Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for england
The Real Deal in Chelsea
By Linda Tancs
Now the oldest antiques fair in Britain, London’s Chelsea Antiques Fair wants visitors to be assured of high standards. They secure outside experts to check the veracity of labels as well as the quality and authenticity of the pieces on show. So you rest assured that those new 17th century entrants this year are the real deal. Other selections include fine Victorian and 19th Century European oil paintings, British and Continental porcelain, Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass, antique books, prints and maps, and a smattering of the interesting and unusual. If you can’t manage it all from 21 -25 March, then come back in September. The event is at Old Town Hall on Kings Road. Admission is only £5; that leaves room for spending.
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Cornwall Marks Annual Holiday
By Linda Tancs
March 5 of every year is St. Piran’s Day, the patron saint of tin miners. Piran is also the patron saint of Cornwall in southwest England. So what does a typical Cornish celebration look like? That would be an annual processional play acting out Piran’s life from his birth in Ireland to his arrival in Cornwall and discovery of tin. Hundreds of flag-carrying people gather, generally dressed in black, white and gold (the colors of the Cornish flag). The action begins at 2 p.m. at Perran Sands Holiday Park. Don’t be late; have a pasty while you wait.
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Phoenix Rising in London
By Linda Tancs
The Phoenix Artist Club is a members’ club located in the heart of London’s Theatreland at 1 Phoenix Street, a haven for professionals from the performing arts and media industries. Transformed into a theatre bar in the 70s, the site is located in the original dressing and rehearsal rooms of the Phoenix Theatre where Laurence Olivier made his debut on stage in the 30s in “Private Lives” with Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. Although a private club, visitors who retain any theatre stub or museum ticket can obtain a day pass to take in the nostalgia. Membership is required after 8 p.m.
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A Dickens of a Celebration
By Linda Tancs
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Britain’s beloved author Charles Dickens. To mark the event, a wreath laying ceremony will take place in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, at 11 a.m. Dickens is buried in the South Transept of the Abbey. The ceremony will include readings from his novels and his other writings by actor and director Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin and two of Dickens’ descendants. Events will take place throughout the year. Don’t miss the re-opening of the Charles Dickens Museum, based at his only surviving London home. The Museum of London is also hosting an exhibition, complete with the desk and chair where Dickens wrote some of his greatest works. The best of times await you.
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Mum’s the Word
By Linda Tancs
You’ve heard it before: talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. In London they celebrate action–visual theatre–at the International Mime Festival. Until 29 January you can experience the circus athletes of Sugar Beast Circus, mask theatre of Kulunka Teatro, the light and shadow of Fleur Elise Noble, acrobat-dancer and magician Claudio Stellato and object theatre of Théâtre Tête de Pioche. In short, a feast for the senses.
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First Time Opening of London Mansion
By Linda Tancs
Two Temple Place, the neo-gothic mansion on London’s Embankment once owned by financier William Waldorf Astor, has opened to the public for the first time. Now an exhibition space, the magnificent dwelling will also be the first venue in London to showcase regional collections. Admission to the gallery is free.
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A Christmas Celebration at Winchester Cathedral
By Linda Tancs
The choristers of Winchester Cathedral have toured to international acclaim. Today and 22 December are your chances to make beautiful music with them at the free carol service. In this historic setting representing the seat of Anglo-Saxon and Norman power, you’ll bear witness to 15 centuries of English history. The cathedral is also the final resting place for literary great Jane Austen. And as she so aptly put it, may your Christmas abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings.
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Eye on Blackpool
By Linda Tancs
Blackpool is a seaside borough in northwest England. Heavily dependent on tourism, its newly regenerated Promenade features, among other things, a reopening of its iconic, Eiffel-esque tower. After a 10-month restoration project, the structure boasts an entertainment complex befitting any tourist destination, including a dungeon and 4D cinema. But nothing beats the panoramic view of the Eye, the refurbished observation deck with views rivaling London’s famous wheel. On a clear day you can see forever, as the song goes.
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Extreme Driving in London
By Linda Tancs
London’s International Horse Show at Olympia hardly sounds like the venue to be associated with extreme driving. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening for the first time at this year’s event. Extreme driving is a high speed indoor driving competition featuring the world’s top three drivers. A new equestrian disicpline, the action will take place on the evening of 15 December and the afternoon of 16 December. Sure gives new meaning to the expression, hold your horses.
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Fashion, Food and Frolic in Stratford
By Linda Tancs
UK shoppers are no strangers to the Westfield Group, one of the world’s largest shopping centre portfolios boasting approximately 25,000 retailers in more than 10.5 million square metres of retail space. The new Westfield in East London’s Stratford is Europe’s largest urban shopping mall with 222 stores, a fresh food court and leisure and entertainment activities like a bowling alley, casino and cinema. Sign up for sneak peeks and you could win 1000 GBP.
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