Sensing Spaces

I am very lucky to have a three-day weekend. I do not work on Mondays, and that third day off has been very successful in curbing the back-to-work blues that I used to experience every Sunday afternoon.
When I first started working part-time, I enthusiastically vowed that Mondays would be fun-days: filled with outings, crafts and awesome dates with myself. I was going to use those 24 hours wisely. Never happened. My typical Monday sees me in sweat-wear, lounging around the house, maybe doing some laundry and having an afternoon nap. Hm.
This Monday, mind you, I did go out! My friend Christina smartly shipped her two girl-kids off to Germany for half-term and was looking to fill her free time. She asked me if I wanted to do something in town together, and I surprised myself by saying yes! So we ended up having a fantastic day filled with culture, tea and shopping.
I suggested we go see the current architecture exhibition at the Royal Academy. I had read about it a little while ago and it looked and sounded interesting. It's called Sensing Spaces, and consists of 7 large-scale installations by different architects trying to convey the essence of their design beliefs. It felt like we were visiting a big playground, as you were able to walk through, touch and interact with the structures. If you are near London and interested in architecture, I can really not recommend this exhibition enough. And I am pretty sure that even if you don't give a rat's bum about architecture, but love to be inspired and to explore, you'd like it, too.

After all the art and a stop-over in Anthropology, we went somewhere secret: a tea room hidden above a Soho pub. You tell the pub staff that you're there for tea, and they will phone up and then invite you to step behind the bar to ascend a flight of stairs into a room that looks like you've made a trip back in time to 1940s London. Vintage jazz was playing, and we were served our tea on mismatched china at small tables with fresh flowers on them. I liked!

After tea, I proceeded to drag poor Christina all over Chinatown to track down ingredients for some Vietnamese cooking I have planned. She was a good sport about it and helped me hold baskets, look through bags of dried mushrooms and even lined up in one of the long check-out queues while I was still searching for an elusive oil. Thanks, Friend! 

I enjoyed my London day. I can say I will probably not go straight away and do something again next Monday, but being out in town during the day and not having to hurry anywhere has reminded me that I once used to love this city and all it has to offer very much, and that I should try and keep that love alive.

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).