Portobello Road, London
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
It’s like visiting old friends, when walking down Portobello Road. The sights and sounds of the street market, the second hand shops and the antiques trade, visited by both Londoners and tourists alike, make you feel at home, right through the heart of Notting Hill.
Natural History Museum, London
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
If London’s Natural History Museum is on your list of places of interest to visit, then set aside the better part of a day to do this – preferably on a full stomach too – because you could easily spend hours touring not only its exhibition wings, but its surrounding compounds on the outside of this Gibbs and Canning building.
One of three large museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London, along with the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Victorian architecture of this museum is strikingly majestic in contrast to its neighbours.
The London Eye
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
Tourism has gone global, and it seems that almost every major city in the world – from Berlin to Beijing, Singapore to Melbourne – has its own gigantic ferris wheel as part of its tourist attractions. There are plans for one to be built in Gothenburg, but as Swedish consensus go, the idea is popular with the politicians but not with the majority of the population.
When I read what Sir Richard Rogers (winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize) said about the Eye:
The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That’s the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London.
I was sceptical and had several questions – what type of symbol was it for the British peope? Was it considered an architectural eyesore on the Southern Bank of the River Thames? And was it indeed in a “great position at the heart of London”? Since there isn’t much to view by the Thames, especially at low tide.
The London Eye has been around since 2000 (Singapore opened its Flyer in 2008) and having observed its workings for some time, I think it possesses one of the prettier designs for this type of city attractions. It’s thin, thread-like spokes look impossibly delicate from afar.
And I think I could agree after all, that it does offer people a different perspective of London. The view of the city, from atop the wheel, is quite spectacular!
That many think it a phenomena is also confirmed by the number of visitors The Eye gets in a year. Being one of London’s top tourist attractions, and having won more than 75 awards since it’s opening in 2000.
Above all, it took a team of hundreds of people from 5 different countries, to make this project a reality. So, more than serving its purpose of letting people look down into the city, the structure symbolizes the reality of the global organization of workforces and what can be accomplished in today’s interconnected world.
London Guards
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
I was about seventeen the first time I visited London, and even then, the one distinguishing colour that, from then on, brought associations for me about the city was red.
It seemed a distinct, just a hint, darker shade of fire engine red that echoed throughout the city, whether on the uniforms of the Guards, or at bus-stops, the Underground, restaurants and pubs…
By night.
A vibrant red that for me, has become the heartbeat of the city, a reminder of the day gone by and a reassurance for the day to come, of knowing that the city though quieter by night, is only in temporary slumber.
Entrance to the Sanderson, picture by Morgans Group LLC, from the Sanderson.
JE and myself had the privilege of staying at the Sanderson hotel in London when we were there earlier this year.
The Sanderson opened on 25 April 2000 and after a great success of St. Martins Lane, Ian Schrager again teamed up with Philippe Starck to create, what to me is a fairly eccentric hotel with an ecclectic mix of too much money and not knowing what to do with it, although they have phrased it rather differently in this article. A quote from the article:
In a world where style is knocked off and mass-marketed at the speed of light, Schrager is keeping alive those most endangered of artistic species: experimentation, risk-taking, innovation and originality. Sanderson is all about charm, poetry, excess, glamour and elegance. It is an ironic combination – a balancing act – between extravagance and simplicity.
While I do agree on the originality of the idea of the design at the Sanderson, the “balancing act” as mentioned above, came across as none too well executed since the putting together of the pieces of art / furniture came across more as an indecision than statement purposeful.
The lobby at the Sanderson, picture by Morgans Group LLC.
The ’60s murals and mosaics clashed specifically with the enormous and out of place Louis XV armoire. Set that right next to the African chair, an etched Venetian mirror and you hardly get sophisticated but rather, confused. Something that is most definitely difficult to categorize and impossible to define. One could almost get a headache out of looking at all the fantastic furnishings that would have indeed cost quite a bit to procure.
Continue reading “The Sanderson, London”
In June 2007 I spent a few days in London in a combined business and pleasure trip. It was almost a decade since I was there last, at that time with my parents. This time I could steer my steps better and of course went directly for the fashion districts and also to seek out any and all interesting exhibitions going on. And of course food.
The arrival to London from Landvetter, Gothenburg was early and after checking into the hotel, we (JE and I) explored the London Chinatown, near Leicester Square.
Gerrard Street, the central street in London’s Chinatown.
Isn’t it strange how Chinatowns are always crowded?
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2007
We came across a bakery that I had to go in because it reminded me so much of the neighborhood bakeries back in Singapore. Continue reading “London, June 2007”
A picture here from my London trip about two weeks ago. By the way, all pictures from my London trip were taken by a mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson 810i. Here, I’m at Pringle of Scotland along Bond Street. I was totally blown away by the baby down softness of this white, plush cardigan.
Me with the cardigan ON! What I like about it is that the design doesn’t overwhelm my small frame – an important feature when choosing clothes for a tiny framed person. I like how it’s bubbly sleeves or lantern sleeves falls out and creates an interesting silhouette but doesn’t take too much attention away from the person wearing it. I dislike clothes who wear the person.
I also like that the mohair doesn’t itch like cheaper versions. Speaking about prices, what I’m wearing costs a cool £800.
Got cash? Then this would be a splendid way to pamper yourself this autumn!