HELLO LONDON | ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES

Hello Beautiful Souls, I hope you had an ‘awesome’ week and are ready for this weekend. This post might not be for everybody, but it is definitely for the theatre/ musical lovers between us.

The musical I saw this June was ‘Only Fools and Horses‘ the musical. I had no idea what the story of this musical was. After some research, I found out that the musical is ‘based’ on a site com with the same name that began in 1981. Without any reference for me, I still enjoy watching the musical.

So if you are up for some British [old] humour, this is it! Surprisingly I got some jokes here and there, which made me super proud. It seems like I learned a thing or two living here in London.

 

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#hellolondon #londonlife #livingabroad #happy #goodvibes #misswidjaja2022 #mwlifeafter35 #hellogems #staycreative⁠ #musicals #onlyfoolsandhorsesthemusical #theatre #entertainment @ofahmusical

CANTERBURY | DAY TRIP

Hello Beautiful Souls, Welcome back to another travel blog post, this time to Canterbury. I never realised to visit this beautiful picturesque city of Canterbury before. However, I am [very] happy I did. A return by train will cost you around £40,00 and most likely by bus will be cheaper.

Once you arrive at the station, you will be blown away by the peacefulness and architecture. Some peculiar houses look [very] pretty in this city. They remind me of the Liberty here in London and [some other] similar buildings in Oxford.

 

Walking towards the city centre, you will bump up against this giant Westgate. This gate is the largest city gate that survived in England. Up to the right, you find the lovely canal and parks. Have a walk through here as you will discover a lot of [old] buildings. If you go to the park, there is a point where you have a panoramic view of the old town. At the park, you will find the ancient Roman city walls. Like every other city wall, they have been there to protect the people in the city.

My highlight of the day trip was the Canterbury Cathedral. The Cathedral is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built in 1070 and became a pilgrimage after the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. I was lucky to have come in at the right moment when an orchestra did practice some beautiful [musical] songs in the Cathedral accompanied by the Cathedral organ. The sound is mesmerizing! Exploring the Cathedral takes time. Don’t forget to go to the bottom section of the Cathedral, where you will find the Crypt. Here you can find some medieval graffiti and some pieces of frescos from 1200.

A fun thing to do with friends, family or date is to go punting and explore the city and history on the canals. We went to the Mooring cafe bar and had a scary tour with Quinten.

[As a healthy option for lunch] We went to The Veg Box Cafe. They offer a broad selection of plant-based items on their menu. If I am honest, I had a great salad with fritters which filled me up till dinner.

So if you like to spend a lovely day not too far from London, Canterbury is a excellent option.

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#canterbury #londonlife #livingabroad #happy #goodvibes #misswidjaja2022 #mwlifeafter35 #hellogems #daytrips⁠ #canterburycathedral #citywalls #Romanperiod #punting @the_mooring_  @thevegboxcafe

HELLO LONDON | THE COURTAULD GALLERY

Hello Beautiful Souls, I hope you are all doing great. I have [a bit of] a culture option for you in this week’s blog post. A gallery that [I am not sure why] I haven’t been to before, the Courtauld Gallery.

The main reason I went to this gallery is because of the Van Gogh Self-portraits. After the exhibition, I was curious to see the collection. I was happily surprised. The Courtauld Gallery owns a lot of iconic masterpieces of impressionists. They even own a piece of one of my favourite artists, Modigliani. I had to see and discover who else they had in their collection.

 

Masterpiece after masterpiece I saw, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Renoir, Manet, Van Gogh and many more. They even have some work by Peter Paul Rubens on one of the floors.

Their collection range from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, so you find some beautiful pieces of recent artists, like Oskar Kokoschka.

The Courtauld Gallery is in the Somerset House, [which is] in Central London. You might need to book a timeslot to visit the gallery, but it is free. They have a new exhibition [at the moment] that might be worth seeing, Edvard Munch. Masterpieces from Bergen.

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#hellolondon #londonlife #livingabroad #happy #goodvibes #misswidjaja2022 #mwlifeafter35 #vangogh #impressionists #culture #vincentvangogh #art #london #Post-Impressionist #artist #Modigliani #HenrideToulouse-Lautrec #GeorgesSeurat #PaulCezanne #PaulGauguin #Renoir #Manet #VanGogh #PeterPaulRubens #TheCourtauldGallery @courtauld

 

HELLO KIDS | WHAT TO DO IN LONDON

Hello beautiful Souls, I hope you are doing great this hot and sweaty summer. [We can’t complain, can we?] This blog post is an in-between post for some magnificent ideas to do here in London with kids.

Some time ago, someone asked me if I knew some good places to visit with kids in the city. I [actually] never thought about it. Mainly [to be honest] because I don’t have any. With this said, I do appreciate it when someone asks me anything. I was [also] curious what the options are for the tiny humans in this magical city.

So I thought, let’s [just] do a bit of research and see what happens. I mainly checked with a colleague, who has two young children, so it is [absulutely] legit as research. [Wink Wink]

If you have kids and are planning to go to London, I got some suggestions in this post with links to everything. [Don’t thank me yet, because you will still need to plan everything regarding exact locations, entree fees, openings hours and so on. I advise you to do this in advance as London gets busy in summer] However, this will be more or less a general guide of [infinite] options to consider.

It is summer, so some refreshment spots don’t hurt anyone, am I right? If you like to find a refreshing place to cool down with your kids, the fountains are a great spot to play and cool down. The two fountains in the city that I know are Jeppe Hein’s Appearing Rooms, Southbank Centre and Granary Square fountains, King’s Cross. The second fountain is in an area with many restaurants and luxury shops. There are lots of fun things to do around this area in summer. As this is near Kings Cross station, it will be easy to pop by the Harry Potter shop at Platform 9¾. [For the Harry Potter fans.] The London Zoo is not too far from here, you will find it in Regent’s Park.

HMS Belfast is another fun thing to do with kids. It is a museum ship on the River Thames and was originally a Royal Navy cruiser. You can’t miss it when you look at the River Thames towards Tower Bridge. Some other educational museums [and fun for kids] are the Natural History Museum [discover dinosaurs and many more] and the Science Museum. These two museums are next to each other [so that makes life a bit easier right?]. If you like toys from the past, maybe the Pollock’s Toy Museum is an option for you.

In Greenwich, next to the iconic view of Canary Wharf, you have the Cutty Sark, another historic [sailing] ship and the Royal Observatory Greenwich [The prime meridian of the world is here].

If you like to see an unforgettable view of the city from a different perspective, take the Uber Boat. Another option is the Emirates Cable Car which will take you from one side of the river to the other. If you like to be more in an environment with lots of green, Hyde Park might be for you. Here you can go boating on the serpentine.

This suggestion of my colleague I liked is to go for a walk on Tower Bridge. A walk on Tower Bridge is never boring [plus you will get an incredible view of the city and all its landmarks]. Next to Tower Bridge is the Tower of London. It is a world heritage site. You can also see the crown jewels in this castle. Not too far from here is Skygarden. It has a mesmerising 360 view of the city from a top-floor indoor garden. [If you can’t book a ticket [entree is admission free as many museums as well], another option is to book a table in the restaurant and wander around after lunch or dinner in the garden.]

Some stores that are enjoyable for children and [maybe a bit difficult to leave empty-handed] are Hamley’s, the M&M shop [love this one], Lego Store [might be temporarily closed], and Disney Store.

For entertainment, go to the area near London Eye. You will find SEA LIFE and Sherk’s adventure here that looks like a lot of fun for the complete family. Planning to do some of these attractions where you need to buy tickets, check if there are options to buy a day pass or a multi-ticket.

At last, if you have some older kids, they probably already know [exactly] what they like and want to see, but just in case they don’t, the London Dungeons or Madame Tussauds are some suggestions for entertainment next to see all the landmarks.

I hope this blog post helps you a bit to give you an idea of what to do here in London with kids. Of course, there is much more to do and to see here [with or without kids] than I mentioned here. That is the beauty of this city. You will have to come back to discover more and more each time.