We arrived on May 1 and wandered a bit in the Bloomsbury neighbourhood.
- Our apartment hotel near Holborn Station.
- No comment.
- Ubiquitous umbrella stand
- The Square Pig Pub
- The cliche snapshot
- Same Spanish restaurant we went to in 2005.
- End of our first day.
May 2 was spent settling in and trying to recover from jet lag. We went to dinner at a friend’s home.
- Seen at St Pancras Station
- Blooming trees everywhere.
- From the top of a double decker bus.
- On a school.
- Friend and dinner hostess.
On May 3, I went to see a friend who took me to the bluebell woods. A lovey drive through the English countryside.
- Train to Nunshead
- From the train window
- Telegraph Hill
- The woods
- Pub lunch
- London back garden.
On May 4, I ventured out on my own to the London Centre for Book Arts in Stratford City. To get there I walked through the Olympic Park which took time as I had no accurate maps. Several people helped me find the place to exit the park to find the street LCBA is on.
- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
- Female boxers
- London Centre for Book Arts
- Nice selection of Japanese bookbinding tools and papers.
After the adventure of looking for and finally finding the LCBA, I walked along the canal in the sunshine to get to the Overground train station. Crossing at the locks, I noticed that people were living in boats tied along the edge. Many had bicycles and gardens on deck.
- A boat waiting to go through the locks
- Environmental carelessness.
- Looking back towards the Olympic Park.
- View from the train station.
My second destination for the afternoon was the Geffrye Museum. The exhibition called “Swept Under the Carpet” showed a series of middle-class rooms as seen from the point of view of the servants from 1663 to the present day. The museum is housed in an old 19th century almshouse.
- Books about how to be a good servant.
- A exhibition of wallpaper by contemporary designers.
- Leaving to go home.
- The Korean restaurant near our hotel where we ate on Tuesday.
On Thursday, May 5, I went to see a friend in Putney. We walked through Bishop’s Park near her home.
- Hanging sculpture in a student gallery on High Holborn
- In Bishop’s Park
On Friday, May 6, I walked to Liberty, one of London’s most famous shops. I bough fabric for quilts and had tea in the cafe. The first 16 photos are what I saw along the way there.
- Liberty
- Across the street, an Art Deco building
- The queen just turned 90.
- Carnaby Strett
- Canadian icon in London
- The Piccadilly Craft Market
- Gorgeous flowering tree in Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Saturday, May 7 was an agreeable day spent browsing Foyles Bookshop and watching a Canadian documentary film about the loss of songbirds.
- On the way to Foyles Bookshop
- Discussion after seeing The Messenger at the Barbican Cinema
- The Staple Inn, Tudor building still in use
- Where we had coffee