train à grande vitesse

A prototype French TGV train, the T150, broke the world rail speed record today, reaching 357 miles (574.8 kilometers) an hour. Thats faster than a light aircraft or about half the speed of a passenger jet in normal flight.

Meanwhile, the engineering works on the services from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour have been extended from their target date of the 18th March and Network Rail are unable to confirm when they will be completed.

wall

One of the extra snaps taken during the Sunday afternoon treasure hunt.

smile, you're being blogged

Portobello Hotel
There were large quantities of people with cameras roaming the Portobello Road and generally around Notting Hill this sunny afternoon as part of the Shoot Portobello game. Our little gang didn't really start until early afternoon and headed to one of the clue locations as a starting point. It was the hotel where Alice Cooper had stayed with his pet boa constrictor, which was kept in the bath. To be honest, we thought our problem solving may have been rather wobbly, but as we approached the hotel, we could see other people with cameras standing around and eyeing up shots. We decided to go inside and the delightful person helping in reception agreed to pose for a snap.

Performance
In addition to the clues requiring specific problem solving, there was one which asked for a free-choice around the theme of performance. There were a couple of buskers working the traffic intersections, but this shop owner demonstating the ukelele is much more evocative of the market trading of Portobello.

Of course, along the way, we had stop at the counter cultural establishment known as Rough Trade.

rough trade shoot in portobello road

Just charging the batteries this evening before heading to Portobello Road tomorrow for the Shoot Portobello event, which is some kind of treasure hunt in Notting Hill to look out for famous musical spots and celeb locations. So popular they've extended it over two days from the original one. I'm expecting an email with clues about midnight. Team rashbre will be there in force tomorrow!

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All right, I know I don't usually advertise on this blog, but I thought I'd make an exception when I saw this incoming email today.

I stayed in a rather smart hotel suite about a year ago, as a consequence of a freak room upgrade. I went from a normal room to a penthouse suite of the type that pop-stars argue about (quite literally, in this case). There was something unusual about the level of opulence in the room though, which said more to me about underworld barons than normal people.


The suite had a large meeting area, for about eight people, a lounge area (above) with comfy chairs and sofas and one of those huge flat screen televisions that slides up out of the furniture, a big bedroom with another one of those televisions, and a balcony leading to a hot-tub on the decking outside.

Oh, and there was a gate and if you walked through it there was another balcony with a couple of big tables and enough space to hold a party for fifty people.

Then don't get me started on the bathroom, with its separate steam room with a special system to automatically switch on various scented oils.

Anyway, I havn't mentioned the office area, which had a stylish desk and a complementary computer. The computer was running a multiligual version of Windows and seemed to have been configured for the seamy underside of the internet. I decided it was best to leave it alone.

And now to my point; I've thought of that room afterwards, with its amazing views as my 'Russian Mafia' room, and now I've been sent this email, I'm beginning to think I was right. The furniture in the email looks suspiciously like the desk furniture from the hotel.

mafia hitmen two timing ransom explosion

I glanced through my tracker log today and couldn't help noticing a stream of searches for mafia hitman, a petrol station explosion, a ransom and a lascivious proposition. My advice is stay away from Canal Street and gas stations this weekend.

vid

Not much time to post today, so, keeping the week's London theme, here's one (above) I prepared earlier and also a larger, high definition here (though you'd need to wait for it to load)!

Thursday Thirteen (V42) : trackback?

Gherkin, Tower 42 and a mad digger. They say the Cucumber and Pickled Onion will be the next two new London buildings.

About time for another Thursday Thirteen and this week I thought I'd try a recap of a few places I've visited in the last few months.

1) We can start with New York, which I always enjoy. This time I stayed right on Broadway, in the rather splendid W.
2) A visit on the Eurostar, to Brugges, in Belgium. A city of canals and pretty streets.
3) A somewhat longer journey to Las Vegas. I'm told what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. So maybe I should delete my blog entry.
4) A brief visit to the lovely canals of Amsterdam.
5) A friendly re-fuel in the Italian in Battersea Park Road.

6) A long weekend in and around China Town in Manchester.
7) I was also found aboard a ship of fools
8) I started a walk around the tourist parts of London including by the Houses of Parliament
9) Then back to Amsterdam to admire the bicycles.
10) A decompression morning around Sloane Square

11) Before a more in Seine moment on the river in Paris.
12) Then a re-grounding in the City of London.
13) I seem to have missed out a couple of trips to Frankfurt where I didn't really take any pictures at all.

I must have been in a hurry.

Add a comment, trackback or a link if you are a Thursday Thirteener!


Tag: Thursday Thirteen, free link friday

Tourist London Part 5

Back to the City of London walk, leaving Leadenhall Market and turning towards Lloyds of London, which gives a good view of 'the gherkin' as well. We are now in the area where buildings show the latest architectural thinking.

The Lloyds Building was designed by Richard Rogers and built bewteen 1978 to 1986 on the site of Edward Lloyd's coffee house (founded in 1688). All its services are on the outside, leaving a clean uncluttered space inside. The 12 glass lifts were the first of their kind in the UK. There is a huge Insurance Underwriting Room on the ground floor, which houses the famous Lutine Bell. The 11th floor houses the Committee Room, an 18th century dining-room originally designed by Robert Adam in 1763 and transferred from its prior location across the road.

And I suppose to keep that the architectural theme running, the Gherkin across the road was designed by Sir Norman Foster and is already something of an instant icon for modern London. More correctly called 30 St Mary Axe, or Swiss Re, it could be something from another world, looking here as if it has set itself down next to the adjacent church.

neverland

I'd planned to describe the next part of my City of London wanderings this evening, moving to a few shiny happy buildings after the majestic old ones in the last couple of posts.

Instead, I was diverted to the television, where 2004's "Finding Neverland" was playing. A most enjoyable story of Sir James Matthew (J.M.) Barrie, the author of "Peter Pan", with Barrie played by Johnny Depp.

Although adapted from Barrie's real-life story, this tightly edited yet magical film brings imagination and emotion to the story including Peter being played as a very serious mini-adult.

The storyline revolves around Barrie's meeting with Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies (Kate Blanchett) and her four boys then becoming the inspiration for Barrie's most famous story. There's plenty of good sub-plot and because we all know the real Peter Pan story, we can feel real involvement as the story unfolds. And of course, we see Depp as a fledgling pirate of the Carribbean.

In the meantime, like a good city should, London has a fine statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Clap if you believe.

Tourist London Part 4

Continuing the walk from the Royal Exchange, past the Cuban cigar shop with its "Havana Cigars at Pleasing Prices", towards the area used in the Bridget Jones movie. I was quite impressed how quickly Bridget walked, in snow, from the area behind Borough Market to the middle of the City, in the closing moments of the first movie.

We'll continue along the road past a few of the alleys and courtyards where all is not always what it seems. Many of the facades have been preseved and the interiors modernised. Here's a modern snack bar chain lurking in an old building.

And to the side of the restaurant, theres one of the typical alleys of this area. It is possible to take all manner of shortcuts around the City, through alleys and courtyards to get from A to B quickly. Unlike the grids and zones of many cities, London and the City has an organic charm about the way the often narrow roads have grown and developed.

Here's Sun Court, which in this case also offers an FCUK right there in the courtyard.

Not all of the shops are completely modernised, however; as an example, here's a tailor's which was first established in 1689 and is still going strong.

Of course. being situated across the road from a covered market will have guarenteed a certain amout of trade and in this case Leadenhall Market is still very much a going concern, situated in the midst of the City and close to the Fenchurch Street railway terminus.

And of course, where there's a market, theres a pub or two. This time a Young's tavern from 1780. Young's is one of the two main traditional London breweries (the other one is Fullers). Time to pause awhile, methinks.


tags technorati : rashbre london city urban

Tourist London Part 3

So this time we'll hop on a bus to the Guildhall. That puts us into the heart of the City of London, by the Bank, which is the area where the Bank of England resides.

Adjacent to the Guildhall is the Mansion House, which is a Palladian stucture where the Lord Mayor of London will hold receptions.

There's great names for the roads and alleys around here. For example, the roadside by the bus stop and the building opposite is part of Poultry and leads into Cheapside.

Here's my snap of the Mansion House itself. The road system outside it would normally be filled with buses and taxis and there would usually be huge quantities of streetwise business folk here between Monday morning and Friday evening, but at the weekend, the City shuts down.

Not all of the buildings around here are old; here's the adjacent magistrates court and next to it a more modern confection. Again, the lack of traffic in this normally manic area is noteworthy. The yellow box junctions here are some of the first ever and designed to keep traffic at busy intersections moving.

A crumbs throw away is the Royal Exchange, adjacent to Threadneedle Street, which is where the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street lives. Thats slang for the Bank of England. Most people will recognise the Exchange more from Mary Poppin; although most of Mary Poppins was shot on Soundstage Two in Burbank, this is the area it evokes and would have been one of the places to buy breadcrumbs to feed the birds.

Here is the reason the area is named "Bank"; the Bank of England takes an entire block, but surprisingly is less noticeable than either the Royal Exchange or the Mansion House.

Other buildings in the area (like the ones in my snapshot) are somewhat prominent, but before I investigate, I suggest a look along a few alleys and into a few shops. But that can wait until tomorrow.

tags technorati : rashbre london city urban