Neapolitan Music at the British Museum

Back in May the British Museum had a Roman event in the evening.  Strangely though as well as things you might expect from a Roman themed event (such as a centurion and a Roman style street) there was also this guy playing tradition Neopolitan music from the 19th Century!  So I thought I'd blog him. Why not?

Italian shops in Central London

I keep seeming to spot places that sell Italian products these days.

H T Harris in Fitzrovia has an area where you can eat-in.

This pricey delicatessan in Soho is beautifully presented.

International Cheese

International Cheese is run by an Irish/German couple and has three outlets: in Liverpool Street, Victoria and Marylebone stations.

They have a range of cheeses from around Europe including from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

I stopped for a look and ended up chatting for about 15 minutes with the owner about the differences between life in Germany and the UK.

You can also check out a selection of the cheeses that they have on their website: www.internationalcheese.co.uk/

007 Around the World

The Barbican is currently hosting a James Bond exhibition until September 2012.  These posters advertising the films around the world decorate the entrance hall.

Pop Up Design

Even though the London Evening Standard can be a pretentious piece of rubbish, I do have to thank it for telling me about some of the entries on this blog, in particular this pop up design shop on Great Titchfield Street that was open from 20th to 26th June 2012.

Alas, the Jordanian designer had to cancel at the last minute (something about the items being made of concrete and a bit expensive to get to London from Jordan) so I didn't get any new countries.  However there were some cool things there from a range of designers around the world.

By Puzz'le Design, Geneva

 By kubedesign, architetture in cartone, Milan

 By Slam London

 

The shop also featured designers from Hong Kong, USA, Poland and the Netherlands.

Viva Italia

1920s party? No problem  1920's Italy party? Step this way!

Italian liqueur inspired cocktails.  The mantenuta was loooovely!

French conversation in an Italian Restaurant

I'm getting quite into Meetup these days!

I joined the London French Rendez Vous group and signed up for one of their French conversation workshops.  They've been running for a while in London Bridge at a former French restaurant which is now an Italian one called L'Azzurro.

Pierre Jean the organiser was really friendly and lead the group well.  The evening was a really good chance for me to practise speaking French without being worried that I was going to show myself up in front of my French colleagues.

www.meetup.com/london-french

Solche Cilician

We were drawn to Solche Cilician, an Italian/Turkish restaurant next to Broadway Market by the bright lamps hanging from the ceiling.

Turkish coffee

Much better photos of this restaurant can be found on their website: http://solche-cilician.co.uk/

Mouth Watering Deli

L'Eau a La Bouche in London Fields is a cafe/deli that sells French and Italian products.

http://www.labouche.co.uk/

Spizzica with the friends of Puglia

The Friend of Puglia is an association created to promote cultural exchange between Apulians and the UK.

They organise an event event in La Pizzica deli in Fulham, where you can try some Apulian specialities and have a drink for £5.

http://www.friendsofpuglia.org/

Borough Market

Borough Market has a lot of different stalls from around the world with plenty of choice of products from Spain, Italy and France as well as a few things from Germany, South Africa and the Caribbean. I wasn't expecting to see a Grenadan stall though.  I bought some Grenadan liquer to warm up the rainy afternoon.

South African Biltong

Europe in Meltdown

The Portobello Film Festival is a fantastic idea - a free film festival just down the road from my house! Thank you London!!!

The pop up cinema is under the Westway at the end of Acklam Road.  I anticipated that the cinema might be outdoors and took an extra layer of clothing and a flask of tea along with me.  I arrived just before the start of the films so didn't have chance to get any photos.

The films I saw in the 'Europe in Meltdown' shorts series:

- Rites, a Scottish film set in London about the relationship between a father and his son.

- Battenburg, another Scottish film about a creepy squirrel who lives in a strange house.

- Out of Erasers, a Swedish film about a strange scribble man who chases a woman through the city.

- Heavy Heads, a Danish animated film about a woman,a housefly and a sad man.

- Tejo, a Portuguese film noir thriller about an inspector investigating a murder.

- Homesick Scientists, a German film about a field expedition of scientists who encounter some difficulties.

- Upstream, another German film about a man who gets some advice from the river Elba.

- The beardless Garibaldi, an Italian gangster caper.

Photos from all the films listed above in order (except Rites)

 

Italian Delicatessen

Olga's Stores up in Islington has my friend Marco's favourite biscuits so I bought him two packets to have for breakfast (not all in one sitting of course).

Fast Red Italian Cars!

Ok so the Ferrari shop on Regents Street doesn't actually sell the cars themselves, it sells merchandise, including (you can't see too well in the photo) little Ferraris with teddy bears inside.  I'm not sure why you'd want to buy a Ferrari with a teddy at the wheel, but then I'm not sure I'm really the target market of this shop in the first place.  

E Lucevan Le Stelle

My first visit to Covent Garden Opera House was a brilliant experience!

I read a synopsis of the plot of Puccini's Tosca in advance so that I'd be able to follow what was going.  I watched a couple of operas that had been filmed for cinema back in 2009 so I was expecting a rather heavy going experience but it was much more enjoyable to watch everything in real life rather than on a screen.  And I really enjoyed going out at the interval to see what everyone was wearing and to listen to their discussions about the opera (one of the guys in my row was watching Tosca for the 15th time!).

The story was easy to get into and I found myself getting annoyed with Tosca in the first act for not trusting Cavardossi and then routing for her in Act 2.  In terms of the music itself I didn't find it especially captivating apart from this aria from Act 3, which was very moving:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l571-ctxNcQ

The 'floating' bar

Nothinng to do with Tosca I just liked this costume on display.