Wales

Before I mention my foray into Wales, I went with Ariane to the Scissor Sisters concert at the O2 centre at North Greenwich (conveniently just down the road from Ariane). I'm not a dedicated fan but they know how to put on a good show. At the end everyone was up on their feet, except the people next to us, who must have forgotten to switch on their fun genes that day. I mean c'mon! It's the Scissor Sisters!


I decided that after almost two years it was high time I actually ventured into Wales and headed off to Cardiff for the day, amidst warnings to 'be careful' and promises to 'not wander into the dodgy parts'. Ok, so it's a bit rough around the edges but the city centre is charming. Lots of Victorian arcades, wide streets, and it's FULL of pro-Wales shops selling you all manner of Welsh-related paraphenalia. I resisted the temptation to come home with lovespoons, the welsh rugby team home and away kits, teatowels with welsh poems emblazoned on them and fridge magnets with welsh lasses frolicking amongst the lambs and daffodils. Alright, so I bought something with the dragon on it...

The Millenium Stadium & Welsh Tartan

I strolled past the Millenium Stadium - very impressive - and the animal wall that leads to Cardiff Castle. It was such a beautiful day I didn't want to waste a second of that precious sunshine by taking a tour of the interior, as I figure I'll come back. I did wander around the grounds, up to the old Keep and watched the medieval activities - archery, juggling, falconry, sword-fighting, and a wonderful puppet show about the bold Sir Gawain. It was great fun, full of audience participation (booing, hissing and hurraying).


Even Goths like puppet shows!



Afterwards I strolled through some of the arcades (Castle St Arcade is one of the best) and the Cardiff Market, and marvelled at the large teenage goth population bravely wearing black in the intense heat, before making my way to the National Museum and Gallery. I had read in the trusty Lonely Planet that Cardiff had the best collection of Impressionist art in the UK. I must confess, this amazed me, so I thought I'd check it out. I had the good fortune to go there while there was an exhibit on why Cardiff had such a collection. Basically two Welsh sisters inherited pots of cash, and were the first people in the UK to begin collecting French Impressionist art. Their governess was deeply passionate about art, and her brother was an art buyer and advised them on most of their purchases.

Lonely Planet does not lie. The collection was amazing. I was literally squealing (my apologies to the other people there) everytime I went into a new room. These sisters had major pieces of impressionist art - and I'm talking about pieces that most people who know nothing about art would have seen before. 3 Monet 'Waterlillies' and 'Westminster', Pissaros, Renoirs, Turner's 'The Storm' series, and Rodin's sculpture 'The Kiss'. And many, many other priceless paintings and sculptures. The sisters served as nurses in France during WW1, and were understandably disturbed by their experiences. When they came home they set up a community where people could recuperate - sort of art therapy I suppose. They were great patrons of just about everything cultural in Wales - choirs, education, writing etc. Their brother was an inexhaustible campaigner for world peace. Neither sister married, so when they died their collection was gifted to the Welsh people.

Did I mention that the museum, gallery and all the special exhibits were free? I love Wales.

Althorpe

In July we finally made it to Althorpe, ancestral home of the Spencer Family, and resting place of Diana, Princess of Wales. As you can see, it is quite a beautiful home, and the family have an amazing collection of art and books. There isn't a great deal of landscaped gardens, but that somehow made it seem much more of a real home, and you could tell that people do in fact live in that house. All the couches were arranged for maximum conversation, and in amongst the objects d'art were board games and leafed through magazines.

There was an excellent exhibit on Diana's life - complete with THAT wedding dress - which had all kinds of letters, and school reports, and keepsakes that give you a feel for what a typical young girl she must have been. And there was a lot about the various charities she supported. I hadn't realised but during the last year of her life, she completely scaled down her involvement to 6 charities so she could devote her time and attention to them. My favourite bit was her dress collection - from 80's tragic Sloane Ranger to 90's chic designer muse. Ah, Versace. Genius.

Live Earth Concert

My friend Yvonne was able to lay her hands on tickets to the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium for herself, Neil, Fiona and I. Man it was awesome! Well over 70,000 people, and top bands like Genesis, Duran Duran, The Black Eyed Peas, Metallica, The Beastie Boys...
I'm sure I will never go to anything like it again.

The standouts for me were Snow Patrol - who completely rocked the place, despite their slow ballady-type songs, and the Foo Fighters. Just brilliant. Paolo Nuttini was a disappoinment, as I love him, but he was quite incomprehensible (ok, so he is scottish, but that's no excuse) and he didn't sing my favourite song of his, New Shoes. The only person I didn't see was James Blunt, who is the musical equivalent of nails on a blackboard to me. The only thing I would suggest is that next time, have less artists so they can perform for longer. You'd just start to get into it and they'd finish.
Ah, the usual beer cup chain...


Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters rocks Wembley


Fiona takes a power nap

Me with Fiona and Yvonne

Bank of England/City of London

I recently went on a tour of The Bank of England with Dave & Cuffy. For obvious reasons you can't take photos, but the chap in pink in the photo is the doorman. Apparently the servants of one of the governors of the bank wore this uniform, and it's stuck. Hmm. Pink. Those poor servants.
Naturally the Bank is wonderful inside, and even has a courtyard garden. It's not as old as it looks though. As the Bank grew they realised they needed bigger premises, but by this time they were surrounded by other lovely buildings. So they deomlished the inside, leaving the outerwalls intact, and built upwards instead of outwards. It was only finished in the 1940's, but still has many of the original fixtures and features.

These next pictures are of the area surrounding the Bank.

Statue for James Greathead who inventing the machine that made cutting tunnels for the tube possible.
The 'Old Lady of Threadneedle Street': the Bank of England