walk than I expected!) and enjoying the warm and sunny day. Dom-dom has never cycled in London before, so she was major scared, because our plan was to cycle from St John's Wood to Tottenham Court Road. Of course buying Boris bike pass was not problematic and it took us around 20 minutes (!!!) to buy one for each of us (3 people in total). We didn't know the latest trick in the book aka when you pull the bike from the docking station, press both brakes simultaneously and then pull as hard as you can. Easy. Right.

trying to buy bike pass

In the end, with the little help of a guy who was returning his bike, we went on and cycled all around Regent's Park to the British Museum. We made a little stop there. In the original plan we were going to see The Eagle at Odeon on Tottenham Court Road, but we were so hungry, so the decision was to eat some lunch. 

We spent few ours eating, laughing and joking. Dom-dom had her first encounter with the Nintendo DS  - me and Boyfriend have one each (mine is pink of course), so we played against each other and it was so much fun! I forgot how great Nintendo is - usually I'm going through the gaming phases like playing The Sims, Caesar, etc. and then the circle overlaps. Anyway, Dom-dom now wants to buy Nintendo too, so we're be playing together aka even more fun.

I won

When were were talking, I said that I want to go to the Selfridges today and buy MAC lipsticks. I had my eye on both Lady Gaga ones and also the hottest spring trend - orange! I've found on the MAC website a great colour called Morange and I knew it had to be mine. Dom-dom claims that she also wanted to buy orange lipstick for quite some time, but of course we all know that it was my idea. 

not a good photo, but I will write another posts about the lipsticks and post better pictures.

We went all the way from the Tottenham Court Road to Bond Street. We didn't take the main road (Oxford Street) because of the protest and it was very good idea, because when we were passing Topshop on a parallel road, there was madness - shop closed, paint on the walls, windows smashed. Anarchists had a really good time out there. It was rather shocking to see all these people with banners, shouting and in black hoodies and then enter Selfridges and pass Louis Vuitton, Prada, Marc Jacobs and Chanel. Two completely different worlds.

We bought our lipsticks and parted our ways. Dom-dom went home to get ready for a friend's birthday drinks (I was also invited but didn't want to go) - in the end she was so tired (we can really make people suffer) and went to sleep! Score Dom-dom!

Me and Boyfriend wanted to go to the cinema badly, but when we saw that the earliest movie at the Odeon Marble Arch is in over an hour, we were stuck. Our bike pass was still valid (it lasts £1 for a whole day and then £1 when you use bike for over an hour), so we cycled back to Tottenham Court Road to the Odeon we were originally supposed to go to and see The Eagle. Because there was still a little bit of time and there's a HUGE Paperchase store (aka my heaven - I LOVE stationery!) on the other side of street, I have a new mug and notepads (pictures to come soon). 

The Eagle was better than I expected. I don't want to put spoilers, so I won't write about the essence of the movie, I will only say that it's much more than fighting and blood on the scree. Of course there are battle scenes and nasty usage of the knives etc., but as my usual reaction to this is hiding behind my jacket, I don't remember it after leaving the cinema. It was an interesting movie and I'm glad we went to see it. It gave me a chance to not only salivate over Channing Tatum, but also remind myself about honour and true friendship.

Smelling spring in the air

Today officially the spring has begun. You could smell it in the air - it was so sunny and warm. Just one of these perfect London days when you're happy and strangers actually smile at you on the streets. Some of them are already wearing flip-flops and short sleeves - that's what happens when the temperature reaches over 16 degrees. I truly hope that it's going to stay like that, because I want to go cycling over the weekend (even Dom-dom agreed to come!).

I went to the gym today and I was pretty let down when I stepped on the scales. It's just my stupid body resisting to any change even though I'm forcing it. I just have to survive. But it's really unfair when I think that I haven't eaten ANY chocolate or crisps for more than 3-4 weeks and although my stamina improved, I don't see the results.

Yesterday I sat and read One Day by David Nicholls. I was gripped by the story of two people who meet after their graduation and we follow their lives from then on to the same date every year. It's amazing how people change and yet remain the same. How their priorities and desires change over the years. This book helped me to put some things in perspective. I also talked to Dom-dom for over 2 hours today and she kept repeating the thing she always tells me - that in few years I'll forget about this period of not having job and just simply move on.

Spring in London's parks and Never Let Me Go

It is our tradition that every year when the daffodils start to bloom, we go to Green Park and St James Park next to Buckingham Palace and just admire the beauty. Daffodils are one of my favourite flowers, even though I'm not usually big fan of yellow. They also smell wonderful and just remind me of new beginnings. We were a little bit disappointed, last year daffodils were literally everywhere, this year - probably due to the long and cold winter - there were only few yellow patches on the grass. 

Green Park

Green Park

St James Park

Japanese wish on a blooming cherry tree - St James Park

St James Park

St James Park

Pelicans - main tourist attraction - St James Park

St James Park

All of the London was today taken by tourists, they were all over the place - the tourist season has officially started. The Queen was today at the Buckingham Palace (there was a flag flying over), but there was no glimpse of her. As usual, we joked that she can check the hour on the Big Ben from her windows.

Big Ben in the background

Buckingham Palace

We took the usual route and walked past the Queen's old stables and guards. I have to finally go and see changing of the guard this year, because I've never seen it - after all these years of living in London! 

I heart horses!

We went for a lunch and it was terrible. We keep coming back to this restaurant near Trafalgar Square, because we're usually always HUNGRY after a walk in a park since it's on the way to the Leicester Square. Today, I ordered vegetarian Thai noodles and they had no taste except chili. I was aware that this dish was given three chili peppers on the menu, but I thought that there's going to be some more flavours! We're so not impressed, that we've vowed not to come back and just go extra mile or two to the same chain, but on the Tottenham Court Road.

Today we decided to go and see Never Let Me Go with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley based on a novel by Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro. I am dying to see Biutiful by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Javier Bardem, but the only screening was at 5.30pm. I haven't read the Ishiguro's novel and for now, I don't think I will. The movie was nothing I was expecting. It's very, very sad. As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them. And the saddest thing is that they have no choice over their fate - there's only waiting. A movie to remember.

It was still relatively early when we left the cinema, so we decided to go and see exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - An Englishman in New York: Photographs by Jason Bell. Inspired by some of the 120,000 English men and women living in New York City, Jason Bell has identified and photographed leading British born figures setting the cultural agenda in New York, including Thomas P. Campbell, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, writer Zoë Heller, Sting, Kate Winslet and television pundit and Barney's window dresser Simon Noonan. Jason Bell began this project following a commission on ‘Anglophilia’ for American Vogue. He has lived between New York and London since 2003. I really enjoyed it.

National Portrait Gallery

London Street Photography and Norwegian Wood

Today we went to see London Street Photography exhibition at the Museum of London. This major new exhibition showcases an extraordinary collection of London street photography with over 200 candid images of everyday life in the street. From sepia-toned scenes of horse-drawn cabs taken on bulky tripod-mounted cameras to 21st century Londoners digitally ‘caught on film’, explore how street photography has evolved from 1860 to the present day. The photographers show the relationship between London’s streets and the people who live on them, and reflect on the place of photography on London’s streets today as anti-terrorism and privacy laws grow ever tighter.

Recruits near the Westminster

Big Ben and anti-war protesters

It was really interesting to see the familiar places like Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square or Bank on the old photographs. It is amazing to see people gathering, leaning from the windows, just to have an opportunity to be on the picture. However, I was expecting a little bit more. I'm not saying it was bad, but I think that the combination of reading fantastic reviews and attending some major exhibitions at British Museum, made me feel that this one was too small. 

We also had in plans going to see British Art Show 7, but we decided to postpone it for the next weekend - we're both feeling a little bit ill and my legs hurt, after yesterday's PT session, where I had to run. So we went to eat and to my shame I ate vegetarian burger and some fries - my first fast-food in almost 4 weeks! Oh, Renata (my PT) will be so not impressed.

Quick check on the Blackberry and it turned out that there is Norwegian Wood at the nearby Odeon Covent Garden. Lately, we're choosing Odeon over other cinemas, because we have a Premier Clubcard and collect points - today we were able to exchange them for one ticket! Yey! The movie is an absolute must-see. It's so simple and beautiful. I admit that I am not a huge fan of Murakami's novels, but the movie is nothing like the book. It is difficult and some characters are doomed from the start, but in the end, it shows that one chapter has to close for the new one to open and give some hope.

I also snapped these great postcards from the cinema

St Patrick's Day in London

Even though this weekend tube on our station is not working, we decided to take Rail Replacement bus and go to central London anyway. It is a huge sacriface on our part, because the journey usually lasts an hour longer. But we were lucky to be riding an old fashioned bus - the one which is not normally driving on the London streets - it was a first time for me!

You can get on and off the bus from the open platform at the back

 We went to the British Museum for the permanent exhibition: Japan. After this horrible tragedy that struck Japanese nation, we wanted to at least make it closer to our hearts by learning and discovering the culture. The focus is on the ancient and medieval times, including the rule of samurai. In the exhibition overview is a mention of a XX and XXI century, but there's hardly anything relating to this subject, except some explicit drawings. There was a lot of people for a permanent exhibition, so I think we were not the only ones with the idea of coming.

Later we took a stroll and we ended up on the Trafalgar Square, where people were celebrating St Patrick's Day. There was a lot of green, beer and smiles. Irish people certainly know how to party!

Celebration at the Trafalgar Square

Ancient Egyptian Book of The Dead

We had a very productive Sunday. I've woken up really early, got ready and we were out. It really helps that everyday I'm eating plain porridge with some fruit. First few spoons on Friday were more than horrible, but now, I'm actually looking forward to it every morning and it tastes great! The porridge I was usually eating was with added honey and sugar and it had too much calories for me to eat it nowadays. Besides, it was too sweet and I was always feeling funny - when I still had a couple of spoons left. This plain porridge is much healthier option and I like it! Anyway, our weekend breakfast were always a fuss - Boyfriend spent hours preparing it and now it's swift. 

On my way from the gym last week I saw a poster on the bus stop saying that Boris bikes aka bikes which are on the street and you can rent them for as long as you want them (for a price of course!) can be finally rented-as-you-go. After checking yesterday evening what the prices are, Boyfriend discovered that the booking price for 24 hours is only £1 and for first 30 minutes it's another £1. So we decided to travel to St John's Wood station and from there take a ride through Regent's Park. The sun was shining, it was warm - a perfect weather for the bike ride! I was so scared of riding on the London streets, because my first ride was a disaster. In the end, we couldn't ride into the Regent's Park, because there's a ban on bikes, so we decided to ride to British Museum. So we rode around Regent's Park, through Great Portland Street (Boyfriend's work) and next to the UCL. We were riding for around an hour and it was just GREAT! However, I couldn't focus on sightseeing this time, because I was constantly alerted and in a deep shock.

That's my bike - 17217!

We came to British Museum because there's a fantastic exhibition: Ancient Egyptian Book of The Dead. I am a Member, so we could go and see it anytime and without queuing. Yey! Those, who were on Sunday in a British Museum know that it's absolutely crowded or I should rather say swarmed with people. We went to see this exhibition last week, but only managed to see half of it, because they were closing the Museum (earlier in a day it took us a really long time to find a place to eat). So now we only had second half to see. I must say that this option worked even better. 

Entrance to the Museum

The exhibition is heavily founded on the papyrus and after a while you loose interest and patience to look at it. Because I was fresh I could concentrate better on the next half, unlike other people who simply passed, because it was too tiring. I must admit that the exhibition is very time-consuming and with only few places to sit, it's easy to get tired. I read so much about that I was expecting something a little more spectacular - maybe like famous The Terracotta Army. But in overall, I enjoyed it, and that's most important thing. 

Before going to the exhibition we ate some lunch - we were really hungry after the bike ride - and later we went to eat some more food to a French bistro. I ordered two starters - a soup and caesar salad, which turned out to be one of the best salads I've eaten in my entire life! Because it was only 2.30pm we went to Swiss Cottage to see Black Swan. Boyfriend absolutely loved the movie, I, on  the other hand, was expecting something more - similarly to the exhibition I read a lot of reviews so I made up in my head this great movie. I'm not saying I was disappointed, but I thought it was going to be a little different. Still - the ending is perfect. 

AB's birthday party

Last night we went for the AB's birthday party. When it was time to get ready I was not exactly in a party mood, because the club we were supposed to go to - Abacus - is in the City. This means that it could be in a middle of nowhere for me. Because the London tube does NOT work after 1am, the only options of how to get home that you have when you go clubbing is (1) take a night bus - not a good option when you are going alone, plus, you may still need to take a long walk as the bus routes are not that many; (2) take a cab/mini cab - very pricey option, not good if travelling alone, because you can't split the bill with others. I am still shocked by the fact that the public transport in London is so horrible. I know that they need to do maintenance of tracks and everything, but still - the lines are usually closed completely at weekends. I was voting for Boris Johnson, because he promised that the tube will be open on Friday and Saturday until 3am. Never trust a politician.

Anyway, I was not happy about Abacus choice, because this would mean that I would go for only 2 hours of clubbing! Besides the last tube our other option was changing 3 buses which would last around 1,5h. Not fun at all. And because recently in London it's freaking freezing, I was not keen on going outside. In the end, I gathered my strength and we went there. It was even worse than I expected, but hey - I knew it anyway - from the last time I've been there. I only had one Sex on the Beach and that was it for me. 

AB was freaking out, because Boyfriend came with me. I think she was secretly hoping that he wouldn't come - even though she sent him an invitation. The reason for her uneasiness was that the guy she is cheating her boyfriend with was also there! His every attempt of talking to the Boyfriend was quickly suppressed by AB and all the time she was telling me to keep them separated. I think that if she wouldn't be that drunk, she probably would have a heart attack. She will get caught eventually. I've done a little catching up with Dom-dom and AP too, but what we need is a proper girls' night out. 

Strolling alone

I went to collect NYE tickets today. Of course there was some drama, because they were unsure if I only reserved them or booked and paid. I've never been there - we were planning to go there with the girls countless times, but never actually got there - but my first impression wasn't so great. At least as good as I hoped. Anyway, I'll keep in mind that the place doesn't make the party, only people and that you can have the best of times with the cheesiest songs on the planet if the people are fantastic. What I LOVE to do next morning when I wake up after every party is to check out all the pictures I made. To say the least, I've made some enemies on Facebook throughout the years. I can't wait for the NYE pictures. It's going to be crazy!

Later I went for a walk around London. I was in no hurry and for the first time in years (!) I was strolling alone around the city with no purpose or agenda. It was great. I didn't even realize how much I needed it. It reminded me how I actually love to live here.

Christmas Tree on Trafalgar Square

Discovering the Hummingbird Cupcackes

It was supposed to be snowing today in London. It didn't, but it is VERY cold. I was wearing my extra-warm gloves, long woolen scarf and a teddy hat which ended up in my bag, but I think it will see the world tomorrow. I was freezing, but I'm happy. I love pre-Christmas London - all the decorated shopping windows, festive atmosphere on the streets and random reminders of the gift-season.

That's what I want for Christmas!

Our plan was to go to the Spanish Bookshop so I can buy some books for studying, dinner and cinema. When we climbed the stairs on the Oxford Circus it appeared that whole Regents Street and Oxford Street are closed for shopping and some festive stuff.

OK, I'll also settle for this lot.

We managed to find some freebies like acid-green bag and I spent some time salivating in front of Liberty. The Manolos, Kiehl's cosmetics, scarves and lots and lots of little gems...

I've bought some books: Temas de derecho - Español en el ámbito jurídico, El cronómetro: Manuales depreparación DELE and Spanish Elle. Then we were looking for a place to eat from the TasteCard application on the phone (Boyfriend has a card so he gets various discounts), but after wandering around for like an hour we've given up and by accident decided to go to Byron. Luckily they do have vegetarian hamburgers so we didn't starve in the end! The PERFECT dessert was the Hummingbird Cupcake! I have no idea that next to the Oxford Street - is one of the most magical places with the BEST cupcakes in the world! Now I know when we're gonna desserts every time aka tomorrow.