Elizabeth Taylor's jewels, clothes, and art are crisscrossing the globe leading up to their auction at Christie's in December
One of our on the ground London contacts returned from The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor exhibition with the following report: "That woman owned some serious bling."]]>
Comic book nerds (er, enthusiasts), take notice: London's Gagosian Gallery will soon host an show by American artist Mike Kelley, whose Kandors series features "sculptural depictions of Superman's birthplace." If you count yourself a hard core Superman fan, you're well aware of the exhibition title's reference: Kandor is the former capital city of Krypton, Superman's home planet. The Man of Steel sustained and cared for the city with the help of atmospheric tanks after it was miniaturized by the villainous Brainiac. [*Conclude Dorky Rambling*]]]>
Royal Fever: an ailment categorized by a compulsion to don Union Jack garb, the purchase of Royal Wedding-themed miscellany, and emitting shrieks at the mere mention of WillznKate. Also classified by voracious consumption of tabloid material written about the Royal Family and, in extreme cases, donning fascinators gaudy enough to compete with Princess Beatrice's wedding habit of choice. ]]>
As ominous thunderclouds hovered overhead on Friday afternoon, we perched on a damp square of grass just outside of London's All-England Club, the site of the Wimbledon Championships. The queue stretched hundreds long, antsy tennis fans drinking offensive cups of instant coffee while waiting, wishing and hoping to gain admittance onto the club grounds, where champagne, strawberries and cream lay.
Oh, yeah. Tennis, too.
We had the pleasure of watching rising star Andy Murray take on Ivan Ljubicic on Centre Court, the Scotsman eventually taking home a victory for the U.K. If you are blessed with patience and manage to make it to the grounds at a reasonable hour, seeing a match, even without having purchased tickets beforehand, is completely possible. Actually, it's quite easy if you take heed of some of the knowledge we gathered last week. Read our tips, after the jump.]]>
You had us at "Coffee Festival." When we heard that a three-day event dedicated to all things espresso, latte and so on was coming to London, we booked tickets immediately, anticipating an afternoon amongst the city's best artisanal purveyors and nerve-jittering samples galore.
What we didn't expect was to be met by a sea of high street stalls and a singer musically professing a deep-seated love for her morning cuppa (that's tea, not joe). In short, the London Coffee Festival, held at the Old Truman Brewery just off of Brick Lane from April 8-10, wasn't reflective of the cafe culture we know and love in the city. The imposing, though admittedly unavoidable, presence of Costa and Starbucks overshadowed the few independent purveyors we encountered. Beer and tea abound as well, as you might expect in a country often defined by pub culture and tea time. But what of the coffee we were promised?]]>
American travelers delayed for two days in the Midwest will be feeling lucky that they're not in Europe. Half the continent—and pretty much all of Britain—is frozen over, with many travelers expected to not get home until after Christmas. Travel reports are being brought to you by the letters H and O, the number 2, and the words "chaos," "misery" and "havoc."
But beneath all the articles about the weather itself, there's this other theme developing, where travelers are endlessly griping at British airport authorities over the weather. The Associated Press ran the headline "Anger rises as travel havoc snarls Britain, Europe," and relayed quotes from snarky politicians about how airports should have shovels or something.
Emirates had an entire article published in local media expressing their shock and disappointment that, when LHR is physically covered with ice, airplanes aren't allowed to land there. Who knew?]]>
We've tipped you off to the travel awesomeness that is London in the new decade, and we've given you some advice on how to avoid common London tourist mistakes. The coming months will even see new AA/BA shuttle service between JFK and LHR, so that there are fewer and fewer excuses every day not to hop on a flight.
Sure there's the whole "their students keep rioting and trying to burn the city down" thing. But if you're going to let a trifle like that get in your way, you might as well just give up, on ever going to Europe again. Plus they're only doing that like every other week. It's easy enough to plan around.]]>