Sunny day walking along the Richmond Riverside

Londoners it seems like the hard, cold winter is coming to an end! This sunny and warm Tuesday (nearly 15 degrees) I decided to go for a walk along the Richmond Riverside, one of the hidden gems of London. Located 9 miles south west from the city centre, you can easily get there by tube with the District Line or using the London Overground.

This charming place owns its name to the Richmond Palace, a royal residency built by Henry VII in the 15^th century. Nowadays, it’s a wealthy residential area known for its Royal Park: a National Nature Reserve where you can easily spot deers; and the Thames Riverside containing many bars and restaurants.

 

 

 

 

I highly recommend Gaucho's Restaurant to enjoy a delicious beef steak, or Vodka Revolution for a cocktail or a bit to eat. Both places sits on the Thames towpath just to the west of Richmond Bridge, with indoor and outdoor seating directly overlooking the river.

Movies at The Electric

Electric is known as one of the oldest cinema theatres in the country with more than a century of history in the famous neighbourhood of Notting Hill. This cinema was created out of a part of a fabric of Portobello Road in February 1911 and it has survived a bombing during the World War I.

This historical place has been changed names and owners down the years and it closed between 1993 and 2001, when the architect Gebler Tooth developed a plan to re-establish the commercial viability of the theatre. Nowadays the cinema, the next door restaurant and its upstairs private members club “Electric House” are run by Soho House.

You can enjoy watching a film comfortably seated in the leather sofas of the Electic from 12.50£ per person. For more information http://www.electriccinema.co.uk/whatson.php.

 

Pubs of London: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

If you ever fancy a pint of beer and fish and chips while you are in the city, don’t miss the chance to visit Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Located in a narrow alleyway off Fleet Street, this pub it’s considered as the oldest in London due to have a cellar thought to belong to a 13^th century monastery which once occupied the site. It has been a pub since 1538 but, as most of the buildings of the city, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was affected by the Great Fire of 1666.

This pub hosts numerous stories associated to famous literary figures that have been regulars: Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Samuel Johnson are all said to have spent many nights drinking beer in the several rooms that conform Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Probably the most famous is that Charles Dickens created there some of his darker characters of his novel “A Tale of Two Cities”.

I highly recommend a visit to this historic pub; get lost in its numerous rooms and don’t miss the chance to enjoy an organic cherry beer or the traditional pies.

Keep Calm and Happy New Year

No matter what... Keep Calm, that is what everyone says when you are about to lose your nerves. Personally, I find really difficult to keep my Spanish blood temper down when something stress me out or piss me off, which is why one of my New Year resolutions is to keep calm and enjoy my time left in London. The countdown officially starts now, 185 days to go!! Happy 2013 to everyone, wish you all joy and happiness in this New Year ahead of us!!!