London calling

This is one of my favourite photos of London on our last day in the city before going to Tring in Hertfordshire. Look at that beautiful sky ! It was a magic last day in a city I love being in which is unusual since I'm not a city person. There is something about London that's compelling though. It's exciting and huge and there is just so much to see, so many incredibly iconic landmarks of history and such a diverse mix of old and new structures all thrown together and somehow it works. For five days we walked everywhere from St Katherines dock where we stayed. We took the tube almost every day to visit the places on our list. Kensington one day to see the Princess Diana memorial walk and the Natural History Museum then on to Buckingham Palace. Another day we went to Waterloo to see one of the highlights of my whole trip, the annual SOFA cat art exhibition. Such a thrill to see so many brilliant cat artists exhibiting. I just wish I could have been part of it too but we weren't arriving in the UK at the right time to deliver an artwork unfortunately but it's definitely on my list of ambitions. The National Portrait Gallery was stunning and featured marvellous exhibition of black and white photographs of the most glamorous Hollywood stars from the past such as Brando Liz Taylor Jean Harlow and Garbo and many more, such nostalgia. At St. Martins I found a 'to die for' leather coat I couldn't resist and a small pewter perfume bottle and venetian bronze lion and marble bowl I had to have. Most nights we staggered home exhausted with only enough energy to pop into the Waitrose downstairs for a formidable choice of fresh and mouth watering foods including my favourite Eccles cakes ? I love the gorgeous buttery flaky pastry wrapped around a sticky centre of currents.