Heartbeat in Covent Garden

While in London last week, I heard about an installation by French photographer Charles Pétillion, which is in Covent Garden.

On Wednesday afternoon, we ventured into Central to see over 100,000 white balloons, each with their own dimensions and lit from within.  Entitled Heartbeat, it’s part of a photograph series called Invasions, in which these white balloons occupy unusual spaces.

Heartbeat

 

It is by Péttillion’s design that the slowly pulsating light from within the balloons, which stretch down the length of the Market Building, represents how it is the beating heart of the locality; vibrant and alive with energy!

I can certainly feel this energy; Covent Garden is one of my favourites places in the whole of London!

The installation is on display until the 27th of September, so if you get chance do check it out and let me know what you think!

Top 5 London Activities

I spent last weekend down in the Big Smoke visiting my sister. We mostly chilled and enjoyed a little walk but having been down to the capital numerous times since she moved I have complied a short little list of paramount London activities. I have the hope that this also fulfils my Blogging 101 assignment of a different post type.

On with the show.

My London activities in no particular order…

1. Get cultured!

There is much to see and do in London and something for everyone to sink their teeth into. From renowned art galleries such as the National Portrait Gallery to paying a visit to Parliament Square and the amazing architecture of Elizabeth Tower and Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth Tower, holding Big Ben (the bell)

The Sherlock Holmes Pub, in homage to ACD’s famous fictional London Detective.

2. Rediscover roots!

London is one of the longest inhabited cities in Europe, with archeological evidence indicating the area around Vauxhall Bridge has been occupied for at least 3,500 years.  All that history and scandal and death in one city. Take advantage! Choose to visit the incredible Historical Royal Palaces, homes of great monarchs, past and present. Or unearth prehistoric wonders in the Natural History Museum, including information and artefacts.

Hampton Court Palace, Historic Royal Palace of King Henry the Eighth

Tudor Rose stained glass

3. Take a nap!

When the insane hustle and bustle of the inner city and the continuously busy tube gets you down, and the only thought keeping you from falling asleep on the tube is ‘what if I dribble?’ why not retire to your hotel for a cat-nap?  Just twenty minutes can do wonders for your motivation to get back out there.

4. Eat good food!

London is a cosmopolitan; rich in cultures from around the world thanks to its millions of inhabitants.  This means, with knowing where to look, you can find almost any world cuisine you can hanker for.  For more great food recommendations, visit warsawsworld.co.uk

Covent Garden Cocktails

5. The West End!

I can think of nothing that compares to live theatre.  If you have never had the pleasure, perhaps you are dubious to the cost, I urge you to go.  Yes, admittedly it does cost that little bit extra, but really how cheap is a cinema trip these days? From stand up comedy to full theatrical musicals there is some thing to suit all tastes.  See a classic, like The Lion King, or chose to be one of the first to see a brand new show, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Choose something that is on permanently, or get downtown for that one show that’s only playing for a few weeks! Choose the theatre.

The Bodyguard Musical I saw for my 18th Birthday

Mojo play, my best friend and I watched for three of our favourite actors!

All photographs are my own.

Cheers!

    

And Now We Lie

Sidney’s cross with the memorial.

This year marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.  Sparked by the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Ferdinand, the global crisis eventually claimed the lives of over thirty seven million troops and civilians.  One of the deadliest conflict in history.

I doubt anyone living today has remained untouched in their ancestry.  My own maternal great-great Grandpa, Sidney, was killed in action in 1915, and if my paternal great-great Grandpa, Walter, had not returned from the Great War, three generations of my family, including myself, would not exist.

This Remembrance Sunday I visited the war memorial in Port Sunlight village.  In the years I have attended this, the turn out has only grown in numbers, and this year saw the most amount of people I’ve ever seen there.  Young Army Cadets, a brass band, St John’s ambulance and decorated veterans, along with the general public, turned out to pay their respects and lay wreaths and crosses in remembrance of our fallen warriors.

In remembrance of my great-great Grandfather, Sidney.

Port Sunlight War Memorial

After the ceremony, we visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the second largest memorial to a late wife, bettered only by India’s Taj Mahal.  The galley currently holds an exhibition on original and adapted early 20th Century fashions, including dresses used in Downton Abbey.

20th Century Fashions

20th Century Fashions

Cheers, folks!

Title is from the famous In Flanders Fields poem by John McCrae in 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.