Sunday 22 January 2012

Running on full power


One of my favourite things to do on a weekend is to wake up early enough to catch brunch at The Wapping Project. Now considering that it's served until 12:00pm I'm quite ashamed to admit that I've missed it a few times... This beautiful building is a historic hydraulic power station that hasn't been gutted out to make way for a shiny new restaurant, but rather the restaurant has moulded itself around the contours of the building seamlessly evolving into a chic and modern establishment.

Now normally this would equal a stuffy, overpriced, uppity kind of place, but here lies the beauty of The Wapping Project. The first thing you notice is the relaxed feeling, jeans, trainers, kids, all are welcome and a familiar part of a visit (although yes for dinner a little effort is usually required and duly made, it's quite smart). As well as a feast for your mouth your experience will provide you with a feast for the eyes, the building is beautiful and you often see people snapping away trying to capture it. If that's not enough they also regularly host amazing exhibitions including the recent Yohji Yamamoto exhibition and a cinema during the hot summer months. This is my favourite place in London without a doubt.

Sunday 8 January 2012

Portugalia


I'm back in the UK having survived our "holiday" to Portugal. We drove there via Spain taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao, this way Paco was able to join us. The family has a place in a little village called Condeixa a Velha where the house quite like the inhabitants of the village have seen better days... Let's just say that the designated allowance of electricity for the village meant that we were only able to have two appliances switched on at any given time. 

The internet was definitely not even an option. When we passed an area with wifi, I'm ashamed to say that we all behaved like teenagers glued to our electronic devices as though there was no world around us. Instagram was my friend, giving me my much needed dose of the outside world. So here is my holiday via Instagram.