We started at Clarke's, the Chez Panisse of London, for brunch before heading to Portobello Market and many other interesting spots. Check out her story for more info and some beautiful shots of London and the Clivedon (there's a small chance you might even spot me in one of the pics.)Rome joined us for afternoon tea at The Wolseley. He was, as usual, the center of attention in the buzzing restaurant and had all the staff and people sitting around us charmed. After much heavy flirting, one woman even took off her 4 carat diamond ring and diamond-studded bracelet for him to play with. He immediately tried to put them in his mouth and drop them through a crack between our booths (note-never give expensive jewelry to a baby to play with).
Alli and JJ arrived the same week for London Fashion Week. Alli exhibited her handbag collection, aGaiN NYC at the show and was part of a sustainable fashion section called "Esthetica" featuring very stylish fashions that are gentle on the environment. She was also chosen out of 5 designers to be featued at a fashion show held at the Science Museum called "Refashioned: from Waste to Wear".
Alli, who had never even been to a fashion show, almost missed it since she was conducting a workshop upstairs making buttons with vintage fabrics. She was swarmed with people so I stayed at the booth to let her go down and watch. Some of the girls got their knickers in a twist when I tried but botched their "badges " as they call them. This was a highlight of the evening's events. The BBC and lots of press were there to cover the event and interviewed Alli!!
It was Rome's first live fashion show too. Since the place had a bar, they didn't allow us to sit on the floor around the catwalk but up on the mezzanine, viewing the show from above. Rome especially loved it since we were right near "backstage". He greeted all the models with a big smile as they came out and they smiled back at him and made silly faces before they went on the floor looking so serious and chic. Thanks to Alli,I got passes to the London Fashion Week sample sale and rewarded myself for having lost all my baby weight by buying lots of unique British fashions. Many of the local designers were at the show manning their booths and selling their wares so I got to meet them too.
This past weekend we celebrated our friend, Randy's b-day (some of you remember him from Cornell). Randy loves "tasting menus" so a group of us had a six course dinner with wine pairings at Bacchus, a new place nearby. The chef has worked at Jean-Georges in NY and El Bulli in Spain and prepared a meal that did not disappoint, in spite of the expectations. We tried a new baby-sitter the week before on Alli & JJ's last night, and it didn' really work out, so we brought him along. Since we had a little one, they gave us our own private room upstairs to celebrate while Rome roamed around on the floor until he fell asleep. I have to say that we had the best service of any place any of us had been to in London and it was a lot of fun. Rome had a great time too!
We're finally starting to settle into life here -- Pepe joined a tennis club and is taking tennis lessons and playing regularly (so he's pretty happy). I have yet to find a good yoga center nearby but am planning to join a gym. Rome has a few new friends and has been really enjoying London-- seriously, who wouldn't want to go to a fashion show and flirt shamelessly with the models, and then to a five star restaurant to eat, roll around on the floor, sleep and then eat some more??
I've met a few nice girls--several of them new moms but am still busy unpacking and trying to get our new place in order. Hopefully, it will be done before it's time to come home.... In the meanwhile, we wish to have more of you visit in the hopes that we'll never get homesick while we're here.
photo courtesy of Karyn Millet
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