London calling!

Originally posted 240612

Hello friends!
As you may have guessed from the previous blog post / article, I´m in London!
This is my first time actually Visiting London. I´ve previously only changed flights on both of London’s airports and I also spent one whole day crying at the Heathrow airport a couple of years ago, because of Brexit.

What happened was that, while I was on the plane from Sweden to London, Brexit finally happened, England was no longer part of the European Union and as a consequence of that, I was not allowed to board my plane to Barcelona.

But anyway! Now I´m finally here!

london_westminster_travelblog
Westminster basking in it´s glory

What to do in London?

London has something for everyone. Shopping, history, rooftop bars, theater, musicals, jazz restaurants, ax throwing, strange foods, canal tours, fashion, markets, a serial killer museum, gardens, churches, royal things, you name it!
I´m of course looking forward to exploring the city by foot and to see some art!

london_street_oldhouses_travelblog
London has a lot of quirky old houses

Art in London

Coming from a small city like Stockholm where we only have like 1 million inhabitants, I was quite baffled when I realized how vast the London art scene is.
There are SO many exhibitions and galleries and venues where you can explore art in London. My art-tutor Michael Lawton (who also happens to be an amazing artist) sent me a map over London´s galleries and there were like thousands of them!

london_art_tatemodern_farahalqasimi
Farah al Qasimi is currently exhibited in Tate modern

We have the famous institutions like the National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate modern, Victoria and Albert museum, the Wallace collection and more. And then there is the galleries like the Serpentine, Gagosian, Saatchi, David Zwirner, gallery Rosenfeld and many many more and then there are other spaces that ALSO display art, like community centers and venues that have temporary exhibitions.

london_gallery_map_art_exhibitions
If this map doesn´t trigger FOMO I don´t know what will XD

It´s not easy to chose but here is the gallery map that Michael sent me, hopefully it can give you some ideas.

Afternoon tea fright giving me cold feet

The next fright came while I was researching the Afternoon tea and stumbled upon Afternoon tea etiquette.
“Cutlery!” I thought to myself
“The right dress!”
“I have nothing to wear! and what if I use the wrong knife?”
Scenarios of full disaster flashed before my eyes and I even ran out and bought a new dress, because I somehow thought that I had to dress down for this occasion, or at least dress modest. (My clothes are usually very colorful and full of patterns and flowers and all topped up with sparking jewelry).

But on a closer look I realized that my usual wardrobe probably is more suitable for the Afternoon tea.

london_afternoontea_etiquette_royaldrurylane
A bad picture of a table setting at the Royal Drury Lane theater. This cute china was especially made for this theater and is decorated with characters from historical theater plays

What I´m going to do and see in London

So what am I actually going to see and do in London? My plan contains of course a lot of art and walking. I want to visit Tate modern, the Garden museum, see Judy Chicagos Revelations exhibition at the Serpentine gallery and of course drink some Afternoon tea! Hopefully I also have a chance to meet an artist friend of mine Anais Delforge-Mistry, who lives here whome I havn´t seen in a long time. And then I of course wish to do some shopping 🙂

I´m really looking forward to this!
So friends, please keep your fingers crossed for me, so I don´t embarrass my self while experiencing the fine tradition of enjoying afternoon tea haha (I´ll report back)

xoxo/Salla V
Originally posted 240612