Raving about Waterloo

Choosing somewhere to stay in London hasn’t been something we’ve needed to do, until recently, but with two nights in town meeting friends and family we wanted to stay somewhere that was easy to get to both the City and the West End, and which didn’t cost the earth.

After some internet research - especially on prices - we settled for a Travelodge in Waterloo, and we couldn’t have chosen a better location. We arrived at Kings Cross and got on the Northern line to Bank, changing there for the Waterloo & City line - and bam, we where in Waterloo and checked in.

We headed out for lunch at Pizza Pilgrims on Lower Marsh - I had the double pepperoni and hot honey - which was good, I could take or leave the honey though, but the stacked tin tomatoes were as impressive.

Soon we were back on the Waterloo & City line heading to the City where we met up with plenty of friends to mark our escape to the country and it was great to see so many of our friends to catch up and plan future visits over a drink or two and way too much food! A final trip on the Waterloo & City line for the day saw us back at the hotel for the night.

The next morning, after a relaxed start, we headed out for breakfast looking for a proper caff, rather than a chain. Our instincts told us to head down The Cut, which looked quite different to our previous visits with many more chains moving in. We spotted what we were looking for though, and found a cafe serving the largest plate of full English (for MOH) and a bacon and egg sandwich for me. We weren’t disappointed, the place was buzzing with builders, taxi drivers and a few bemused tourists from overseas.

Our plan for the day was to check out some furniture I’d seen online over at Marble Arch and then head over to Brick Lane to get some bagels. From Waterloo we arrived at Bond Street on the Bakerloo line and headed straight to Fortnums to buy our mince pie treat - they’re pricey, but they’re oh so nice, and for the last few years or so, a box has been ours. Moving out of London wasn’t going to change this, and it made sense for us to get them on our visit, once we’d checked out the Christmas windows and their decorations.

Armed with mince pies, our next stop was Marble Arch and our plan was to get there through the back streets avoiding the busier streets, as you never quite know what you’ll find. And we weren’t disappointed as we came across the Ever After Garden in Grosvenor Square, which was quite a moving sight.

And then we looked up at the most fantastic yellow leaved tree, which no doubt looked even better against the sunlit white building and the blue sky. A joyous sight that’s for sure.

We carried on walking to Marble Arch only to find that the store didn’t have any of the range I wanted to look at anyway, typically. However the sales assistant was familiar with the range, and could answer the questions I had, so that was something.

After a quick coffee and a pastry, we headed off to Liverpool Street on the Central line. Above ground again and we walked through Spitalfields to Brick Lane and to our favourite bagel shop. Bagels secured, we headed back to Spitalfields Market to share lunch, stopping briefly to admire the the graffiti, which if you look more closely at you’ll see it’s sprayed onto electrical sockets.

Back to the hotel, on the Waterloo & City line again, after walking to and past Bank for a final time on this visit. That evening we met up with family in the West End so we were back on the Bakerloo line, this time to Piccadilly Circus. A pre-dinner drink (or two) in a pub before heading over to our favourite Hawksmoor restaurant on Air Street.

Still full from the night before, we skipped breakfast the next morning opting for a coffee and pastry in Tottenham Court Road - a quick hop over from Waterloo on the Northern line. Then we were off to check out what Heals and West Elm had to offer furniture-wise - in short, nothing grabbed us this time round, so we headed up towards Market Halls, but first stopping in John Lewis. There we had more success, looking at several items which we added to our Black Friday shopping list.

We had just one more tube journey ahead of us - from Oxford Circus back to Kings Cross and our train home.

In those three days we clocked up just over 39,200 steps (with half of those on the middle day) and twelve and a half miles, let alone the numerous tube rides - so quite a trip. It was good to be back in London, but it was oh so much better to be home.

And Waterloo, definitely a location we’ll check out again for future stays.

Market Halls Loos

We’ve been watching MasterChef: The Professionals and luckily were up to date ahead of our trip to London last week, which at least meant we would only have a few episodes to catch up with on our return. But what we didn’t realise was that the episode where the finalists cooked in a pop up kitchen would shape our trip. When the camera showed outside the venue - Market Halls - MOH and I looked at each other and said Oxford Street.

And we weren’t wrong, and while the MasterChef finalists weren’t cooking we guessed there’d be some pretty good food on offer. We weren’t wrong again!

We popped in for lunch last Friday ahead of our train home. The venue is a mix of industrial and glamour, as you’ll see from the pictures below. It had a buzz, which came from the hubbub of small kitchens grouped together, and their customers milling around to choose their food - and from the pager which buzzes when you’re food is ready to collect.

We chose Hotbox, but then struggled to choose from their menu so instead opted for a selection of their smoked meat with some fries. This worked out well for us as we got to try more than we would have done otherwise, and we didn’t have to make that choice!

But you’re right, this is the first loo series post in a while - and so far, there’s no loos.

Thankfully for a large-ish venue, the loos were a decent size. There’s nothing worse than being in a large venue, then discovering there’s four (or less) loos in the Ladies is there?

A row of sinks, mirrors above, tiled walls and flooring - nothing too extravagant, or ground breaking, but looking again and noticing the graduating wall paint colour within each cubicle, now that was smart, subtle but yet impactful.

And that wasn’t all, the vinyls on the mirror were also true to the venue - and definitely made me smile, as did the food we ate - we’ll definitely be going back at some point!

HEY GOOD LOOKING, HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT OUR COOKING?

Visiting the Whitechapel Gallery

At the end of last week, after a particularly wet and grey week we decided to break from the norm and make the most of the lighter evening following the clock change. The week hadn’t brought the bright Spring days we were hoping for, and getting out and staying dry was a challenge. However we were not to be fazed, with MOH on the early shift our plan was to head for a museum or gallery - increasing our odds of staying dry - before heading out for dinner.

Some quick online research showed that the Whitechapel Gallery was our best bet. It was open later than most, was relatively easy to get to and neither of us had been there before. It’s set in a beautiful historic building right on Whitechapel High Street with all the hustle and bustle of daily life right on its doorstep, and no doubt an integral part of its community.

We started at the top at one of the free exhibitions - the House of Le Bas (which is on until 31 May) which shares the life and experiences of Delaine Le Bas and her late husband Damian Le Bas and their perspective as English Romani Gypsy Travellers. The room is full of colour with artwork, journals, photographs and embroidery with stories that resist stereotypes and question what it means to be an ‘outsider’.

There was just so much to see, it’s one of those exhibitions that while only in a relatively small space you could visit more than once, and each time see something new or different. I was taken with the amount of work that had clearly gone into each piece, and as you can see from my photos, they’re all incredibly detailed. I appear to be drawn to things with this amount of detail at the moment, and to items that have layers and depth - the whole creation process is fascinating to me, and these pieces were no different.

Thought provoked we made our way back down to the ground floor peeking into the other galleries and spaces, admiring the building as much as the artwork before heading into Zadie Xa’s exhibition titled: House Gods, Animal Guides and Five Ways 2 Forgiveness which closes on 30 April. It’s the largest solo exhibition in London to date for Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa and shows a new body of work commissioned by the gallery.

The installation with its sculptures, textiles and paintings along with the immersive lighting and audio are certainly impactful, and once again full of colour and texture. The exhibition’s design, in conjunction with collaborator artist Benito Mayor Vellejo, draws you in and around the space leading you to the large fabric structure inspired by a tranditional Korean home, known as a hanok.

The colours were rich and evocative, transporting you to a different world to the one that was most likely rushing past just a few metres away. And while these were amazing, my favourite piece from our visit was yet to come.

Now isn’t that just amazing?

I believe this piece as Grandmothers (2022) which alongside was the details: hand-sewn and machine-stitched mixed fabrics, bleached and dyed denim, shell buttons and dried flowers. So once again I’ve been drawn to a piece which mixes and matches to great effect and layers textures and materials. I wasn’t surprised that this was the wow piece for me, even though everything I’ve shown in this post was pretty special.

So a late afternoon-early evening well spent, visiting a gallery we’d not been to before and experiencing artists we’d not known about before our visit either. We were also lucky enough not to get rained on and treated ourselves to a steak at the Flat Iron in relatively nearby Spitalfields, which also didn’t disappoint.

All in all a hugely successful impromptu visit, and I’m hoping we’ll have many more of these as the year progresses, wherever we may be!