London - Part II

Our London tour continued with a stop in my favorite of the city's parks, Regent's Park.

Regent's Park is a peaceful and pretty space, and it was perfect to relax in on a sunny day:There are grassy fields, an open air theatre, and fountains to make your husband stand in front of for a photo op:While there, I decided to put a twist on my usual 'hugging statues in Europe' photo series by planking atop a statue instead...

Planking on a cherub statue in Queen Mary's Rose Garden:(Apologies to my physical therapist who will probably be seriously unimpressed with this photo - I promise I did not fall or hurt my neck during the filming of this bloggy stunt. And besides, it's a cool picture!)

We got some sweet treats from Ottolenghi, a mouth-wateringly good takeaway shop. Don't you want to try one of everything here???:I chose a pistachio elderflower meringue that was the size of my head.

We strolled over to Kensington Gardens and had a little picnic. Yum:That night we went to Royal Albert Hall, the historic concert hall best known for hosting Proms and other classical music events.

But we were there for a rockin' evening of Eric Clapton. The crowd went wild during 'Cocaine':Clapton killed it. He was bluesy ('Old Love'), jazzy ('Layla'), rocky ('Crossroads'), and just plain good.

Italian Renaissance architecture and Classic Rock fans made for one happy combo:
We also did a bit of browsing at the most luxurious of department stores, Harrods:
And then I dragged Chappy to The Wallace Collection, a small museum housed in an eighteenth century mansion on Manchester Square.

It's filled with Old Masters, suits of armor, and a ton of fine French Furniture:The Wallace reminds me a bit of the Frick - they're both very intimate spaces with impressive collections. I felt like I was wandering around a very, very wealthy friend's house. Chappy looked right at home in the dining room, no?:
We also saw the Cabinet War Rooms, a series of rooms in an underground bunker where Churchill and his men plotted their strategy during WWII. It's worth a visit if you're a history buff.

Chappy did his best impersonation of the Robert Clive statue out in front of the museum:
We fed the waterfowl in St. James's Park and ended up here:
I wonder if Queen Elizabeth ever pulls into the drive after a long trip and says, 'be it ever so humble...'

London - Part I

Last week Chappy and I went to England to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

It'd been about 5 years since I'd been there, and about 10 years since he'd been, so we were loooooong overdue for this UK visit. It was a delightful holiday.

Here's London - Part I...

We started off a bit behind the 8 ball when we showed up at the wrong terminal at JFK.

Oops.

It was almost our flight's departure time and we were clear across the airport so we had to take one of those motorized carts to get to our gate. Embarrassing, but effective:We made it on board - thank you Delta go-kart - and had a relaxing, restful flight - thank you Delta flatbeds:We landed at Heathrow and drove straight to Windsor Castle, which is looking particularly spiffy these days.

Here are the Queen's Apartments: Quite a lovely lawn, but I did not spy any of her famous Corgis on the premises.

The famous Round Tower:and The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. Way, way too long to stroll with jetlag, but pretty to admire from afar:
We grabbed yummy pub grub for lunch at The Two Brewers before heading into Londontown:
A required photo op in town -- Parliament, the Thames, and one tired blogger:
A snap of the Palace of Westminster's Clock Tower:(That one is for my late father who always reminded us that 'Big Ben' is the name of the bell and not the name of the tower.)

Next it was on to Evensong, a late afternoon choral service at Westminster Abbey. It's preformed about 5 times a week, and it's definitely worth a listen if you're in town:
The male choir of Westminster Abbey sang psalms and songs (beautifully!) for about 45 minutes as the sun set:
We took advantage of British Summer Time's late day light and rode the London Eye before dinner:The Eye is super touristy, but the view from 443+ ft up in the sky is killer.

Fellow holidaymakers snapping pics and seeing the sights:
All smiles with my big guy in the little pod:We ended our evening with dinner at Wiltons restaurant, a clubby, old school (like 1700s old school) English establishment with *the best* Wild Smoked Salmon and Sole Meuniere in town.

I don't usually do food pics, but their Raspberry Rhubarb Tart and Cambridge Cream were too pretty not to photograph:More London tomorrow...

Monty Monday - On Holiday

Chappy and I are across the pond on holiday this week. It's lovely here, but we miss Monty!

I took this photo of me with M. right before I left. I now look at it daily to remind me of just how cute, snuggly, and sweet my little man is:I keep telling that photo, 'Don't worry little M., we'll be home so soon!"

Gone Fishin'

Hotel Views:The city's pretty easy to guess, but can you tell the neighborhood/street?

Post-Game Party Report

Vogue writer Billy Norwich and Town & Country writer Gillian Hearst Simonds hosted an art opening for painter Garrett Chingery. The event was held at the not-quite-fully-open, but already hip Sanctuary Hotel in midtown. The space was filled with hundreds of beautiful people and 30+ works by Chingery.

The crowd:This jockey was my favorite of Garrett Chingery's paintings:
The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering held a health education seminar at Rockefeller Research Laboratories. A panel of super smart dermatologists gave presentations on 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Skin Cancer, But Were Afraid to Ask':I particularly enjoyed Dr. Steven Q. Wang's lecture on 'Demistifying Sunscreen'. He talked about the biologic effects of UVA & UVB, the current state of UVA and antioxidant protection, and skin damage via oxidative stress:I'm glad I have a science degree because that was one technical talk.

David Patrick Columbia and Jeff Hirsch - aka the NY Social Diary boys - hosted a book signing party for Carol Joynt and her new book Innocent Spouse. The party was held at The Palm Court. It was the same place we went for afternoon tea, but it has a decidedly different look in the evening:For 'Real Housewives' fans, Alex and Simon are above on the right. They were both very, very nice, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tall (like 6'3''ish) Simon is in person.

About 200 people attended, and I'd say it was a big success because Carol Joynt sold out of books halfway through the party.

Ann Watt from NYSD snapped this pic of yours truly with Mark Gilbertson and Margo Langenburg at the event:
I went to the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club annual Purses & Pursenalities Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street. The big ballroom was all decked out for Spring:Dozens and dozens of designer handbags are donated by high-end companies, and then they're all auctioned off during cocktail hour at a giant silent auction.

If you love handbags, this party was the place to be:
David Patrick Columbia interviewed Jamee Gregory on anything and everything relating to entertaining/being a hostess yesterday at the Carlisle Collection in midtown:A small group of ladies listened to Jamee and DPC talk about the 'dos' (do make sure you introduce all your guests to one another) and the 'don'ts' (don't let your cocktail 'hour' drag on for 1.5 or 2) of entertaining at home.

Jamee's book 'New York Parties, Private Views' gives an insider's peek at some of the best parties in town (...and I am pictured in it attending a rocking party downtown at Tatiana and Campion Platt's downtown loft!).

Here I am with Kathleen Giordano and Naz Tesit at the Carlisle Collection book talk event:Photo by Ann Watt via NYSD.

And finally, I headed down to Madison Square Park to see the recently installed, uber cool sculpture 'Echo': The piece is by Jaume Plensa, and at 44 feet tall it's quite the sight. 'Echo' is on display until 15 August; definitely check it out.

5 Years(!)

Last week we celebrated our 5th (wow - time flies!) wedding anniversary. We spent the day having fun together on the Upper East Side.

Our first stop was The Plaza for afternoon tea at The Palm Court. The Palm Court is one of those classic, grand New York rooms:Chappy's parents had their first date there - also an afternoon tea - back in 1940, so we thought it was the perfect spot to celebrate our anniversary.

Just as cute as the day I married him:A little less blonde than the day he married me:
Chappy doesn't drink tea, so he got a pink lemonade instead:
And I went for the Earl Grey ...and the scones with clotted cream, and the petits fours:
My perfect view through the three-tier curate stands:
Smiles for 5 happy years of marriage - and for feeling like Eloise for the afternoon:After eating all the scrumptious treats we headed over to the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse in Jock Whitney's old townhouse on E. 63rd Street.

Chappy liked Matthew Patrick Smyth's soft, chic dining room:I loved Greener by Design's zen patio. I wanted to do yoga on this floating platform, but thought that might get complicated in heels and a dress:I have a thing for animal heads, antlers, and any/all hunting lodge-esque decor choices. I was happy to see this theme dotted around the four story townhouse.

Like with this sparkly ram head in the hallway:Or with this giant giraffe in Harry Heissmann's kid's hideaway:The showhouse benefits the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and is open until May 26. Go check it out if you're into design.

Next we headed over to FAO Schwarz to play.

Chappy learned some sort of new hacky-sack game (...he even removed his blazer so I knew it was serious business), and I clowned around with puppet Muppets. I can do the voice of 'Animal' quite well:Even though we're an old married couple it was a lot of fun to act like kids.