Time is on my side

My stay in London is over and these are the pictures from my last weekend. On Saturday I went to Buckingham Palace and to walk in St. James Park, that has a small lake with two islands and the Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds known as the Horse Guards Parade, with the Horse Guards building, the Old War Office building, and Whitehall Court progressively behind. That’s really impressive. Sunday instead, was all about Tate Britain, that houses a substantial collection of the art of the United Kingdom since Tudor times, and in particular has large holdings of the works of J. M. W. Turner, who bequeathed all his own collection to the nation. The part that appreciate most is the one dedicated to Pre-Raphaelite’s works, where is the Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark.

Isabel Marant top / Acne jeans / Landin flats / Celine bag

Notting Hill

Yesterday after have left the kids at school I made a stroll around our neighborhood: Notting Hill. It is a neighborhood in West London, famed for it's carnival and the 1999 film starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts and of course, Portabello Market. It characterized by colorful Victorian townhouses and impressive secluded gardens and the atmosphere is wonderful. I walked all the morning along Ladbroke Grove, Kensington Park Road, Westbourne Grove, and, of course, Portobello Road looking for some interesting old bookshop. Although the famous Notting Hill Travel Bookshop has unfortunately now closed, I have found at Daunt Books on Holland Park Avenue a great selection of travel books. My outfit in these days are simple and comfy, since I have to run to a place to another, but I always still find a way to stay chic.

Isabel Marant top / Acne black jeans / Lanvin flats /Celine bag /Burberry trench coat

Last of english roses

The National Gallery, that possesses one of the most valuable and comprehensive collections of paintings in the world, is one of my favorite museum and last Sunday I decided to go back to visit it after several years (my last visit was in 2005). The building, designed by William Wilkins and completed in 1838, is itself pretty spectacular, and it's worth spending a little time lingering on the terrace with its excellent views of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall. The gallery was founded in 1824 after Parliament provided a large amount of money for the purchase of various paintings from the famous Angerstein Collection. Numerous later purchases and donations made it necessary to enlarge the building in 1876 when the dome was added, and further extensions were made in 1887, 1927 and 1929. In 1952, Boris Anrep decorated the entrance vestibules with mosaics. In recent years a new annex has provided much-needed additional display space, and in 1991 the Sainsbury Wing was opened. The collections of the National Gallery offer an almost complete cross-section of European painting from 1260 until 1920, with the greatest treasures being the collection of Dutch Masters and the Italian Schools of the 15th and 16th centuries that are my favorites. In the afternoon I took advantage of the beautiful sunny day to spend some hours in Regent Park reading a book surrounding by the roses.

Acne jeans / Balenciaga bag / Isabel Marant boots and top

Kensington

My first week in London has been really chaotic trying to disengage myself from english lessons to the babysitter role for my cousins. My first afternoon off was last Thursday and I decided to go to Kensigton Gardens, that are really close to our house. Kensington Gardens was originally the western section of Hyde Park, which had been created by Henry VIII in 1536 to use as a hunting ground. It was separated from the remainder of Hyde Park in 1728 at the request of Queen Caroline and designed by Henry Wise and Charles Bridgeman in order to form a landscape garden, with fashionable features including the Round Pond, formal avenues and a sunken Dutch garden. Bridgeman created the Serpentine between 1726 and 1731 by damming the eastern outflow of the River Westbourne from Hyde Park and the part of the Serpentine that lies within Kensington Gardens is known as "The Long Water”. The land surrounding Kensington Gardens was predominantly rural and remained largely undeveloped until the Great Exhibition in 1851. Many of the original features survive along with the Palace, and now there are other public buildings such as the Albert Memorial and  the Serpentine Gallery which holds architecture and art exhibitions that I've particularly appreciated. 

Acne jeans / Balenciaga bag / Isabel Marant leather jacket, sweatshirt and boots

Hello London

I am in London since this morning and I am going to stay here for almost a month to improve my english with classes and to do the babysitter to my little cousins that live in Notting Hill. I have been very lucky with the weather because oddly for London it was sunny and hot, so after a delicious breakfast at Rose Bakery I went to stroll around the streets of Mayfair area.  

Burberry trench coat / Acne jeans / Lanvin flats / Celine bag