Monday 13 August 2012

Kew

Tucked away in south west London, right under the Heathrow flight path, you'll find Kew Gardens.

Officially known as the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, it is the world's largest collection of living plants. The actual gardens are over 250 years old however the famous glass houses were built in the Victorian era (I think).








Look, bananas grow upside down, who knew?!












The entire place is beautiful and old and like walking through a jungle.



























They dye the water black (with natural dye) in the lily house to prevent algae growing, which makes for some pretty nice reflections too.









Apparently hugging a tree is good for you...I'm not entirely convinced!










Well worth a visit!


Friday 3 August 2012

The Monument...

The City of London sits within the city London - a separate city whose boundaries have not changed since the Medieval days.  

During the working week, the city is abuzz with the sound of polished shoes shuffling from tube to office, crunching numbers and keeping the cogs of our great nation turning (or be it driving us further into economic meltdown - but let's not go there). Come Friday night, the first of the Essex girls jump off the train and take position at the nearest bar, hair extended, tan darkened and nails sharpened with the sole aim of securing a rich husband. Shortly joined by bankers patting each other on their backs.

But on Saturday the entire city turns into a ghost town - even the shops don't open! This city is guarded by dragons, you'll find one at every street leading in.


Personally, I think this is the best time to visit. Start at Borough food market and pick up some lunch (try the wild boar burger and a shot of wheat grass juice). Once done sampling the cheese, olives and brownies, stroll over the river and into the city.

Tower bridge - in 1831 an American business man, Robert McCulloch bought London Bridge, believing it to be Tower Bridge and had it shipped over and reconstructed brick by brick over a river leading to a real estate park. McCulloch later claimed he knew which bridge he was buying all along...likely story!

Just off one of the main roads in the city lies a hidden church. The church in question is St Dunstan in the East. The church, originally built in 1100 and with various additions over the centuries, survived numerous King's and Queen, economic challenges and even the great fire of London (albeit with some patching up) but unfortunately fell victim to Hitler's relentless bombing during world war II.


After the war, it was decided to turn the church into a garden. Right there in the middle of one of the busiest parts of one of the busiest cities in the world, lies this little piece of tranquillity. 







It's completely free and almost always empty (or maybe I've just been lucky?). Inside you'll find a couple of wooden benches and a little fountain. 


Once you've recovered from the working week, it's time to take in one of London's lesser known tourist attractions. Forget Buckingham Palace, Monument is where it's at!


Built to commemorate the Great Fire of London and designed by the genius, Christopher Wren, who is also responsible for the design of the Greenwich hospital, numerous churches and most famously of all, St Paul's Cathedral.

Speaking of St Paul's - after the Great Fire, Christopher Wren walked amongst the debris of the earlier cathedral and found a Latin inscription carved into a stone. He built the stone back into the current cathedral underneath a phoenix. The inscription read 'I will rise again'.


 Any way, back to the monument. The great fire started in a bakery in Pudding Lane - I love this fact. The monument is 202 ft tall and exactly 202 ft away from the location where the fire started.


Most Londoners have absolutely no idea that you can go inside and climb the 311 steps to reach a pretty impressive view of London. 


Originally they had hoped to use the inside of the monument to conduct gravity and pendulum experiments, with a laboratory built right into the foundations - unfortunately the vibrations of the horse and carts being pulled around outside meant all experiments were unusable.





It's only 311 steps but the spiral never seems to end!

After an expensive renovation, you can walk around the top of the monument inside a protective cage - you feel a little like you're in a bird cage.

Once you've circled your way back down, they even give you a certificate for your climbing efforts!


Once done, find yourself a old school London pub and reward yourself with a local pint!





Thursday 2 August 2012

Rome...

Along with London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong....Rome is just one of those cities you need to visit! 

    The Alps.

It's so old and every thing is so beautiful, so much so that at first it's a little overwhelming and your camera battery dies within half an hour of stepping off the bus. After a couple of days, you just sort of except that every thing is amazing and unbelievably, start to take it for granted.  


Rome had to be on the bucket list, there must be millions of things to see but for a first time tourist to Rome, these were on the top of my list:
On the day the Colosseum officially opened, 5,000 animals were killed. During its history, it has been estimated that over 500,000 people and over a million animals were killed there. They had all these pulley and weight systems in place and would raise trees, hills and even waves into the arena to create a show for spectators.
You're suppose to throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, which means that you will return to Rome. I'm not entirely sure which shoulder it is, I went for my left. 

The fountain is hidden down all these back streets, once you've weaved your way down to it, you are greeted by tourists from every country and somewhere in the middle of all of them, stands the fountain. It gets crazily busy, especially in summer but if you go for dinner in the area first (try the fried artichoke) and visit the fountain late at night, you stand a much better chance of getting to see it in all it's glory.

This was actually my birthday, I could think of worse things to do. Dress and bag - French Connection, shoes - ASOS,  Fountain - all Rome's.

Random fact - 
In ancient Rome, an infant was placed at the father’s feet shortly after birth. If the father took the child into his arms, it showed he accepted responsibility for its upbringing. If the baby was not accepted, it was be abandoned and left to die. Harsh!
Turns out it rains almost as much in Rome as it does in England! (Or at least in April it does).



The umbrella is from the incredible MOMA museum in New York - I got terribly drunk in what I presume was the only Irish bar in Rome that night and left said umbrella in the taxi on the way back to the hotel. This means I will just have to go back to New York for another!

Walking around Rome, I found another set of stairs which I much prefered than the crowded Spanish ones. That's the thing about Rome and every city for that matter, everyone finds their own bit.



  • The Pantheon - Over 2,000 years old and still going strong! 
 Unfortunately there was a service taking place when we got there so we couldn't go in however it was just next door to my favourite church with a midnight sky ceiling.
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.


Sorry for the quality of the photo, you simply can't capture the reality on a screen. I'd like this painted on my bedroom ceiling please.


And of course, the last thing on my Rome must sees....


Vatican city is the world's smallest state. A state within a city.

One of the worlds most famous statues - Laocoön and his sons. I wish I'd paid a bit more attention at university to be able to tell you about this properly. From what I can recall, Laocoon was killed for attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan horse by throwing a stake at the horse.  The snake was sent by Poseidon to kill Laocoon and the Trojans interpreted this as the horse being a sacred object. I'm not sure where his sons come in to play on this.

The Vatican is the busiest place on earth. I recommend going with a tour group - it's a little more money but you skip the queues (which can take hours!) and get a little history as you go. This is the map room, a looonggg corridor with hand painted maps of the ancient world line the walls, whilst  the most detailed ceiling I have ever seen, runs overhead. I actually preferred this ceiling than the one in the Sistine Chapel. 

Speaking of which...

You're really not suppose to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel and they are very strict about it, but I managed to sneaked a few in.
It's true what they say, you can really only appreciate it in person, no book or film will ever be able to fully tell you what it feels like to stand with your neck craned and your mouth open, looking up at it. 


For another few pennies, you can climb to the top of St Peters, it gets a little claustrophobic in the dome and is most definitely not disabled access but if you can make it, it's worth the it for the view.



Random fact -
In response to a 73 B.C. revolt against Rome by Spartacus the gladiator, 6,000 slaves were crucified. You really should watch the film with Kirk Douglas. 'I am Spartacus. No I'm Spartacus!'

I'm sure this lion has a proper name and is probably the one slain by Hercules but I choose to call him Alfred. Alfred the lion, has certain ring to it, don't you think?

In the Disney film Hercules, there is a clip of Hercules with a lion skin draped over his shoulders having a portrait painted - this is a link back to the above mentioned story but also, if you look really closely at the clip, you can see the lion skin is actually Scar from the film The Lion King (which in turn is based on the Shakespeare play - Macbeth). 


Rome can be pretty expensive with all the tours/attractions however most are worth it and there are plenty of free things to see too. 

Top tips - 
Try the ice cream (best in the west)
Visit the squares
Walk - every thing is so close together and all you need is a decent map - taxi's should only be required for returning from the Irish bar!
Eat street food - a lot cheaper and you won't find better pizza!