Happy Mother's Day!

Suddenly I'm not that hungry...

London Locations ( November 2012 ) Part Two

Just a few more photos from my trip to London last week with my mate Glenn. This is a view across the Thames from the South Bank, looking towards the financial heart of the City, with The Gherkin in the background. I still need to get a closer look at that building... maybe next time...

We crossed the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral.

I hadn't seen St. Paul's up close in about 20 years so it was good to see it again, although we didn't have time to go inside. The sun was just starting to go down at this point, so the light hitting the dome made St. Paul's look magical, even though the photos don't quite capture the true colours.

After walking down Ludgate Hill, along The Strand and on up past Leicester Square, we headed towards the West End  -  after having a nose around some guitar shops in Wardour Street. Of all the musicals showing at the moment ( The Lion King, Kiss Me Kate, Shrek etc. ) this version of Singin' In The Rain had probably the most impressive front-of-house sign... and the umbrella theme was pretty apt. ( To be honest, we'd been lucky with the weather: the night before it had chucked it down with rain but we were too er, refreshed to really care and the Friday was cold but lovely, as the photos show. )

Christmas in Oxford Street this year is apparently sponsored by Marmite :-)

...and Carnaby Street is sponsored by The Rolling Stones. Seriously. Obviously tying in with the crusty old rockers' 200th anniversary ( or something like that ) the Stones were all over Carnaby Street, even having their own shop filled with memorabilia. We had to go in, of course, and say "Grrr!" for the camera ;-)

( And, tucked away at the other end of Carnaby Street, was the Mach Schau Gallery which was exhibiting some fantastic rare photos of The Beatles, too. Great stuff! )

In Leicester Square there was even a shop devoted to M & Ms  -  four floors of them, in fact. Glenn and I had to pose with the Abbey Road M & Ms  -  it would be rude not to. Only in London!

I'll leave you with a shot of the beautiful London Eye, taken from Waterloo. Toodle pip and all that...

Le Chat Noir

For no real reason, other than I think it's pretty cool, here's one of the most famous pieces of 19th century advertising art:

Le Chat Noir by Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen. We've had a print of this on our kitchen wall for years and for some reason I always thought it was the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, even though it's obviously in a different style. Oh well, you live and learn.

The poster advertised the famous Chat Noir cabaret/nightclub in Montmartre, which was a hip, swinging and groovy place to hang out back in the day. When Sarah and I last visited Paris, back in 2007, we stayed in Pigalle, only a few streets away from the modern restaurant which still bears the iconic name and black cat image. We were also right next to all the sex shops, burlesque theatres and the Erotic Museum ( ooh la la! ) - which was all very eye-opening...

And after all that bohemian decadence, here's our very own

chat noir, monsieur Hero :-)

Welcome to the 1970s

The decade when hair was long,
trousers were flared,
and you could wear any colour you liked...
as long as it was brown...




Soundtrack: The Chain, You Make Loving Fun, Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac

( Well, you can't get much more '70s than Rumours )