London

I promised pics from my trip to London last week, so here are a few. First up is the Savoy Hotel, where we spent a couple of nights.

The newly renovated Savoy just reopened and what an absolutely beautiful restoration they pulled off. My favorite space was the lower lobby and its central table with colorful orchids. They were a welcome relief from the constant gray outside.

The elevators are color coded, with only certain colors going to certain floors. Ours was the red elevator, and this chinoiserie was everywhere in the hotel, not just in the elevators.

My favorite wine bar was one my buddy Kate took me to the day I arrived. Basically, she had me drinking wine at what would have been 7 a.m. for me, but she said, ” it’s time for you to get on London time!”

Gordon’s Wine Bar is on Villiers Street right in the heart of downtown. You enter from the street and wander down a narrow, steep staircase into an underground cave that was at one time a warehouse near the Thames. Then an engineer embanked the Thames and the warehouse was too far from the shore so some entrepreneurial type decided to sell wine there instead. Our gain! There is no electricity in the cave portion (hence the candle light), the ceilings drip, and you can barely stand up, but what incredible ambience. And the wine selection is very decent too!

On the touristy note, this was my favorite photo of Big Ben. I took it down along the river walk:

However, I found I didn’t really take the usual tourist photos, but was always staring at the architecture or craftsmanship that went into creating all these landmarks. Just look at this iron work on the Parliament Buildings fencing (with Big Ben in the background):

Even the lamp posts are ornate! This fishy is down on the river walk lamps.

And these gates! I imagine them as a beautiful headboard:

Why a headboard? Because I’ve done it before! Look at this and you will never look at old gates the same way again:

Trust me, you will see these gates again in my new digs.

Happy travels, and may yours inspire your home too!

Love,

Suzie