LONDON DAY 2, MORNING - VISITING THE WALLACE COLLECTION

Hello again, my dear readers

In my previous post I started sharing with you the details of our overseas trip to Scandinavia with a short stopover in London.  Our first day was rather uneventful as we spent most of it on the plane.  You can catch up here.

On the day 2 we woke up feeling much better, the jetlag was almost gone and we were ready for some action.

The first item on our agenda was a visit to The Wallace Collection.  I came across this art museum in my research about London and was very keen to see the masterpieces of paintings, furniture, sculpture, armory and other forms of art housed in this historical museum.

It was built over the 18th and 19th centuries by the Marquess of Herford and Sir Richard Wallace and is one of the finest and most celebrated collections in the world and is displayed at Hertford House in Manchester Square, their former principal London residence.  

The Collection was given to the British nation in 1897 by Lady Wallace, so it could be kept together and enjoyed by generations of visitors.  It was one of the greatest gifts of artwork ever to be transferred to public ownership.  The Collection was opened to the public in 1900.  I am not sure how it was organised back then but these days it is a free admission affair.

You would never guess that this elegant building is housing one of the most exquisite collections I have ever seen.  The last time I saw so much opulence gathered under the same roof was during our trip to St Petersburg visiting the Hermitage Museum.  

Every room was bursting with absolute treasures.  The rays of light were sparkling in crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceilings. The gilded display cabinets were heaving under the treasures artfully displayed on their shelves while their tops were decorated with the bronze clocks depicting some historical moment, a famous person or biblical scene.  The cabinets were richly covered with gilt-bronze mounts used as decorative and protective overlay.  

Most of the furniture and decorative arts were made in the 17-19 c France in Baroque or Rococo styles.  And yet every room looks different from the next.  That was achieved by choosing different colour schemes.

The the silk curtains framed tall windows, their rich intence colours of green, black, turquoise or red matching the wall-paper or silk wall and furniture coverings.

Out of all colours that dominated the rooms, this lushness green was my favourite.

We spent a fair amount of time walking up and down the stairs, wandering from room to room until we couldn't take in any more and decided to leave.

We walked back to Oxford Street to catch a bus home but not before popping into Selfridges.  Unfortunately, our Australian dollar was so much cheaper then British £ that whatever I was thinking of buying, would cost us three times more here than at home.  So we decided not to waste any more time and went back to our hotel to have some rest and change our clothes before going out again in the evening for our dinner at Sketch.

But this is for another post 😀

Until then

Anna

xoxoxo

LONDON SOJOURN - DAY 1 ARRIVAL

 Hello again, my dear readers.

If you read my previous post, you might remember that in August last year we embarked on our very first overseas trip past-COVID.  Our main destination was a tour around Scandinavia but first we decided to spend a week in London.

We were flying with Thai Airways which meant that we had a 4 hour stop-over in Bangkok,  Thailand's capital).  It took us ten long hours to get there and when we finally landed in Bangkok, it was midnight local time.  Luckily, we were flying Business Class and when sleepy and tired we made our way to the Business Lounge, we felt quite fortunate.  After refreshing showers and tasty meal of local delicacies we were ready to continue our journey.

The last leg of the flight, Bangkok to London, was fourteen hours, the bulk of which we spent mostly sleeping thus arrived in London feeling reasonably awake and alert. We checked in hour hotel Hotel Saint, around 9 am local time and took an elevator to our room.  We both knew that if stayed inside, we just crashed the bed and woke up in the middle of the night from the jetlag.  

 If you ever been on a long-haul flight, you probably know how jetlagged you feel for the first couple of days and we were no exception.

So we decided to leave the hotel and go for a walk around the neighborhood, afterwards walking to the nearest tube station and for no apparent reason, taking a train to Hide Park.  We chose to stay at Hotel Saint which is within two minutes walk from Aldgate Tube Station. Once out of the station, we just took an aimless walk around the neighborhood. 

However, after a while we felt so tired that we gave up, took the train back and went straight to bed.

Stay tuned for day 2

Until then,

Anna

xoxox

OUR SCANDINAVIAN ADVENTURE - PROLOGUE

 Hello my dear readers,

It has been a long time since I touch my blog or read anything posted by my fellow bloggers.  I have no excuses or explanation to offer, I just felt that I needed to withdraw.

After a while, it all started comings slowly back to me, I realised how much I missed blogging so I decided to give myself another chance so please bear with me.

As it stands at this very moment, I haven't been taken any fashion shoots to share with you, my dear readers but I do, however have some lovely memories about our trip to Scandinavia and would love to share them with you.

So, without further ado, let me begin.

Last time my husband I have travelled overseas was in 2019.  First, it was COVID and the whole world was in lockdown but even after the borders were opened, we didn't feel safe enough to travel long distance.  However, by the start of  2025, we ran out of excuses and decided that we are ready to face the world.  The question was, where would we go? 

 As you might know or not that in Australia if you work a full calendar year, you are entitled to 4 weeks of annual leave.  It sounds like a lot, but if you live as far we do and pay as much in airfares as we do, you try to cram as much in your itinerary as humanly possible to make your money and time worthwhile.

While we contemplated our next move, one day while doom scrolling through my FB feed, I saw pictures of my niece and her family travelling through Scandinavia.  And that gave us an idea of where we should go.  The question was how were we going to do it.

We didn't feel like doing places-hopping as we used to.  We were considering joining a tour but didn't want to be among a big bunch of strangers nor being on the bus for hours on end.  So I started to search the net and shortly came across a company called Nordic Visitor that offers all sorts of tours around Europe and Scandinavia.  After a comprehensive search of their website, we settled on a fourteen day tour called Highlights of Scandinavia and Baltic Cruise.  What attracted our attention was that this tour was catered for a small group of people (up to 20).  That and the variety of the modes of transportation which mostly involves ferries and trains, while the buses were only used for city tours and dropping or picking us up from the point of arrival or departure.  

Here is the map of the tour but if you like to know more about this tour in detail such as full detailed itinerary, tour highlights, main attractions, accommodation, transportation etc, just click on this link or ask me a question in the comments section.

It was only one thing left to do:  select a date, book and pay which we happily did.

We were extremely careful choosing the dates for our trip as we learned from our first trip to Europe

Many years ago we happened to be in Europe in late July - early August and were shocked by the multitude of people everywhere.  Since I had never been in Europe before, let alone in summer, I had no idea of how busy it could be.  On the other hand, it was our honeymoon so we didn't have much choice of when to go, didn't we?  Armed with this knowledge and personal experience, after careful consideration we came to a conclusion that we should book our journey towards the end of summer. The Nordic weather would still be reasonably warm and the crowds in Europe would be mostly dispersed by then.  And let me tell you, it was the best decision ever.

However, since I had 4 weeks of my annual holidays at my disposal, we decided to have a sojourn in London before embarking on our Scandinavian adventure but that is for the next post.

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo

HOW I STYLED A MIDI DENIM SKIRT FOR THE OFFICE

Hello again dear readers, hope you are all well.

I put this outfit together with the help of brand new and not so new pieces.  Let me tell you about my new purchases.

First is a black midi denim skirt from Marcs.

The maxi denim skirts have been have been spotted down 2024 NYFW spring/summer ready-to-wear runways and were go-to-items among Sydney fashionistas over the cool months of autumn and winter and even in the earlier months of spring.  

The majority of shops stock skirts made out of blue denim in various shades from the darkest to the lightest cut straight with the front split.  I have tried so many of them to find the one that I look good in but failed.  For starters, this cut does not suit my body shape at all, also the true blue denim does not appeal to me.  

I was looking for a skirt that would look equally good in the office and on the streets.  Then one day browsing through the rack of a Marcs stand at David Jones department store, I found a skirt that matched all my parameters: it was made of black denim and has a flattering design lightly curving around the hips before flaring out though a fluted hem.  It suited my body shape perfectly and due to its black colour and silhouette I figured that I can wear it to the office too.

The second new addition to my closed is a white V-neck singlet from American Vintage.  I have quite a few white t-shirts but they all have a round neckline.  It goes very nicely when you wear it with a scarf.  I bought it in black too 👍😃.

And last but not least, is my new leather belt from a brand called Very Troubled Child.  My daughter bought it for me when she was on holiday in New York during her stuvac, Millennials slang for student vacation.  

You might also notice a big silver ring on my second finger, it is called The Bone Ring by Elsa Peretti for Tiffany and was a wedding anniversary gift from my husband.  

My Sandro jacket, Ferragamo shoes and LV red patent handbag have been living in my closet for much longer than I care to remember, proving once again that quality goods last a lifetime.

As for my Guy Laroche silk scarf, it belonged to my late mother-in-law who absolutely adored scarves and were given to me after her passing and now I feel privileged to share this passion with her.

Thank you for reading my blog, please leave your comments in the section below, your opinion is important to me 😍

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo