I 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 …
- London
The Brass Rail at Selfridges: Is London’s Oldest Salt Beef Bar Worth It?
by Bubblyby Bubbly 8 min readSome nights you just want comfort food. It was a cold evening in early December, I had spent a few hours in Selfridges, and I had not booked anywhere. Selfridges in December …
I had Westminster Abbey near the top of my London list, and the Abbey had other plans. The day I went, it was closed to visitors. Catherine, the Princess of Wales, holds …
- London
The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben: London’s Gothic Riverfront
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readThere is a stretch of the South Bank, somewhere between Westminster Bridge and the London Eye, where I always stop. Across the river, the Houses of Parliament line the water like a …
Some places make you stop and count the years. Standing in the Lower Ward at Windsor, below the chapel where Henry VIII lies buried, I worked out that the castle had already …
Across the street from Harrods, on the curve of Hans Crescent, there is a café that glows pink even in December. EL&N London had a garland of silver baubles around the door, …