Stockholm Trip

I went to Stockholm the weekend before last to see the exhibition of royal wedding dresses at The Royal Armouries.  I have never been to Scandinavia before and I really liked Stockholm!  Here is a first view of the city.

The Old town - or Gamla Stan - was really pretty with lots of medieval cobbled streets to wander along and lots of lovely little shops.

The main square in Gamla Stan, Stortorget, was the scene of a bloody massacre in 1520 hence why the house you see on the left below is painted red - for the blood that was spilled!!

When we came out of the T-Bana metro station into Gamla Stan there was a nice flower seller and a fruit and vegetable stall - you may just be able to see the red lingonberries, top left in this picture, which are a native berry found in Sweden and which is used to make jams with.

The shops were selling lots of nice things, but it was very expensive!!  Here are some cute trolls and the traditional Dala Horse which I think is like a national emblem in Sweden.

More trolls and Dala horses.

Hand painted Dala Horses

Walking along the road in front of the Royal Palace were some lovely petunias in boxes hanging along the railings - they looked really pretty in the sunlight.

No trip to Stockholm would be complete for me without a visit to the small but very interesting Dance Museum - photos were not allowed but I did manage one of the bronze statue of the Russian ballerina Galina Ulánova (1910-1998) housed in the foyer of the building.  It was lovely.

The royal wedding dress exhibition was housed in The Royal Armouries - there were just 6 sets of royal wedding dress on display but they were beautiful - and wonderfully displayed - you went into the exhibition room in darkness and then sound and light came on and was used to tell you about the dresses - although we went to a swedish display, rather than wait an hour for an english one, so I could not understand much, but really I was just pleased to see these magnificent bridal gowns. 

The Royal Armouries houses a fabulous collection of clothing all beautifully preserved.  Here are a couple of photos I managed to take without flash so they do look more yellow than in reality - you can see more pictures on the Armouries website here (if you cannot read Swedish just let google translate it for you it is quite good!)

Front - Dress of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte - she married King Charles XIII 7 July 1774.

Back - current Queen Sylvia's wedding dress from 1976.

Far left - Louisa of the Netherlands' dress - she married Charles XV 19 June 1850.

Centre back - Sofia Magdalena and Gustav III  married 4 November 1766.

In front of this you can see Oscar I's outfit from 19 June 1823 (the dress of his wife Josefina is hidden in this picture).

Front right - Fredrik Dorothea Wihlemina's dress she married King Gustav IV.

On the Sunday we went out to one of the futher parts of Stockholm to Djurgarden and there we happened upon the boat museum and we were able to see the Royal Barge, recently used at the royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria in June 2010 - the boat had been restored for the royal wedding and it looked really lovely!

Here is a close up of the "cabin" where the royal couple would be able to sit - it was very basic inside unlike the ornate exterior!

I hope you enjoyed my little trip around Stockhom!

Horses for Courses

The things I bought in Paris all happen to be horse themed!  So here goes with what I found:-

I really like "Ex Libris en Camouflage" but I did not want another 90cm scarf so the gavroche version was the perfect alternative.  I was torn between the monotone black/white/grey version or the lovely pink/red/coral needlesss to say I went for the latter, although I do think I may still end up with a monotone one at some point!  I like red and pink together so this scarf was perfect for me.

Here worn cowboy style and below I folded it in the basic bias and just tied it around the neck at the back.

My next find at FSH was "Pour Sortir" a lovely design of horses in blankets.

 

This is a 70cm vintage style scarf - I tried two colourways but went for cw01 as the stronger colours suit my colouring better than the muted tones of the dusty purple one I also tried.  However this scarf is great when you fold it on the diagonal and tie it cowboy style - one way you get the black, orange and green and folded the other way you get the pinks and purples so it is almost like having 2 colourways in one!

I tied the scarf like a collar here which shows off all the colours well.

I must just tell you that when I checked my bill at Hermès FSH they had overcharged me quite considerably - I think they charged the gavroche as a 90cm as the design exists in both sizes this season!!!  I had to argue with the check out lady but it was a good job I know my prices - so please, please, always check your bill before entering your PIN number!!!

My final find was at the airport as I had been unable to get this particular colourway of Quand Soudain at FSH so I felt lucky to find this one!  This is another 70cm vintage style scarf.

I really like this design and it is very popular amongst scarf collectors - it is a cartoon strip by Dimitri Rybaltchenko and I love the orange awnings on the shops and FSH!  It is a little difficult to tie this scarf to show the horse so I just wore it cowboy (again)!

Hope you like my finds - I am now just looking for a purple La Vie du Grand Nord and that should be IT for AW10!!

Quick trip to Paris

We went to Paris a couple of weeks ago - the main reason was being able to fly the new A380 there and back!  The plane is very nice and very quiet.  Once onboard it is similar to any other of the large wide bodied jets.  I liked the fact it had nose/tail and belly cameras so you can watch take off and landing on your seat-back screen! 

The leg room was not brilliant and I wondered if maybe they packed in a few more seats on this very short flight seeing as it was sold at a bargain price?!!I only saw Economy and First Class - Business was upstairs.  A nice touch from Air France was a flight certificate handed out to all passengers.

Once in Paris I made a mad dash to Hermès FSH before it closed on Saturday and I did find a couple of things - the Hermès horseman was flying 2 yellow "H Comme Histoires" scarves. 

In the evening we went to Montmartre to our favourite little restaurant and I had my beloved onion soup!

On Sunday the shops in Paris are all shut so we finally made it to the Musee d'Orsay.  I was blown away with the beauty of the Impressionist paintings in the museum.  Sadly the museum is undergoing renovation so not all the paintings are on display, but what we did see were amazing - beautiful Renoirs, Monets, Van Gogh, Manet, Pissaro, Degas etc - I can highly recommend a visit!!  I discovered an artist I had never heard of before - Jean Béraud and I loved his "Une Soiree" painting - I managed to find  photo of it and here it is:-
Photo from www.allposters.co.uk

After the museum we had lunch and a rest and then went to a cake shop and bought some cakes which were delicicous!

Coco Dome and Framboise:-

On Monday it was a very early start for the flight back to the UK but the airport has a Hermès;-) and I got lucky again - and no that is not my purchases being loaded into the hold LOL!

Whilst waiting for our connecting flight home we stopped by Gordon Ramsay's "Plane Food" restaurant at Heathrow for lunch - we had a lovely pea, broad bean and Dolcelatto risotto - yummy!

Please look out for my next blog when I shall post pics of the Hermès goodies!!

Get Set for Winter!

The weather in my part of the world has been most inclement all summer long!  Sunshine? What's that?! Anyway I found a pink cw of La Vie Du Grand Nord which looks nice and icy ready for winter! 














There are lots of lovely Arctic animals and Eskimos in this design.

I have not played with the scarf too much yet but in the basic bias fold you can see the polar bear and husky dog quite nicely.

Bolshoi - 2

After seeing 2 performances of Le Corsaire, my favourite ballet was next - Don Quixote! 

This ballet can be relied upon to being a smile to any face with its wonderfully virbant, happy, music (Minkus) and the sunny story of Kitri and Basil who love each other but Kitri's father is determined she should marry a wealthy nobleman, the hapless Gamache.  Long story short, Don Quixote goes on his travels to find his Dulcinea and on arriving in Barcelona finds Kitri is her exact likeness, thus liking Kitri DonQ helps her to marry her true love Basil! All ends happily ever after!

Shown above are Alexei Loparevich as Don Q and Alexander Petukhov as Sancho Panza.  

This is a real "show off" ballet with fabulous jumps and high speed turns throughout. My favourite stars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev (who I have seen before but who have now matured) danced 2 performances and I have never seen anything like it in my life -nor has the Royal Opera House! The audiences went wild with excitement and I don't think the two young dancers could quite believe the storm they created. It was truly amazing stuff and the reviews in the newpapers bear this out.  It was certainly an occasion to say "I was there"...what a thrill!

Ivan performed amazing high jumps and Natalia demonstrated high jumps and super fast turns - it left one breathless just watching!  Yet in the middle of it all comes the Dream Scene and this is a beautiful piece of ballet, drawing a gasp from the audience when the curtain rises on the exquisite scene.  It requires a dramatic change in character for Kitri as she assumes the role of Dulcinea in Don Q's dream, Natalia pulled off this change with ease and it was a pure classical dream to watch her.  Add to this fabulous costumes and I was in ballet heaven!

Left to right, here are Nina Kaptsova as Cupid, Natalia Osipova as Dulcinea and Maria Allash as Queen of the Dryads.

And below Natalia and Ivan at the curtain call on Sunday, where I was closer to the stage.

The other performances I saw were also beautiful, but not as quite exciting as the 2 given by Natalia and Ivan.  At the Saturday matinee there was a lovely flower throw - something you do not see very often, and more usually when a dancer retires, however this was a mark of appreciation for a wonderful season - you can just see the flowers at the feet of Ekaterina Krysanova and Andrei Merkuriev:-

On Saturday evening I saw a lovely performance by Marianna Ryzhkina and Mikhail Lobuhkin and I loved how Marianna took her curtain call en pointe - every inch a prima ballerina!

I believe we have to wait 2 years now for a return visit, but hopefully I will be able to catch the Bolshoi somewhere else in Europe before then :-)

Bolshoi Ballet - 1

Over the last 3 weeks London was home to the world famous Russian ballet company The Bolshoi.  The 2010 London Season certainly showed a company on sparkling form.  I attened many performances and 2 in particular have left me truly stunned: Spartacus on 31 July and Don Quixote on 6 August.
The first visit I made was, however, to Serenade and Giselle a double bill.  Sadly the dancer originally cast for Giselle was Natalia Osipova, but was she switched to the opening night due to the injury of the leading ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, so instead I saw Anna Nikulina.  It was a nice performance but the reviews of Natalia Osipova's performance show that I missed the best one! Anyway I enjoyed it and that was the main thing - here a pic of Anna as Giselle with Alexander Volchkov as Albrecht.

The second ballet I saw was Spartacus, often referred to as the Bolshoi's "calling card".  It is a truly spectacular piece, especially when cast with the right dancers and I was lucky to see the young upcoming star of the Bolshoi, Ivan Vasiliev, in the title role - just 21 years of age he has taken to the role as if born for it and I am still incredulous at the height and speed of his jumps!  It was a real thrill to see Ivan in this performance and he brought the house down! 
In the photo you can see left to right: Nina Kaptsova who played Phrygia (Spartacus' wife), Ivan Vasiliev as Spartacus, Maria Allash as Aegina (Crassus' wife/partner)and Alexander Volchkov as Crassus (Spartacus' arch enemy).

I will post some more pics another time of the other shows I saw.

London

Well I have been up and down the country to and from London - 5 times in 2 weeks - so now I am totally exhausted!  The reason - the Bolshoi Ballet were visiting but more of that in another post.  For once I did a few touristy things - which is always nice to do!

On my way to Claridges to attend an Afternoon Tea Masterclass my taxi went up The Mall just in perfect time to see the Horse Guards on their way from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade to Change the Guard.  As it had rained the soldiers had their capes on - but don't they look regal and spectacular?   I saw them again on one of my later trips and I will post some pics later as I have not resized them.  It is amazing to think these guys are serving soldiers and serve out in Afghanistan as well performing ceremonial duties like this. 

Anyway I was going to Claridges, famous for their afternoon tea, but this visit was to attend a masterclass with the Head Pasrty Chef.  We got see him make macaroons, creme patissiere, cream slices and scones.  When you see an expert like Chef make the macaroons you realise just why they are so expensive to buy in the likes of Laduree - not only are the best ingredients used, but the process is very labour intensive, so next time you bite into a macaroon spare a thought for the artisan who made it!
After we saw the cakes being made we were given a nice lunch with wine:-
Clockwise from the top right - goats cheese and raspberry and beetroot, red mullet with beans and butternut squash jus, a warm terrine of chicken with spinach and wood sorrel leaves, and a tomato risotto (yum).

After the lunch came the afternoon tea goodies!!  Here is the full selection presented on a long silver pewter "tray" and you can see the scones in the background.

Here is a close up of a Cherry Streusel tartlet - it was delicious!! Note the attention to detail in the chocolate drop with a "C" for Claridges on it!

And here are the other cakes closer to:-

Cherry Streusel tartlet, cream slice, chocolate dome mousse which had an oriental fruit in it (I can't recall the name but it was similar to orange), and a rose flavoured macaroon.  Clear jam was used to immitate rain drops on the rose petal!

Claridges offer Masterclasses on lots of different subjects like game, carving, fish, flower arranging and chocolate etc.., but I have only ever done the afternoon tea....hmmm I wonder why??!!