February 2024 Archives

As I've not been abroad for vacation in so long, and I had all of my annual leave to use, I decided to visit Brussels by Eurostar in Business Premier. Business Premier replaced what is known as "first class". With this type of ticket, you get the best seats on the train with plenty of space and leg room, a meal designed by top chefs included in the price, alcohol (a bubbly and snack after seated), priority check in, and use of the Business Premier lounge. Although the journey from London to Brussels is only a couple of hours, I brought a book along to read and found the perfect one set in Brussels in my unread collection.

I arrived early in order to take advantage of the Business Premier lounge. I had access to free magazines and newspapers in the lounge, fruit, cold meats and cheeses, smoothies, pastries, soft drinks, and hot drinks. There was also places to sit and charge laptops and mobiles. I arrived in the morning, so it was only breakfast items being served. Alchohol is provided later in the day, and there were beers on offer. I was impressed with the selection. The only downside is that the lounge was very busy and noisy.

The toilets were not very clean with someone having made a mess and not flushing. 

There was plenty of room in the seats.

I opted for the vegetarian meal as I was not keen on the other offering, which was fish. It was a risotto. I didn't eat the first course, and the bread did not taste very fresh. I was not very impressed with the food.

I also paid for Business Premier on the way home, and the lounge at Brussels is very small compared to London. It was quieter, but I also found the lounge to also be noisy with the couple of others who were there. There was less seating and no windows and no natural light. 

There was also much less on offer in terms of food and drink, but they did put some alcohol out.

There was a selection of small snacks, and some of them were tasty. The service was not great, though, and the toilets were not clean but not as bad as London's.

On the return trip, I requested the vegan option instead of vegetarian and found it to be tastier. I was also able to eat the full meal, though I wished I could have had the non-vegan dessert.

Would I go Business Premier again and is Business Premier on Eurostar worth the cost? The cost is very expensive. If going from London, I would consider upgrading to Business Premier again, but I would not do it from Brussels. 

Earlier this month, I visitd the city of Brussels. The Manneken Pis fountain statue is one of the attractions of Brussels, and it has become the icon of the city. It has inspired popular culture and attracts tourists to the city. The fountain statue is, of course, of the little boy peeing. Manneken Pis has his own wardrobe and inspired two additional peeing sculptures: Janneke Pis and Zinneke Pis. The little peeing boy is well-loved in Brussels. During the year, he also wears outfits to coincide with special days or due to donations from other countries, and there's a museum dedicated to his wardrobe a few doors down.

The statue itself is actually very small in size, and you'd miss it if you were not paying any attention. Due to vandals, the statue is protected by a fence and by cameras as it has previously been damaged and stolen. The history of the statue began sometime in the mid-1400s. The original statue (or one of the originals dating from 1619) is located in the city's museum, and the one on display is a replica.

I visited Brussels in the early part of February. On the first day, the Manneken Pis was nude. I was expecting a Chinese New Year costume on the second day, but he did not get one. Instead, he got a Oruro Carnival outfit for Bolivia 'Diablada', which I photographed below. 

The next day, I visited Manneken Pis to see if he would have a different outfit. He was wearing the 112 costume, which is an emergency telephone number in Europe. This is a campaign costume.

Jeanneke Pis is the female version of Manneken Pis, but she is not as popular. She is located on the other side of the city north of the main square and built into a wall. She is also a fountain and features a girl squatting down and peeing. Like Manneken Pis, Jeanneke Pis also has different outfits. 

I saw her in her Oruro Carnival outfit for Bolivia. The costume isn't nearly as complex as Manneke Pis.

The last peeing statue is of a peeing dog, but this is not a fountain. Zinneke Pis is outside the main central area of Brussels and features a dog lifting its leg over a bollard.

A visit to the Manneke Pis Garderobe Museum is included in the cost of the visit to the city museum, which I visited earlier in the day. The city museum has a room dedicated to Manneke Pis and his history along with a few of his outfits on display and the original Manneke Pis statue from 1619. The Manneken Pis Garderobe Museum features several of the costumes on display. They are arranged by country, special theme, and popular culture.  

One of the first outfits was donated by Louis XVI of France, who was at war with the region that is now Brussels. There is a replica of the costume since the original one is very fragile.

In the popular culture section, I saw icons such as Mickey Mouse and Asterix from the comics.

I actually enjoyed seeing what Manneken Pis would be wearing that day during my visit to Brussels. 

Earlier this month, I stayed at Landmark London for a hotel spa break. The Landmark London is a luxury hotel with a spa located near Baker Street tube station on Marylebone Road, and it is known for its dining area "Winter Garden". I stayed at the hotel on a package deal. The deal included one of the deluxe rooms, which was large in size and luxurious. It also included a spa treatment from a selection of four options - massage, wrap, and facials. The package also included a bottle of champagne and breakfast in the morning in the "Winter Garden" and use of the spa and fitness rooms. I needed some time to take a break after a very difficult six months with work.

I arrived mid-week on a rainy day. Most of the month has been rainy so far.

I was wowed about the room. It had an entrance hall, lounge, huge bedroom and bathroom with bath, shower, and two sinks. There was a lot of room, and I would be happy to live in this.

Nice touches were in the communal hallways with fresh plants and flowers. I enjoyed the wrap at the spa and enjoyed the use of the spa and swimming pools, jacuzzi, steam rooms, sauna, and gym.

I did have a couple of drinks at the bar area in the terrace with views over the "Winter Garden".

The next morning, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast made with the finest ingredients. The omellete was delicious and there as a huge selection of fresh fruit, cooked breakfast, cool meats and cheeses, cereals, pancakes, and a large selection of pastries. There was a large selection of items to choose from to cater to everyone.

I took some of the breakfast items and enjoyed with the champagne.

I enjoyed my stay at the Landmark London and would like to visit it again.

Earlier this winter, I visited Megan's Restaurant in the shadow of the Battersea Power Station. The restaurant is rated highly and serves Mediterranian food. This is a chain brand with several trendy restaurants, each decorated differently, across London and outside of London. The Battersea one is decorated with Mediterranian-style tiles and branches of trees with decorative lights, taking diners to the sunny Mediterranian.

The place was fairly quiet when I visited. I got in my starter and main order and some cocktails. I ordered the halloumi fries, which came with a honey chili dip.

The main I orderd was a chicken kebab served on bread. 

I ordered three cocktails. Tammy's Salted Caramal Martini is served with a brownie on top, and is a creamy and chocolate-flavoured drink. Picante Margarita is a tequila-based cocktail with a delicious spice and served with a chili. Cherry Negroni is a cherry-flavoured gin cocktail.My favourite was the Picante Margarita.

For dessert, I had the Half-Baked Cookie Dough, and it was delicious. It was served with ice cream and pistachio topping. 

I really enjoyed my visit to Megan's Restaurant in Battersea and would visit it again.

Back in 2017, London's Natural History Museum was in the headlines for replacing the popular dinosaur skeleton at the entrance to the museum with a skeleton of a blue whale named "Hope". The skeleton is suspended from the ceiling and is over 25 meters long. The showcase brings the museum into the modern world with celebrating the natural world and the oceans. The blue whale was at risk of being extinct due to hunting, and numbers of the creature are increasing. The skeleton of this whale came from Ireland in 1891; it was stranded in a harbour. 

Hope replaced "Dippy" the Diplodocus dinosaur, which was on display since 1979 and removed in January of 2017. The dinosaur has since been touring different cities in the United Kingdom. I saw Dippy the Dinosaur in Norwich in 2021 when it toured different cities, and this coincided with a sculpture trail of dinosaurs held across the city.

A few days ago, I visited the play "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" at London's Phoenix Theatre near Tottenham Court Road station. I am probably one of the only people who has not watched this series, but I was invited along to the play and decided to see it for myself. I attended without having any knowledge about the storylines of the series or characters. 

I had a CrossTown doughnut and a themed cocktail on arrival, which were fashioned as American tastes. I had the "Jolly Rancher" one on the left, which is fruity and named after the American candy. There was also an apple pie one.

The play was actually very good, and I did not need to know the backgrounds of the characters to understand the story. Of course, those who have watched the series will get more out of it since the characters and background of the events in the play do feature in the series. 

Earlier this month, I visited the city of Brussels, and one of the items on the agenda was to visit the Atomium and the site of the 1958 Expo. The Atomium has become one of the symbols of the city of Brussels, and it was built for the 1958 World Exhibition. The Expo was a huge event that included various countries coming together to showcase innovations in science and technology. After the Expo, the Atomium was due to be torn down, but it remained and was renovated in 2004 and 2006 for visitors and attracts over 600,000 per year. 

I visited the exhibition site on my first full day and got up early to visit. The sky was very cloudy, but some sun tried to shine through. The site is located a short train twenty-minute ride from the centre of Brussels. 

Outside the train station at Heysel are the exhibition grounds. Actually, two Expos were held here. There was one in 1935, and the second was in 1958, soon after the second World War and near the beginning of Cold War tensions. The above building is an Art Deco exhibition centre built for the 1935 Expo. Grounds were also built and sculptured and illuminated at night with fireworks displays.

As I arrived early and before the Expo opened, I first had a look around. As mentioned above, grounds (next to the Atomium) were created and landscaped in 1934 for the 1935 exhibition, and I visited them. Jules Buyssens was the inspector of parks and grounds and promenades in Brussels, and he developed the Parc d'Osseghem. The grounds include forest, which is steep in places due to its former use as a quarry. This was incorporated into English-style gardens with curves and viewpoints to encourage painting. 

The grounds also includes an open-air theatre. This open-air theatre had excellent acoustics for orchestras and performances that took place in 1935 and 1958. It also hosts a jazz festival. The cylindrical beech trees are one of the park's features.

The 1958 exhibition site covers over 200 hectacres and divided into sveral areas of pavilions, squares, palaces, fountains, gardens, and statues. New architecture designs and materials were experimented with to create the buildings. Most of those buildings are torn down, but Atomium is one of the structures that remains.

Atomium was built to showcase the iron and steel European community founded in the 1950s, but aluminium was used instead. The structure itself was designd like an atom, and the material and form were combined to create the name of the structure "atomium". The structure became an icon. It was a symbol of hope to popularize atomic energy. It was the centrepiece of the exhibition centre in 1958.

After wandering around the gardens, I got to the Atomium and took my trip up via th elevator to the top. The elevator takes guests up to the top orb. This is the viewing area, and there's also a restaurant at the top. There is a wonderful view over Brussels, though the Atomium is a few miles outside of the centre of Brussels.

Here are some facts of the Atomium structure: The structure includes 9 spheres, and it is 102m tall. The elevator in the middle of the structure shoots up to the top in five meters per second. 

I visited the restaurant and had a cocktail and enjoyed the view. I enjoyed the view, and I was the only one in the restaurant during my visit. It had a late-1950s feel about it. The cocktail was a special one for winter, and it was delicious. It was called "Winter Fell Atomium" and includd Curacao, amaretto, cocnut puree, basil, and lemon.

After the restaurant, I continued to admire the 360 degree view. One of the attractions that I wanted to see was Mini Europe, but it was closed for the winter. I could see some of it from above. I will have to visit it some other time.

I took a photograph of the park that I visited earlier.

Once I had seen the view, I got the elevator back down to the ground level and was then shown the way to the museum. This was located up some stairs and then to other orbs connected by stairways and escalators. The first part of the exhibition contained information about the Atomium structure and 1958 Expo.

It included some drawings of the structure, a map of the 1958 exhibition, branding materials and advertising worldwide, and information about the running of the Expo or World's Fair. 

There was also a model of the structure.

The other parts of the museum included various artistic light shows. The next escalator brought me to the next orb with different light colours and patterns with a soundscape. There were various rooms with lights too.

The last light room included a relaxing soundscape with benches.

The exit back down to the ground floor includd another light show in the escalator with audio sounds from space and astronauts.

I enjoyed my visit to the Atomium. I would book it in advance and arrive early in the day to make the most of it. Entrance to the structure also gives free access to the Design Museum, located a short walk away.

From the 30th of January to 3rd February, St. Martin-in-the-Fields church hosted an immersive sound and light installation celebrating the world we live in. The installation is called "Life" and is made up of projections inside the crypt, main part of the church, and outside on the buildings. Last year, a similar immersive show took place, and it was "Space", but I did not have a chance to visit it. I did visit "Life" on an evening after work.

The projections started outside on the building opposite the church and the church itself as I waited. The building opposite depicted some machinery-inspired imagery with the Earth. 

After going inside, I walked through the crypt, which was lit up with soothing ambience audio and colourful floral imagery in two of the rooms. This looked stunning with the arches.

After the crypt, the main experience was held inside the church with a fifteen-minute immersive show covering the walls and ceiling of the church. It covered all aspects of life from small organisms to oceans, jungles, the insect world, and birds. The show transformed the church, and it was very beautiful.

After the experience in the church, I went outside to see the projection on the side of the church. I could not really see this before as I was at the front of the queue and the sky was not dark enough. The projection on the side of the church was more of a human and cultural theme with different patterns and cultural imagery.

Overall, this was a good experience, but I felt that it was much too busy. Some people had tickets for later but turned up early, so this could be one reason why I felt that it was over-crowded, and I did not feel that it was best-managed nor organised from this view, which meant that I felt on edge thinking I was standing in everyone's way and did not get to fully enjoy it. Other than that, it was amazing, and I enjoyed the transformation.

Let's take a look at what Lush have offered for Valentine's Day this year; one item is actually for Chinese New Year, which fell on the week before Valentine's Day. I love Lush's seasonal products, and they have quite a few choices this year for Valentine's (or Galentine's) Day. I visited the Oxford Street store and came away with some items. 

Love Letter Bath Bomb: This is a love letter bath bomb made with coconut milk and cocoa butter, and it has a strawberry scent. 

Love Potion Bath Bomb: This is a purple bath bomb with caramel scent and popping candy; the scent wasn't for me, so it's not pictured above.

Big Squeeze Bath Bomb: This two tone purple and pink bath bomb has a zesty scent, and it reminds me of the Valentine's Day fizzy sweets.

Whispering Heart Bath Bomb: This pink bath bomb has a heart-shaped hole in the top that is for whispering into or putting a note inside.

Love Bug Bath Bomb: Shaped like a Volkswagen Beetle and pastel-coloured, this bath bomb is a citrus and orange scent.

Flower Bombshell Bath Bomb: This bath bomb is extra large and tied with a ribbon; it is filled with dried flowers, and visitors to the Oxford Street store could pick their own mixture of dried blossoms and petals. 

Strawberry Crumble Bubbleroon: This is a bath bomb designed to melt into the bath and make the water extra-moisturising, perfect for the dry winter air.

BFF! Bath Bomb: This bath bomb is made with cocoa butter and extra-moisturising in the bath, which is perfect for the dry winter air.

Strawberry Heart Soap: The soap has a light strawbrry fragrance and designed with heart shapes.

My Lil' Chia Piglet soap: These soaps are shaped like pig faces and contain chia seeds to add moisture into the bath.

Sex Bomb Bath Bomb: This bath bomb has a sensual and relaxing scent with ylang ylang and jasmine.

Rose Jam Bubbleroon: The bubbleroon contains extra moisturising butter that melts into bath water, and this one contains a rose scent.

This year, Pancake Day fell on the day before Valentine's Day. What better excuse than to celebrate both events in one day. I headed over to Freya cafe at Marble Arch in London to enjoy some Valentine's Day special pancakes. They were delicious and dyed a red-pink colour and served with white chocolate, strawberries, blueberries, and cream cheese. I also had a drink, which was a mocktail called "Flirty Fizz", and this was a berry and herbal refreshing drink. 

The pancakes and drink were delicious. The only downside was that the service was very slow and disinterested, and they were stocking up and left all the boxes of items on the floor and blocking the stairs down to the toilets, which is a trip hazard. The staff were not professional, which is a pity.

This year, I took the day off work for Pancake Day to watch one of the races, and I was looking forward to the Inter-livery Pancake Day Race, but it was rained out. I headed a ten minute walk away to watch the Leadenhall Pancake Day Race at Leadenhall Market. This year marks the fifteenth year of the race, which is put on by the Lamb Tavern at the market. I watched this race a few years ago for the first time, though I did catch part of one of the earliest races in 2011. Due to schools being off, the area was very crowded. 

I watched the teams compete. They had to run one way and flip the pancake three times, then pass it to their team mate, who had to race it back. This was good fun. This year, they used bowler hats for everyone participating. Only one person dressed up; I do like the costumes so it's a shame others do not dress up.

Hopefully I will get to the Inter-livery Pancake Day race next year, if the rain holds.

Check out some of my Pancake Day posts:

• Japanese Souffle Pancakes from Coffee Addict (2023)
• TFL Tube Lockdown Strike Pancake Day (2022)
• Lockdown Pancake Day 2021 (2021)
• Happy Pancake Day! Pancakes at Pancs, Covent Garden (2020)
• Pancakes: "Crème de la Crêpe" in Covent Garden (2020)
• Pancake Day at "Where the Pancakes Are" in Flat Iron Square, (Borough, London) (2019)
• Leadenhall Market Pancake Day Race (2019)
• Pancake Day at Outsider Tart (Chiswick, London) (2018)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2017 (2017)
• Happy Pancake Day - Balan's Soho Society (Westfield)! (2016)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2015 (2015)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2014 (2014)
• Great Spitalfields Pancake Day Race 2013 (2013)

I visited the Great Scotland Yard Hotel last weekend with a friend. The Great Scotland Yard Hotel decor pays tribute to the hotel building's former use as a headquarters of the London's Metropolitan Police. Around the hotel are various items relating to the police. I booked the bottomless champagne afternoon tea. 

The afternoon tea is in association with Floris, and the sandwiches included a mushroom and chestnut quiche tart, smoked salmon and caviar, chicken coronation, egg truffle mayonnaise, and a chestnut and cheddar Yorkshire pudding. I had the vegetarian options, which replaced the meat with avocado and an Indian-inspired savoury. The menu was the winter menu.

The decor felt very 1920s.

I noticed that the design on the plates and teapot were the Thames.

I hope I got my worth of the bottomless champagne.

The desserts included: chestut vanilla and cassis tart, orange and chocolate, and bergamot and spiced. I had the vegetarian/vegan options, which were diffrent.

Two scones were also a part of the aftrnoon tea, and these were served with clotted cream and raspberry jam.

The afternoon tea was quiet with a small room in The Parlour, which made it a more intimate event. There is also a bar, which is designed in the art deco style.

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and I thought that I would post some "love locks" or "locks of lov" that I photographed opposite Shoreditch High Street overground station in London. Over the past twelve years or more, this fencing has become home to many locks and heart-shaped trinkets describing the initials and names of people who are in love.  

I first discovered a few "locks of love" here on the fence in Shoreditch in 2012 (read about them here), and they keep growing each year.

Battersea Light Festival is back for its third year this year with more interactive light sculptures to be found in and around Battersea Power Station, which is one of London's newest regenerated places. Battersea Power Station sat empty for many years until it was developed, and it now contains shops and restaurants in and around the station. The Battersea Light Festival has been running for three years now, but I never got to see it last year due to the workload that I was under. This year features five installations in and around the power station.

If you want to head over to Battersea Power Station to see the light sculptures, there is still time. The light festival started on the 25th of January and will finish on the 25th of February.

"Butterfly Effect" - Masamichi Shimada: This light sculpture projection features six large butterflies in and around the fountains near the power station. They are in different poses, and the small butterfly magnified gives a sense of power and beauty at the same time.

'Cloudy Lanterns' - Mad Rhizome. These thre tree-like sculptures are actually clouds and change colour and light pattern in a subtle way, shifting glows from green to orange to red to purple and then to blue.

'Singularity' - Squidsoup: This sphere uses audio and different light patterns to depict population growth and change.

'C/C' - Angela Chong: This interactive sculpture can be used as a bench and lights in the dark. It is motion-sensored, and the different LED lights produce a rainbow of colours once interacted with.

'Lightbattle III' - Venividimultiplex: The power of energy from cycling these bikes creates light and movement. The sculpture is fully interactive and encourages visitors to go to either side of the sculpture and cycle in attempt to battle the other cyclists by using the lights to show who is winning.

'LightPiano' - Arion de Munck and Mark Ridder. Located inside the power station, this piano can be played and adjusts the colours and patterns of the cube lights on the sculpture overhead. This attempts to visualise the audio producd by the piano.

'Large Diamond' - Freerk Wilbers: Inside the power station is a large glowing crystal object that catches the surrounding light. The sculpture rotates and causes the light to shimmer and dance off surfaces.

Previous visits to the Battersea Light Festival on this blog are linked below:

• Battersea Light Festival 2022

When I was in east London earlier this year, I came across new Otto Schade street are on the "Bull in A China Shop" cafe near Shoreditch High Street station. Otto Schade has previously painted on the side of this cafe, and an older artwork of his remains on the side. The cafe now contains additional work by the artist. The artwork contains a bull's head, beer bottle, and ribbon designs. 

In addition to the new mural, I am also posting an image of the ape face that is painted on the side of a corner shop on Brick Lane. This wall is always obscured now, so it is difficult to get any photograph unless visiting very early or very late.

I also saw this mural, which I don't seem to have posted yet. It features the artist's silhouette style with two children playing a game with an apple logo during a war.

Another mural has been repainted as it was looking very faded, and this is located on the side of The Viaduct bar in Shoreditch and features a royal guard.

I've previously posted about Otto Schade's street art in the following posts:

Otto Schade - The Viaduct and Other
Otto Schade on Farnshaw Street - Eva's Green Apple
New Snoopy Street Art and Other Street Art by Otto Schade in East London
Otto Schade Paints Donna Summer on "Bull In A China Shop" in Shoreditch and Others
Otto Schade Murals on Kingsland Road
Long Street - Otto Schade, CodeFC, The Krah
Street Art by Otto Schade
Otto Schade Paints "The Lady Don't Protest Enough" Mural on Bateman's Row
Otto Schade "Jack the Ripper 2040" Street Art
Otto Schade 'The Believers' and 'WTF'
'Bull in a China Shop', 'Osch-car' and 'Flies Around Sh*t'
Otto Schade 'Peace and Love on the Streets'
Street Artist Otto Schade Paints Southampton 'Zany Zebra' for Charity (and other work)
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015
Otto Schade's New Street Art (Meerkats, Portraits, & More) in East London
New Street Art from Horror Crew, Swoon, Otto Schade, HIN, and others
Street Art: Otto Schade

Street artist David Speed has been painting bright pink neon portraits of people and animals across London over the past few years, and his work is so common that I am photographing a new one nearly each time I visit east London. I've covered his work many times on this blog. Below is a section of street art from David Speed that I have photographed over the past few months.

More posts by David Speed on this blog:

Street Art: David Speed

In December, a collaboration street art mural was painted and arranged by floral designer Renatto Ribeiro and Dave Plants. The work was completed in early December, and I captured the photographs in early January, so the piece was not looking its absolute best. The floral display was completed by Renatto Ribeiro, who is known for creating stunning floral displays professionally. A floral display combined with street art provides a wonderful combination of materials and styles. Dave Plants is responsible for the portrait of the female.

The female is surrounded by various winter foliage, bringing back the pagan meaning of the winter season.

The artwork represents that the cycle of nature is ever-changing, and nothing lasts forever. 

Circolo Popolare is located in Fitzrovia near Tottenham Court Road and Goodge street where there are several very good restaurants. The hotel is owned by Big Mamma restaurants, and it was their second branch opened in London. The interior of the restaurant is unique and very photographic with its high ceilings draped in lights and foilage and walls filled with bottles. I visited the restaurant on a Saturday at the start of January for lunch.

I loved the decor of the restaurant, and the tap water comes in glass fish-shaped bottles.

I ordered three different cocktails. I had the silk road Negroni, which was made very strong with saffron and cinnamon. I also had the Pom-Pom Mojito, which used pomegranate. I also had an alcohol-free cocktail, the Coco Loco, which was served in a breast cup.

I had the truffle pasta, which was delicious. For dessert, I had the Incomparable Lemon Pie. This was a massive slice of lemon pie with toasted whipped meringe. I could not finish all of the mergine and found it too sweet. I would have liked more of the lemon in the ratio. 

The food and cocktails were delicious, and i enjoyed my visit. 

Buns From Home is a London bakery that has multiple chains, including Notting Hill and Canary Wharf. The bakery has a cult following, and it is known for its cinnamon buns. I tried one of the traditional cinnamon buns and one of the double-baked pistachio buns.

Overall, the buns were okay but not nearly the best I have had. I like my cinnamon buns to be a little more on the gooey side with a lot of cinnamon and icing. I visited one of the Canry Wharf branches but not the one outside of Waitrose.