Borough Market

Yesterday we went to Borough Market. It was madness! The market itself was great--filled with beautiful flowers, fresh produce, cheese, meat and dry goods, gourmet coffee and tea, and tempting pastries, chocolate and candy. The sights and smells were mouth-watering for sure, and I don't think we were the only ones who thought so. The market was packed. So many people were there that we could barely walk the isles. It's definitely not a stroller friendly market, but it was still fun to be part of the hustle and bustle, and the tasty treats we brought home were great. We bought some of the best cheese, olives, and bread we've ever eaten. Delicious.

Persephone Books

Yesterday was a beautiful day in London. I decided to stay around our neighborhood and explore close to home. I don't think we could have picked a better place to stay. The neighborhood, Holborn, has everything we need and a lot of wonderful extras. We have a park at the end of our street, tube and bus stops nearby, a nice grocery store, and the main street in our neighborhood, Lambs Conduit, is lined with terrific shops, restaurants and cafes.

One of the great shops in our neighborhood that I was looking forward to is Persephone Books. Their books have the same uniform and distinct grey cover, but the interiors of the jackets are a surprise burst of color and pattern. The interior of each book is a textile print of a fabric from the year the book was written. They specialize in publishing books of lesser-known women writers from the early to mid-twentieth century and currently have 83 titles in their catalog.

The bookstore is cozy and welcoming with vintage treasures in their merchandising.





The bookshop is also filled with fresh flowers.

If you need a quick gift, they have books pre-wrapped in bright pink paper, accompanied by a bookmark with information and the fabric design corresponding to the book's interior. I bought The Blank Wall for a friend, un-wrapped though so I could read the first few pages to see what I might think of it, but now I want to read it myself first! I read the first few pages and am already absorbed in it.

It looks like it would be a nice place to work, too.

And around the corner is a new coffee shop, The Espresso Room--a great place to go after buying a new book. I have a feeling I'll be spending more time at these two places.

Spitalfield's Thursday Market

Tiddlywinks. Sounds like a very cute British name for a game don't you think? I saw it today at the Thursday antique market at Spitalfields. It was a fairly small market showcasing a lot of the usual suspects: vintage clothes, toys and games, lace and buttons and fabric, cameras and phones, kitchenware, small rickety furniture, and one of my flea favorites--sort of a flea market icon to me--naked dolls and doll parts. It was a little pricey to me, but hey, it's London.





I had a great time at the market and plan to go back to the area and venture into a lot of other nearby shops like Blondie, Retro Trading Co., Labour and Wait, and Caravan, just to name a few. Ah, so many great places on my list! Those will have to wait a few days, though. I think we might have a market filled weekend, which will be just as fun.

Liberty

One place on the top of my London list was Liberty, the ritzy boutique department store, famously known for its exclusive line of fabrics, and today Liberty was my outing destination. After reading a whole lot about it on various blogs, I had high expectations, but it did not disappoint at all. It's housed in a beautiful Tudor building with 5 floors, each floor representing different departments.

They have both women and menswear, but my main interest was the housewares and fabric sections. And oh, let me tell you, the fabric was beautiful! They have an upholstery fabric section and a lightweight fabric section, which also includes yarn and other sewing notions as well.

The pictures above and below are from the upholstery fabric section, on the top floor, which gets beautiful light from the roof above.

They even carry wallpaper, and this is part of the wallpaper sample room. Print eye candy at every turn!

Below is the beautiful housewares section with upholstered furniture in none other than Liberty fabrics. (This whole section reminded me of Anna from Absolutely Beautiful Things.) Can you see in the center of the building there what looks like water falling? Those are little bitty round cascading glass balls (maybe crystal?) through which light filters down and makes the most beautiful lighting fixture I've ever seen in a store.

If you need some lighting of your own, they have a nice selection to choose from.

Liberty has a number of rooms tucked around the main floors, which gives it a very cozy feel. In one of those little rooms was this tapestry and sofa. I loved it. It was just a painting on lightweight fabric with lights behind it. Don't have much stuff, no artwork, no fireplace? Paint it yourself and hang it up!

London is experiencing particular Liberty madness right now with their Prints Charming exhibition going on and with the recent fash mob competition (go see how cute, Natalie, the winner is). Below are a few pictures from the Prints Charming exhibition, which celebrates the classic Liberty prints and the introduction of 6 new Liberty prints.

Above Liberty block prints. And below a sweet Liberty doll by textile artist Amanda Fatherazi for the exhibition, who also made the most adorable brooches for the exhibition as well, which you can see here on Wee Birdy.

Oh and yesterday, we just went for a long walk--a really long walk. I strolled Lois from our apartment to the Thames, which took about an hour (longer than I was expecting), then we just came back since it took so long! I was pooped after that and of course Lois was a ball of energy when we got back. The view was very rewarding, though, once we got to the river. You can see here the London Eye, the Millennium Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament. What should we do tomorrow? Maybe the Spitalfields Thursday antique market if it's not raining!

Top Liberty swatch image from Wee Birdy.

London: Day One!

We made it to London safe and sound! YAY! WOOT! YIPPEE! Can you tell I'm excited to be here? Aside from some turbulence and an unhappy baby (not ours, thankfully for us), our flight was very good. Getting to and from the airport, which is the most dreaded part since we're now a walking Babies-R-Us when we travel, was not too bad either. I have to give props to Virgin Atlantic--they rock. We read they were the most family friendly airline before we made our last big trip to Zurich, and let me tell you, they are, so we paid a little extra and flew with them again and were really happy about it. They are so attentive and accommodating. Unfortunately Lois was too big for the baby cot in the bulkhead (although we did get one), so we had to take turns holding her, but still, they have the best service and the food is surprisingly good. Really good. Did I just say that about airplane food? Yes, it was really good. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and just rested and went to bed early, so today was our first day out. And what did we do on our first day? Let me tell you . . .

Andrew had to fly to Zurich for meetings, so I ventured out with Lois solo. We started the day by going to the Covent Garden market. There's a different market each weekday, and Monday is the antique market. It was very small, but there was a nice variety, and it's in a great space. The market is in a corridor that runs down the center of the entire building, so it has an open market feel but is covered with a grand glass ceiling and surrounded by enclosed retail shops and cafes. A few Covent Garden antique market sights . . .



After the market, we decided to stroll around the area. I had heard of Oxfam, the second-hand charity shop chain and saw that there was one near the market, so how could I resist? I thought I was going to the book and music exclusive Oxfam, but this one had a bit of everything, which was all the better to me. Believe it or not, I left empty handed. I have to pinch my pennies, or pence in this case, for our weekend getaways after all. Still, it was fun to look. This one did have a great book section, but I already brought two big books with me and have barely made a dent in one of them (page 7 of the first one--that's about how far you can get on a 10 hour plane ride with a 10 month old).

After Oxfam, it was time for lunch and a nap. Here's Lois having a good time in the apartment we've rented, which is great. It's a furnished 1 bedroom apartment in a great part of town called Holborn and conveniently near a train station. It doesn't get much better than that.

Then it was nap time.
After Lois took a nap, we headed to the British Museum. Andrew and I went there last time we were here, but Lois has never been, and I thought she'd like the cultural experience. She especially liked the Rosetta Stone and thought it was fascinating! Kidding, of course. She just kicked her feet and said "la la la" the whole time. Still, the British Museum is quite something, and FREE. Yes, free admission. It's polite to make a donation, though, which we did.

One of the most impressive things is the building itself, specifically the ceiling. See? My picture below is pretty lame compared to these. The main room you see there used to be the reading room of the British Library. Beyond those metal triangles is the sky, which was a little overcast, but it's there, clouds, sun and all.

There are a lot of great exhibits, but the one that surprised me the most was this stampede of elephants! Right in the great court under the grand ceiling. Created by kids, admired by all, as part of the garden exhibit right now. The other exhibit that might stop you in your tracks is this one called Cradle to Grave. A little more thought-provoking and somewhat disturbing, but really good. We saw it last time we were here, but it had the same startling effect on me the second time around. You can read about it here. I took pictures, but the elephants are more fun.

And lastly, we needed to eat. We found Waitrose on the way home, which is a very large grocery store near our apartment. Thanks to Lynne for telling me about it! You have to love a grocery store that has one entire isle devoted to "cakes and biscuits," don't you?

More coming soon . . . .