Sunday, May 19, 2013

Mayfair meander

We recently went into London to see an exhibition by the artist John Lowry Morrison, better known as Jolomo, which was on in Mayfair - posh area of London and one of the expensive properties on the monopoly board. Jolomo is from the same area of Scotland as Ken is and we love his paintings - when we win the lottery we'll definitely be buying one.

Mayfair is great for window shopping and seeing how the other half live - though can I just say that some of the outfits were a bit dubious.  Below are some pictures taken during our wander.




Cigar and Spirits shop

Umbrellas and walking sticks

Barber supplies

Globes

I think that Ken would look great in the green and blue outfit



Beau Brummel
The statue of Beau Brummell is at the end of one of the clothes arcades - he was a bit of a fashion icon in the early 18 hundreds.


Pictured above is the window of the gallery where the art exhibition was on - so civilised to go and look at art and as soon as we arrived they made us a hot drink and put out a plate of short bread. The paintings are so beautiful and colourful, really capturing the beauty of Scotland.

After window shopping we decided to pop into Fortnum and Mason which is a department store for the very, very posh!!  The store originated in the 1700's and it is in a beautiful old building with chandeliers throughout.  One of the things I really love about it is the packaging - everything is made to look so lovely.



Lovely biscuits

Even lovelier macaroons



Unfortunately this is a bit blurry - I took it because the bottle of bubbly is £7,000!!!

While we were there we decided to treat ourselves to a coffee and cake (a little bit more expensive than we're used to but you only live once) so went to the Parlour.  The most lovely thing was that when my latte came out it had a tiny ice cream cone on the side - how wonderful.

My lovely latte and coffee ice cream cone - Ken was wishing he'd ordered a hot drink when he saw mine.

After that lovely interlude we then wandered back to a tube station via Trafalgar Square passing a very nice looking chocolate shop - we tried not to drool as we pressed our faces against the window.


When we got to Trafalgar Square we discovered that it had been converted into a giant basketball court/exhibition - any tourists who were visiting for the first time would be very shocked.  It was really good to see lots of people having a go at basketball, with lots of different activities around the square.


The picture below is of a bicycle that we passed which I think has someones entire life attached to it - I was tempted to hang around just to see if they can really ride it like that.


To the side of Trafalgar Square is the church St Martins in the Field - it's a lovely church and they do a lot of work for the homeless.  We often go into the crypt as there is a cafe in there and good, clean toilets, which is very important to know when wandering around London.  The lady below was holding a vigil on the steps of St Martins.


In the crypt there are lots of memorials and these two caught my eye both because of their designs but also because of how old they are - the 1600's.  The bottom one I really liked because of the dodgy looking cherub on the top, and the skull at the bottom.



So that was our Mayfair meander - hope you enjoyed it.  So until next time be good, stay safe, and keep smiling.

Pamela & Ken
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