LONDON

This is the view from Sebastian's office. While we were there we were lucky enough to watch the changing of the "The King's Troop - Royal Horse Artillery" from Wellington's office. The daily parade takes place in what is known as the Tilt Yard; on the site of Henry VIII's tournament ground or 'tiltyard'. The Tilt Yard is the nearest bit to the Horse Guards building, designed by William Kent, of the bigger space known as Horse Guards Parade - see above - on which the annual Queen's Birthday Parade (colloquially known as Trooping the Colour) takes place. The whole building is known as Horse Guards, because the original function was, and remains - the barracks for the The Household Cavalry guarding the monarch and the principal palace. It used to guard the mediaeval royal Palace of Whitehall, originally next to the even older royal Palace of Westminster, which became the palace of the Houses of Parliament in the early Middle Ages - - it still is today. After watching this grand parade it is time to dash to the airport!

LONDON

Just before catching our plane home we went to Horse Guards to have coffee with our friend Sebastian and see his famous loft size office. Surrounded by the marble busts of his predecessors, the Dukes of Albemarle, Malborough, York and Wellington and the life-size portraits of King George II and Queen Caroline - Major General Sebastian Roberts, sits behind Wellington's desk. He has two jobs and two titles both commanded from the same Headquarters: General Officer Commanding London District - all Army units within Greater London and Major General Commanding the Household Division, all Guards regiments including the 2 Regiments of Household Cavalry, and the 5 Regiments of Foot Guards. The office used to be that of the Commander in Chief of the whole army and the Duke of Wellington was definitely the most famous occupier, he held the post twice, once briefly in 1820, and subsequently from 1842 - 1852. If you are wondering why Sebastian is not in uniform it is because it is an old habit that Army officers serving in London wear plain clothes to work - uniform being for the field or parades. In recent years it has also rendered them less obvious as targets for terrorists. This amazing, gigantic pale green and white stucco paneled office has also a terrific infinite view from it's windows first of Horse Guards Parade and further on of St James's Park! This really was a special treat - grazie mille!

LONDON

What better way than to end the day than to see this glamorous and dazzling exhibition called DIAMONDS at the National History Museum - till 26th February, 2006 - Wow!!! After a very tight security check the exhibition started on a red carpet with photographs and clips of films starring movie stars and their rocks and then moved on to show lots and lots of the worlds most famous diamonds mounted in fabulous jewels. I especially enjoyed seeing all the coloured diamonds like the "Steinmetz Pink" (my favorite color) - 59.60 carats. "The Moussaieff Red" - 5.11 carats, the most expensive red diamond at over $900,000 per carat, the highest price ever paid per carat for any diamond. "The Incomparable Diamond" (golden brown) - 407.48 carats, the third largest cut diamond ever recorded. This exhibition tells a story of power, wealth and desire. I was day dreaming on my way out and as consolation I went a bought myself a giant size paperweight solitaire - as big as the Ritz - and the catalogue!

www.nhm.ac.uk

LONDON

After a rather delicious lunch in Marco Pierre White's Belvedere Restaurant situated right in the middle of Holland Park in what used to be the summer ballroom to Holland House - it's back to the museums. I have decided that I'm going to have a favorite museum for each town and the National Portrait Gallery is going to be the one for London. It was so exciting to walk in and just about enjoy everything I saw. As a "Paparazzi" and, as I love to photograph real people I was in heaven here looking at all the portraits and photographs. I could have stayed in all day! The reason I went there was to see the exhibition The World's Most Photographed - till October 23rd - about one hundred photographs exploring the lives and legends of ten well-known figures from history - from Queen Victoria to Muhammad Ali and Adolf Hitler to Marilyn Monroe and more - the show consists of photographs which have previously been lost, suppressed or hidden, together with more familiar images going beyond the often carefully constructed public image of the VIPs to reveal much more about their personalities and their lives. It was such a good show that booking is a must and even so, it was rather difficult to really see the exhibition properly, but I'm not complaining!

http://www.belvedererestaurant.co.uk

www.npg.org.uk

LONDON
As you get off the Millennium Bridge and walk towards Saint Paul's, you come across these wonderful steps, I like the way they "inter-play" with the sliding sections, it's so clever, but unfortunately I don't know who designed them - does anybody know? If so, please contact me.

This is urban architecture at it's best, it solves quite brilliantly the wheelchair access for the disabled which is a major issue today.

LONDON

When Sir Christopher Wren 1710 meets Sir Norman Foster 2001 it's spectacular!! From the Tate Modern we walked across the Millennium Bridge on our way to Saint Paul's Cathedral. As we crossed the Thames the view of the cupola of the cathedral as well as the City is so stunning that we took millions of photos. The steel structure was designed by Foster & Partners with sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and engineers Ove Arup, the shallow suspension bridge is the first completely new pedestrian bridge to be constructed over the Thames for a hundred years. The innovative structure is formed by a single sweeping arc designed to appear as a thin ribbon of steel by day and, illuminated at night, as a shining blade of light across the river. In 2001 a few days after its inauguration, it developed an 'unexpected wobble', and the structure was closed to the public until a 'passive dampening solution' was installed to cure the problem. It re-opened to the public in 2002.

You can also get to the Tate Modern by boat (see above) which runs every forty minutes along the Thames between Tate Britain, the London Eye and Tate Modern.

http://www.londonvisions.com/am_milleniumbridge.htm

www.tate.org.uk

LONDON

A short taxi ride takes us to Bankside and the Tate Modern which is the national gallery of international modern art. Created in the year 2000 from a disused power station designed in 1933 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - who was also responsible for the famous red British telephone box, we so associate with London - the building has been converted by the leading Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, whose plans have respected the integrity of the original design. The most noticeable change to the exterior of the building is a new two-storey glass structure spanning the length of the roof which not only provides natural light into the galleries on the top floors, but also houses a stunning café offering outstanding views across London. A remarkable combination of the old and the new. The vast space is very impressive and in the short time we had we particularly wanted to see the Open Systems: Rethinking Art c.1970 (till 18th September), this remarkable exhibition brings together the works of international artists who radically rethought the object of art in the late 1960s and 1970s. They sought to connect with the increasingly urgent political developments of the decade and make their work more responsive to the world around them. There is Andy Warhol's portrait of Mao-Tse-Tung that dates from 1972, to commemorate President Nixon's historic visit to Beijing! This is very interesting exhibition though rather "highbrow" for me, and a little difficult to understand without the aid of the catalogue! We have to dash now as time is running out......quick quick let's cross THE BRIDGE.

www.tate.org.uk

LONDON

Tuesday was my sight seeing and museum day. I wanted to catch up with the latest shows and see all the new buildings that have "sprouted" up in the East End of London these past ten years. I just had to see the London headquarters of the reinsurers, The Swiss Re Building, locally called the Gerkin or nicknamed the "suppository" by my husband!!! Isn't it wonderful the way it blends in with the old buildings of the city? I love it! This forty storey landmark building was designed by Sir Norman Foster and Partners and opened in 2004. The tower has a circular plan that widens as it rises from the ground and then tapers towards its apex. The windows open too and whenever possible, recycled and recyclable materials have been used as well as innovative ways of reducing energy consumption. Brilliant!

http://www.swissre.com/

LONDON

Yes, we are at it again, more bubbly, this time to celebrate the birth of my old school friend Gabrielle and her husband Oliver Leigh Wood's first grand daughter and third grandchild! Alice Elisabeth Marie Gould was born while we were having dinner with the happy grandparents on the 8th of August (8th month) at 8.06 p.m. and she weighted 8 pounds 8 ounces - should we play the lottery? And within an hour they had received photographs of the new born, through the internet and on their mobile phones - isn't it amazing? Oliver buys and repairs old buildings and is also chairman of The Spitalfields Trust which over the last twenty seven years has repaired in excess of sixty buildings in the East End of London and has just completed an outstanding medieval building in Monmouthshire which will be featured in Country Life magazine - www.countrylife.co.uk or email him at Oliverleighwood@hotmail.com - Gabrielle, who was the top of our class of seven at school and one of the only pupils to take Latin, specializes in taking tourist round unknown London and she is also a certified Blue Badge Guide. http://www.blue-badge-guides.com.somewhere/ or email her at mausilw@hotmail.com.

LONDON

Today is the first working day we are in London and as I pass the newsagent on Knightsbridge Green, on my way to a business appointment, I notice that only the rack on the left has English newspapers - a true sign of how multi-ethnic it has become since I lived there. Are there any true Brits left? I heard all sorts of languages on public transport, mostly Italian and a little Spanish and some of the other lanuages I just couldn't distinguish. There is a radio station in London broadcasting programmes, for the last 13 years, to 25 ethnic and special-interest groups: Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Tamil, Jewish, Islamic, Irish, Italian, Australian and (North) American - this is how multi-ethnic London has become and.... there's no going back!

www.spectrumradio.net

LONDON
I love this photo and think it is so chic to have the old fashioned laundry box blend in with the turquoise walls while it is sitting on an antique chair in the hall waiting to be picked up. After lunch in the garden we are back in London for a light supper with Meredith and Jeremy. We saw Christie's Magazine, editor in chief, Meredith Etherington Smith in Venice for the Biennale but it was "yonks" since we saw her husband Jeremy Pilcher and had never met Bingo, the Norwich Terrier before. Everybody was in a lazy and relaxed Sunday p.m. mood and it was nice and cozy just to sit and sip champagne and reminiscence about people, place and the past before a delicious chicken salad in the kitchen.

LONDON

The weather was so sunny and warm and so was the mood because England beat Australia by just two runs in the cricket match at Lord's and we were also able to have Sunday lunch outside in the well kept and beautiful English garden at Rudy and Mary's - my brother and sister in law. She is such a wonderful cook and is famous for her abundant and delicious meals which always end with three puddings, yes THREE PUDDINGS, as you can see: white chocolate mousse with berries, strawberries and ice cream and then the yummy chocolate eclairs or profiteroles as we call them in Italy. What a treat!!!

Photograph by Manfredi Bellati
LONDON

Here is handsome Puma our "host" in Notting Hill, he kept us company while we had breakfast and had we let him he would have enjoyed having some cereal too - he was also happy to sit on the edge of the bath tub or play with my beauty creams on the shelf over the sink. And, another place he loved to sit was on the stairs and soak up the sun that filtered through the big window.

MOMENTS
FLYING

FASTER THAN

THOUGHT -

SIT

AND CATCH

NOW

is the poem that Betsy wrote on the stairs going up to the first floor to induce friends and family (and Puma) to stop, sit on the comfortable kilim covered sofa and contemplate..........

LONDON - Totally Lond0n

I hadn't been to London in about ten years and it was nice to go back though it felt like a deja vu film that you couldn't quite remember the script. It was very "empty", maybe I should use the word - not crowded - probably because most people were on holiday and the tourist stayed away because of the terrorist attacks of July. However, I found that it was business as usual, with no fuss and lots of policemen all over the place which was comforting and best of all hardly any traffic.

Totally London is a very interesting marketing initiative which promotes the numerous free festivals taking place in London during the autumn.

www.visitlondon.com

HOSTESS GIFT!

I am proud to show you my latest "hostess gift"... I have started taking to lunches and dinner parties products from my own garden be they flowers, vegetables or herbs! Though I say so myself, they are most appreciated and good as well.

photograph by Manfredi Bellati
BOLOGNA - Il Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica
We couldn't leave Bologna without going to visit The International Museum and Library of Music, this beautiful jewel of a museum is the legacy that Marina Deserti left behind after she was deputy mayor for culture. Situated in the prestigious sixteenth-century Palazzo Aldrini Sanguinetti restored not only to state of the arts technology but also to it's former splendor. The displays interweave elements of five centuries of European musical history and each room is painted in the color of the period, i.e. Framboise for Rossini (1800) or turquoise for Farinelli (1700). Besides the many portraits, like Thomas Gainsborough's of Johann Christian Bach there are more than seventy musical instruments like the fascinating, absolutely unique polyphonic flute "armonia di flauti" or the grand piano that belonged to Gioachino Rossini, as well as, a wide selection of historical documents of tremendous value, like treaties, librettos, letters and autographed scores. In a room on the ground floor a violin maker's workshop has been restructured, a tribute to Otello Bignami - in Bolgona the art or violin making has been active since the fifteenth century. This museum is really worth a visit not only for it's fascinating contents but also for the modern yet classical restoration and for the palazzo itself with it's frescoes painted at the turn of the 19th century during the Napoleonic and Neoclassical period. Bravissima Marina!

www.museomusicabologna.it

BOLOGNA - Basilica di Santo Stefano

Sunday morning we went for a walk and just happened on this beautiful Basilica di Santo Stefano, which isn't one church but, originally it was seven interlinked churches built right next to each other. Today only four of the original seven are still around, and situated around them are a few courtyards, a cloister, and a crypt and it's quite fascinating to move from one into the other. They are quite spectacular in their understated beauty and you won't find great works of art, instead an aura of silence and tranquility. What struck me most, and had never seen before, was the elevated altar which set the sacred part of the church higher than the secular one. The site dates back to pre-Christ times, when it was used as a pagan site of worship and the churches you see today were constructed between the 5th and 12th centuries. . . On display are the bones of San Petronio, Bologna's patron saint. When we walked out again into the bright sunlight, we felt so good, refreshed of body and soul, that we were ready for more sight-seeing.

BOLOGNA - Alfred and Alice's Pre-Nuptial Party

Strawberries were de rigueur as centre pieces and decoration at Alfred and Alice's party. It was a clever idea of bringing the garden under the tent, instead of the usual and "expected" flower arrangements. Here are a few ideas of what you can do with strawberries - SWEET: strawberry sorbet, strawberry ice cream, strawberry granita, strawberries and cream, strawberry Pavlova, strawberry and rhubarb pie, strawberry and rhubarb crumble, strawberry pie, strawberry jelly, strawberry rice pudding, strawberry shortcakes, strawberry pizza, strawberry baked Alaska, Eton Mess, strawberry trifle, strawberry mousse, chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry strudel, strawberry snow, strawberry fool, summer pudding, strawberry omelette, strawberry sundae, strawberry shortcakes, strawberry cheesecake, strawberry tart, strawberry kebabs, strawberry jam, strawberry compote, strawberry champagne soup, strawberry panna cotta, strawberry souffle, strawberry and mascarpone quesadillas, strawberries warmed in Grand Marnier with black pepper. SAVORY: strawberry and tomato salad, strawberry salsa, strawberry salad with olives and balsamic vinegar, strawberry, tomato and fennel gazpacho, avocados with strawberry salsa and crispy tortilla strips, strawberry dressing, spinach and strawberry salad, strawberry chutney, strawberry relish, creamy strawberry soup, strawberry summer salad, strawberry chicken salad, strawberry turkey salad, strawberry sourdough bread. DRINKS: strawberry smoothie, strawberry milkshake, strawberry Kir royale, sparkling strawberry Mimosa, strawberry iced tea, strawberry fizz, strawberry Pimms cocktail, strawberries and Prosecco. AND, strawberry fruit mask!!!! Can you think of any other uses for STRAWBERRIES???

BOLOGNA - Alfred and Alice's Pre-nuptial Party

In her neoclassical villa, built after Napoleon's stay in Bologna, the mother of the bride, Marina Deserti Stori gave a spectacular pre-nuptial party for 500 international guests for the wedding of her daughter Alice to Alfred, Prince v.u.z. Liechtenstein. The party was mostly for friends of the parents. And, for that reason many had not met the bride or the groom, therefore they both amusingly wore the the insignia "I am the Groom" for Alfred on the back of his black tie - and - for Alice "I am the Bride", embroidered with multicolored silks, in the main European languages, on the skirt of her halter-neck ballerina-inspired beautiful white dress. Everything was perfect to the last detail; the food, the garden with it's gigantic tent, the tables and the chairs, especially monogrammed with double AA, the band and all the guests had a really great time, some dancing till breakfast at dawn.

As so many people came from out of town and from other European countries a whole weekend of parties was organized by friends of Marina: a Pre-pre-nuptial dinner in Palazzo Angelelli by Patrizia Medail Occioni Bonaffons - a Formal lunch by Nicoletta Maresca di Serracapriola - a Garden Party by the tennis court in Villa Impero by Maria Cristina Faccioli - a Picnic by Luca and Pupi Visconti di Modrone. It was such a great way to see and appreciate Bologna.

BOLOGNA - Palazzo Angelelli

The Water Tray: It was so hot that all I wanted to do was drink liters of water. I find the water tray very chic and particularly liked the simple hand written ink label, tied with raffia, that says frizzante (sparkling)! Patrizia is very good at creating an atmosphere, this is seen not only in the details of the interior decoration of the palazzo but also in her sculpture-paintings enchanting us to a land of fantasy and dreams.

photograph by Manfredi Bellati
BOLOGNA - Palazzo Angelelli

Dinner in artist Patrizia Medail's workshop/home, in palazzo Angelelli, is a feast not only for the food, but most of all for the eye. Her studio, which is also the ballroom, has lots of gilt, mirrors and stuccoes, it also doubles-up as the dining-room, where tables covered in grey satin and topped with old carpets are ardorned with luscious and dramatic center pieces. To reach the ballroom/dining room one has to go through a series of palatal rooms where her plush art blends in beautifully with the frescos, marble, silver and antique furniture of the palazzo itself. Patrizia Medail's art or "collages" depict exotic animals like polar bears, tigers, lions, royal eagles or elegant vases of flowers which are made from old braids, antique damasks, fringes, velvets and lace, they are as rich and stunning as their surrounding.

BOLOGNA - I Portici

When you visit Bologna one of the things that strikes you most are the twenty-four miles of arcades - the longest in the world. You can enjoy strolling in town during all seasons and are protected from the sun and sheltered from the rain....it is also quite magical to saunter in the early evening, when the sun begins to set, on the way to a dinner party in one of the many beautiful palazzi in the center of town. It was in Bologna that in 1088 the first university in Europe was born and the portici (as they are known) were built to house the growing number of students by extending the upper storeys of the buildings, leaving a covered space for pedestrians and for trading at street level.

photograph by Manfredi Bellati

POOR JAY PEG!

Punta Sabbioni - Venezia: J.peg is still feeling sorry for herself as she says goodbye to the seaside after being home sick in 'bed" for four day with a really strong coup de soleil! She missed out on all the fun, but don't worry "ciccia" we'll come back with a beach umbrella next time......!