Month: May 2016

The Camden Market is a fun and easy must-do in North London. Whether you’re getting there by tube, foot, car, or Jason’s Trip–the canal boat I have previously reviewed–you’re bound to have a nice time. Just try to avoid visiting the busy market during peak times, and you’ll do just fine.

Open every day of the year, apart from Christmas, the Camden Market is one of London’s biggest attractions, with about 100,000 visitors each weekend. The market is a mix of food stalls, clothing and accessory shops, and restaurants set in a really different venue. The shops wrap around the unique setting of old railway viaducts, horse stables, and the Camden locks. This makes for a little bit of history in the mix of different cultures and goods. These mixed goods can get a little bit freaky, with some undertones of the grittier side of Camden. If you’re not into that, be prepared, but if you are, you can find your sex toys, gothic outfits, and voodoo dolls, all within one market. I find everything for sale there kind of junky, and aside from the time I bought ice cube trays shaped like handguns as a gag gift, I usually stay clear of purchasing anything other than food from the Camden Market.

I like to bring guests up to the market on a sunny Friday, following a nice little ride on Jason’s trip. There is plenty to look at, so the boat’s 11:15 arrival time allows for time to walk around while working up an appetite for lunch. If the weather is not so great, or the crowds are too severe, I will eat inside one of the tasty restaurants, such as Porky’s BBQ. Otherwise, I will grab something from any one of the many sweet or savory stalls. The Cereal Killer Cafe is also there, which makes for a fun experience or a munchies cure!

So, whether you want a nice walk and interesting people watching, or a place to access every type of food under the sun, you can head to the Camden Market for a cheap but rewarding afternoon. Enjoy!

Camden Market
54-56 Camden Lock Place
London NW1 8AF

If you’re visiting Buckingham Palace, chances are slim that you’ll get an inside tour. The State Room tours only take place a certain time of year and you’re required to book ahead. That doesn’t mean a trip to Buckingham Palace is a waste, it’s obviously a beautiful landmark and there’s always the changing of the guards, but my vote is to take a peek inside the Queen’s Gallery.

To the left of the palace, in the back, you’ll find the entrance to the small gallery, tastefully decorated, and fit for a queen. The gallery currently offers two exhibits: Maria Merian’s Butterflies and Scottish Artists. This limited art makes the visit short, but still nice. Compared to, say, the National Gallery, where you can get lost in the maze of art and maybe not agree with your party on which paintings to visit, at The Queen’s Gallery, you can see everything in one go, and still have energy for activities afterwards. This is great for out-of-town guests because even if there are only a couple museum enthusiasts in the bunch, everyone can enjoy a small gallery visit, especially one that’s tied to Buckingham Palace.

Maria Merian’s Butterflies exhibit showcases the work of the late entomologist. In 1699, Maria Merian traveled to South America and thoroughly studied and illustrated insects, focusing on the metamorphosis of the butterfly. These illustrations are now on display in The Queen’s Gallery.

The other exhibit, Scottish Artists is displayed in some of the prettiest gallery rooms I have ever seen. The walls are painted in rich jewel tones and surrounded by lacquered wood and shiny marble. The ruby and emerald colors remind you that you are in The Queen’s Gallery and it is a very special place. 


I loved the Scottish art, especially the paintings done following trips to Spain. So inspired by their travels, several artists began painting sunny Spanish scenes instead of the typical gray UK countryside. I think I looked at those paintings as my own escape from that said countryside. In addition to the paintings, there were some illustrated books and a hand-carved clock. All incredibly beautiful pieces dating from 1750-1900.



Following the two exhibits, I toured around the gift shop. It’s definitely targeted towards older women that have an affinity for the royals. Lots of teas and china and lotions. Not much to keep my husband interested, so he waited outside.

Between the exhibits and the gift shop, the entire experience took about an hour and a half, at most. We felt satisfied that we saw everything we needed to, making this a fantastic option for a quick activity. Next time you’re giving the Buckingham Palace tour, pop in to The Queen’s Gallery to see some pretty impressive art in a gorgeous space!

The Queen’s Gallery
Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1A 1AA

The Churchill War Rooms museum is an absolutely fascinating part of UK history. This underground museum has preserved the actual site of Winston Churchill’s secret WW2 bunker. This attraction is great for the history buff or for the average tourist. Anyone can appreciate this truly unique time-capsule. 

During World War 2, Prime Minister Winston Churchill conducted official business from a group of basement offices. Set underground as protection for the prime minister, his wife, and military strategists, some of the most important discussions took place in those rooms. 

The first part of the tour allows you to see some of the most important rooms that helped lead to Britain’s success in WW2. The free audio guides perfectly describe each room from a visual and informational standpoint. You can picture the Cabinet Room being full of intense male leaders chain-smoking through all hours of the night while deciding strategic plans to win the war. After the Cabinet Room, you see the Transatlantic Telephone Room. This was the secret room where Churchill communicated with FDR and other important US wartime figures. Fun fact: the scrambler for the connections was hidden in the Selfridges basement! 

Between these rooms and the rest, you head down to the modern installment about Winston Churchill, the person. You go through his life, death, family, politics, and artwork by viewing letters, paintings, memorabilia, timelines, videos and more. It is quite an impressive display, but almost TOO much information.



After the detour, you explore the rest of the rooms, including his bedroom and the Map Room. The Map Room really gives a sense of the complexity of what those gentlemen were faced with. Dozens and dozens of maps with pins and string circle around messy desks and stacks of paperwork. All of these rooms have realistic mannequins set up in traditional dress for that time, to give a greater, authentic sense of the Churchill War Rooms during WW2.

There’s a cafe within the museum and you can also sneak a peak at their private venue, the Harmsworth Room. This unique space can be rented out for company meetings, parties, wedding receptions, etc. Such a fun and different idea. 

The tour ends with their gift shop which has some cool propaganda posters, books, housewares, and accessories. I’m a sucker for a gift shop and this was a good one! 

Overall, the experience was visually stimulating and extremely informative. The free audio guides were helpful and we all learned a ton. This was the perfect rainy day activity for my family visiting from out of town, but don’t feel you need to reserve it for guests. Head to the Churchill War Rooms museum any day for an educational afternoon.



Churchill War Rooms
Clive Steps
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AQ

This quick and cheap attraction comes with a wow factor well worth the £9 entry fee! If you have guests in town and time to kill, take them up to the top of Tower Bridge. 

I like to walk over to the bridge along the South Bank first for great views of Shakespeare’s Globe, colorful pubs, the HMS Belfast, and City Hall. These sights are nice to stroll past and will lead right up to one side of Tower Bridge.

Once up the stairs and onto the bridge, you follow the signs for the Tower Bridge Exhibition. After purchasing a ticket you have the choice to take the lift or climb the 239 steps to the top level walking bridge. I never turn down the opportunity to exercise because I constantly feel guilty for my excessive drinking and indulgent meal choices. It was a nice little walk up–nothing as challenging as say the steep steps of Notre Dame, but I still felt accomplished afterwards. 

Once at the top, the quick journey through the two walkways (one over each side of traffic) begins. The main feature is the Tower Bridge Glass Floor. Each side of the attraction has a portion of the floor completely see-through to the traffic and river below. It’s fun to walk above the matchbox cars and sims below and makes for a pretty cool photo op. Too bad everyone else thinks so too, and you have to claim your own little spot amongst dozens of selfie sticks and people posing around and on the floor every which way. 

The Tower Bridge Exhibition knows that the quick photograph on the Glass Floor isn’t enough to justify the £9 entry fee, so they’ve also turned the wall space into a museum of the Tower Bridge construction and history, as well as information on other famous bridges from around the world. There are also some computer screens testing London and Tower Bridge trivia. In between all of the information and pictures you have the windows looking out to some of the most amazing views of London and the Thames. All of that for £9! 

Your guests will appreciate the experience, the floor, the views, all from London’s most stunning bridge! Once back on street level, I head north towards the beautiful Tower of London to give a different perspective of the bridge and London to my guests. Tower Bridge is the perfect U-Turn for a London tour. So add London’s Tower Bridge Exhibition to your next itinerary for an affordable way to show off your beautiful city. Have fun!



Tower Bridge Exhibition 
Tower Bridge Road
London SE1 2UP

Bluebelles of Portobello, on the top of Portobello Road in West London, got a facelift, everyone!  It was cute before, but now has a more modern design and a smarter layout. Bluebelles is a great breakfast or lunch option, especially when you want to sit outside on a sunny day and have consistently good breakfast classics.

To start, I’m actually going to get my least favorite parts of Bluebelles out of the way, so that we can end on a high note. Their service can be pretty slow and their coffee is just warm. I always ask for my lattes there extra hot, but it doesn’t matter. They must have an older machine and don’t steam their milk for very long because I have never received a hot beverage from Bluebelles. This is very unfortunate because I would get more takeaway coffees from there if the temperature was higher. One of their baristas told me that they get this complaint a lot. But, apparently not enough to do anything about it…

My last gripe is with the girl that opens in the mornings. She is consistently late, and when I pop in, at just after 8:00 for a takeaway pastry and coffee, she turns me away. I head down the street to the Goldborne Deli to fulfill my needs, and when I walk back by Bluebelles, she is open late, serving customers not ten minutes later. I would have preferred her opening on time, or at least asking me to wait a few minutes to save the business a customer, but it never seems like she cares. This consistent behavior would put this cafe into the “Don’t” category, typically, but I cannot blame an entire restaurant for one bad employee that they may not even know about. So, now on to the good parts.

I love the way it looks inside. The large windows and doors make for a great people-watching experience, even if you’re sitting inside. The colors are soft blues, creams, and earthy wood tones. The decor almost compliments the vibes of Pizza East, a neighbor down the street. You can feel comfortable heading into the establishment fresh from yoga or dressed in something more presentable. It’s just a place for everyone.

The food is really the highlight, though. The pastries and cakes are delicious. If I am having impromptu guests over, I will grab an assortment of their muffins, croissants, and cakes, cut them all in half, and arrange on a pretty plate for guests. Their remodeling made access to these treats easier and have them arranged in a more presentable way on their large, new bar counter. They used to have these items in the front corner on a table away from the register or coffees. It didn’t make for easy ordering when the place was packed, and I was always confused on if they were going for a self-serve area or not. The new design is much smarter. The latest layout has also included an area of pre-made sandwiches which is fantastic. That area of Goldborne Road and Portobello really needed additional options for lunch on the go. There isn’t even a grocery store that close by, so, now you can grab a sandwich at Bluebelles, if you’ve already hit Salumeria or the Goldborne Deli that week.

The main dishes at Bluebelles are just as tasty as the baked goods. My favorite is the Veggie Stack: grilled halloumi, veggies, and a nice poached egg. It has a lot of fresh flavor. They also have decadent croissant and blueberry french toast and always a fun juice of the day. If you want the basics, though, you’ll find eggs any which way, sides of UK bacon or sausage, granola and yogurt, and toasties. A little bit of everything all presented in beautiful, nice-sized portions.

The delicious food, new design, and the young, mixed crowd, makes Bluebelles an interesting and worthy eatery to visit. It won’t disappoint–whether you’re bringing your computer on a quiet weekday morning, or having a Sunday hangover brunch. Just head straight to Bluebelles of Portobello and be prepared to enjoy a nice meal in a nice neighborhood.

Bluebelles of Portobello
320 Portobello Road
London W10 5RU
 

I’m a big fan of the Polpos. They’re a sure thing for a quick, inexpensive, consistently tasty dinner experience. I had been to a couple prior, but this was my first time at Polpo at Ape & Bird. 

I was always confused on what the “at Ape & Bird” part even meant, as if the restaurant was on the corner of Ape and its cross street Bird. But actually, Ape & Bird was a pub that later joined forces with the successful Italian small plates chain. Or something like that. Regardless, Polpo at Ape & Bird is just as good as it’s (better-named) siblings. 

My only real complaint of the experience was the sun that blinded each patron because of their lack of window treatments. The sun was so fierce the entire duration of our meals. We enviously watched many two-tops change seats, but we couldn’t since they didn’t have any other tables for three at the first-come, first-serve establishment. I never thought I could ever complain about too much sun in England, but spending a full dinner squinting is miserable. Not to mention wrinkle-inducing. 

 

Once I accepted the fact that Polpo at Ape & Bird didn’t believe in window treatments, I moved on to have an enjoyable meal before a musical down the street. Polpo is perfect for in and out meals, if you can get a seat. We arrived at 5:45, before the big rush and were seated in an empty restaurant that would fill up with a waiting list within the next 45 minutes. I find 7:30 show times tough because the only thing I hate more than eating at 6:00 is sitting down to dinner at 11:00. Especially when the show was a snooze. 

For dinner I went with some of my Polpo favorites: the classic meatballs, any one of their salads, and the chili crab pasta. Everything is so good. Their gorgonzola savory and Nutella dessert flatbreads I also particularly enjoy. I really haven’t had a bad dish. The tapas-style dining is great for sharing and getting to try a little bit of everything. Polpo also has a pretty inventive cocktail list. There’s pretty much something for everyone, which is good because the staff had a blank stare when I asked them for a basic Old Fashioned. Apparently they can only handle what is specifically on their cocktail menu. Good thing those cocktails are too delicious.

So head right in for a quick meal before your next musical or after a day of shopping and sightseeing. Polpo at Ape & Bird is low-key, affordable dining at its best and will surely work for even the pickiest of eaters. Enjoy!

Polpo at Ape & Bird
142 Shaftesbury Avenue
London WC2H 8HJ