Time for a Change

It is now time to bring Inukshuk Adventure to an end.

That journey is now done. Time to move on.

Onward and upward to adventures new.

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Blogaversary the Third!

This here blog is 3 years old. Happy third birthday!

I know, it seems like just yesterday...well actually it was exactly yesterday that I marked this milestone in my blogging life. Much has happened in our lives since I typed those first tentative words and sent them off into the blogosphere. No really, A LOT!

If you're new here and want to know more, then you are in the right place to read all about it. All you need to do is page back 359 posts to the very beginning. 

Third Blogaversary Party!

For my regular readers, friends and blog pals, I say thank you for your support, comments and  friendship. It's all very well putting it out there, but if nothing comes back, it's pointless.

Since our return from Canada I have struggled to find inspiration. To know what direction to take the blog. My World Tuesday and Skywatch Friday memes have kept me blogging and given focus. My reports of National Trust properties and London sights have proved well received. I'm glad because it means I get to keep up the contact with wonderful people in interesting places. This is what has had me sitting down in front of the keyboard, selecting the right words and photos, week after week - my blogging community!

I feel that Inukshuk Adventure has perhaps reached it's use by date and it's time to bring it to a close. That particular adventure is now done. Time for something new, but what? I'm not sure, but I do know that I don't want to retire from blogging, so you ain't getting rid of me just yet!

Be happy and keep on blogging.

Rob Inukshuk.

The Mandarin and the Doorman

Today I share with you a cloudy sky over The Mandarin Oriental London Hotel, situated in Knightsbridge, right opposite Harvey Nichols.

The Mandarin Oriental London Hotel against a moody sky

Owned and managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Housed in an historic, Edwardian-style building, the hotel originally opened its doors to the public as the Hyde Park Hotel in 1902. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group purchased the hotel in 1996 and conducted a complete renovation of the 198 rooms and suites, as well as a re-design of the restaurants and bar. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London re-opened in May 2000. Today, the hotel has received numerous awards for its facilities and service, including a Michelin star for its signature restaurant Foliage. 

The grand entrance and the unmistakable Doorman

Overlooking London’s finest Royal Park on one side and cosmopolitan Knightsbridge on the other, the hotel was originally built in 1889 as an exclusive ‘Gentleman’s Club’ with lavishly furnished drawing and dining rooms, a billiard room and a smoking room.

The project, originally known as Hyde Park Court, was announced in August 1887 but was delayed by endless planning disagreements, the most notable dispute being the proposed height of the development, which was to be the tallest building in London. Outraged residents feared a shadow would be cast over the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park and they threatened to force the builders to reduce the number of floors by putting up a wooden barrier which would block the light to the lower floors. An unsuccessful Bill was brought before Parliament to reduce the restriction of buildings from 100 feet to 60 feet, and so the original design of the hotel remained.

I just love the smartly dressed Doormen - seen here right in the traffic soliciting cabs for guests

Considerable skill was deployed in the creation of the dramatic skyline using red brick and Portland stone in an eclectic Franco-Flemish style. Loggias were built to provide space for a pleasant summer’s evening lounge and promenade overlooking the park. Each of the first three floors was designed with four family suites and a bachelor’s suite. The upper floors were planned as single residences of varying sizes; however, more than half the tenants occupied at least two or more suites, with a certain dowager occupying six.

The palatial interior decoration, the lavish use of marbles and gilding were years ahead of the best London hotels of the time. The hall, entered from Knightsbridge through swinging doors of carved walnut, was lined with coloured marble and had a frescoed ceiling, as well as a marble chimney-piece complete with a marble clock. Stairs of white marble flanked with balustrades led to the upper ground floor. This style of decoration continued in the principal communal rooms, including the breakfast and dining room overlooking Hyde Park. The Wikipedia article here.

This wonderful shot courtesy of Wikipedia

For a slide show of the hotel's opulence click here.

To see more skies from around the blogosphere, visit Skywatch Friday.

l'Shana Tova - Happy New Year!

 

Wishing my Jewish friends and family all of life's rich blessings this Rosh Hashana and always.

 

 

 Have a happy and sweet New Year.

Sit, relax...

...and enjoy the shade in the Walled Garden at Osterley Park.

Who Knew - My World Tuesday

Who knew there was such a thing as The Royal College of Organists?

I didn't until I came across this interesting building while wandering around Kensington in West London.

The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral musical education and training for organists and choral directors. 

The College provides examinations in organ-playing, choral directing and organ-teaching; it runs an extensive education and outreach programme across the UK; and it maintains an internationally important library containing more than 60,000 titles concerning the organ, organ and choral music and organ playing.

The RCO was founded as the College of Organists in 1864 by Richard Limpus, the organist of St Michael, Cornhill in the City of London, and received its Royal Charter in 1893. In 1903 it was offered a 99-year lease at peppercorn rent on a remarkable building designed by the architect H. H. Cole in Kensington Gore, West London. When it became clear in the mid 1980s that an economic rent would be charged on expiry of that lease, the lease was sold and the College moved into new accommodation in 1991. More on Wikipedia here.

For more interesting posts from around the Blogosphere visit My World Tuesday. 

Remembering Albert - Skywatch Friday

Monday was a Bank holiday and more specifically it was the August Bank holiday. The last gasp. The end of summer weekend.

After a week of rain (the once again lush green lawn is happy) the sun came out for the last weekend of summer and we took a walk in Hyde Park under the clear blue skies.

Along the way we past The Albert Memorial. The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, London, England, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861. The memorial was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic revival style. Opened in 1872, with the statue of Albert ceremonially "seated" in 1875, the memorial consists of an ornate canopy or pavilion containing a statue of Prince Albert facing south. The memorial is 176 feet tall, took over ten years to complete. Wikipedia tells you more here.

For more skies be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

About That Rain Request - Skywatch Friday

In recent posts I have made mention of the lack of rain we were experiencing through the summer, at first revelling in the clear skies and heat, then bemoaning the dry lawns and wishing for some rain to save the dying grass and plants.

Of course I knew that the good dry hot summer couldn't last for too long and that eventually the rain would return, but I had hoped that we could have both hot summer days and enough rain, just enough mind, that everything could stay green, lush and sort of tropical - as much as London can ever look tropical, but you know what I mean. 

Well, it's been raining for the last week, everything is green and lush and London is once more recognisable under a grey drizzly sky. Summer's been and gone!

St. Martin in the Fields

It's too soon for me, so in the good tradition of denialism, I give you a summer view of St. Martin in the Fields under a big blue sunny sky! Obviously this Church is no longer in a field let alone fields, plural. Someone built a city around it, but trust me, it's a lovely city filled with loads of people, museums, galleries, shops and they even put in some very old buildings filled with history stuff and of course, it's where I live.

Trafalgar Square

Next door to the church-not-in-a-field you have Trafalgar Square filled with old stuff, tall stuff and wet stuff.

A busy Leicester Square

More people in Leicester Square

A bit of relaxing at lunch time

On the other side of the church, up the hill a bit, you will find Leicester Square filled with loads of people enjoying the summer and some people even drawing the smiley faces of the happy summer people for posterity, or as reminder for when the dark grey days of winter turn summer into a fast fading, just out of grasp, memory. 

Pretty as a Picture

Can you tell I'm not happy about the end of summer?

Call work and tell them you won't be back in today

For more skies visit Skywatch Friday.

Who Lived Here?

There's not much of this former palace left now - well it was built over 500 years ago! Part of what remains is the Gate House, now a private residence as is the rest of the area where the palace once stood.

On the outside of the Gate House one can see a doorway now bricked up and above that a blue plaque and it is this blue plaque that tells us where we are.

Indeed, this is what remains of Richmond Palace, home to Edward I (who built  a manor house in 1299), Richard II, Henry V, Henry VII (replaced the Manor with a new Palace in 1501), Elisabeth I and Henry VIII, who exchanged it with Cardinal Wolsey for Hampton Court Palace. Not a fair swap you understand. Henry VIII was boiling with jealousy when Cardinal Wolsey built a bigger and better Palace a few miles up river from Richmond Palace, so on Wolsey's fall, he confiscated it and forced him to accept Richmond Palace in exchange.  Wikipedia article here.

For more from around the blogosphere visit My World Tuesday.

Tea at Osterley - Skywatch Friday

Moody skies over Osterley Park Stable Block

In my last post I introduced you to Osterley Park, a local National trust property. After our explore of the magnificent home it was time for a spot of tea and helpfully such a thing was readily available in the tea room housed in the old stable block, the only original buildings on the estate surviving from 1576. 

A closer view of the Stable Block

The stable block would have housed the horses obviously, along with the carriages and the upper floors would have been home to the many servants who would have worked on the estate. 

The Stable block as seen from the walled garden on the other side

I'm sure I'll feature further pics from our visit in the future as I took so many. 

A sunny view of the Stable Block

For more wonders from around the blogosphere, visit Skywatch Friday.