Pasta is my comfort food. It takes me straight back to Italy, one of my favourite countries, and in particular to a bowl of pasta I ate in Rome that quietly ruined …
England
- London
Botticelli at the National Gallery, London: Venus, Saints, and Savonarola
by Bubblyby Bubbly 8 min readI have loved Botticelli since I was a girl. Long before I understood anything about the Renaissance, I knew those faces: the tilt of a head, the pale gold hair, the calm …
- London
The National Gallery, London: From the Sainsbury Wing to the Sunflowers
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readTrafalgar Square sits at the heart of London, and in early December it runs cold and bright, with the fountains going and a row of wooden chalets set up along the north …
- London
The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre, London: Seeing It Where It Began
by Bubblyby Bubbly 6 min readI had waited a long time for this one. I had listened to The Phantom of the Opera for years and learned most of the songs by heart, yet I had never …
For most of my life, the Queen was in my wallet. I grew up in Canada, where Elizabeth II was head of state, and her face looked out from the twenty-dollar bill …
- London
The Young Victoria: the Film’s Royal Stand-Ins, and the Real Palaces Behind Them
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readI love The Young Victoria. The 2009 film, with Emily Blunt as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Albert, tells the story of a teenage queen finding her feet and falling in love, …
You walk into the V&A and the first thing above you is a storm of blue and green glass. The great Chihuly chandelier hangs in the domed entrance hall, eleven metres of …
- London
A Christmas Night on the South Bank: a Carousel, Mulled Wine, and a Giagia at the Greek Stall
by Bubblyby Bubbly 8 min readWe came out of dinner at Sea Containers Restaurant, just along the river, into the cold and walked straight into Christmas. The South Bank does this every winter. The riverside fills with …
- London
Sea Containers Restaurant: the View, the Submarine, and the Table I Was Asked to Leave
by Bubblyby Bubbly 6 min readI wanted to love dinner at Sea Containers. The room is good-looking, the South Bank outside is all river and lamplight, and our table looked across the Thames to the dome of …
Most of us know Elizabeth I only as the powerful queen she became. The Virgin Queen. Gloriana. The pale, jewelled figure in the Phoenix portrait, a woman who ran England on her …
- London
In the Footsteps of Henry VIII: Palaces, the Tower and His Grave
by Bubblyby Bubbly 11 min readI expected to be charmed. Henry VIII is the king everyone knows, the one from the rhyme, the giant standing square in the famous portrait. I went round the places that carry …
I did not expect Rome to have reached this far. I knew the Romans came to Britain. I had just never pictured them building a spa this far from home, in a …