St. Dunstan-in-the-East

London is all about exploring. Every street, every maze, every garden, every lane, every square of it is worthy. You never know what may expect you when you turn around the corner. And sometimes google helps you to turn the right corner to find something amazing. 

A couple of years ago my cousin Nigar showed me a hidden place in The City of London that she found on the internet. For years we have shared with her our two big loves: London and New York. So exploring them over the wild web of worldwide is our hobby. So I was postponing visiting the oasis in the centre of a city where concrete jungle intertwine with historical Tower Hill, but my last visit to London made me to go there. 

Generally Tower Hill area of London is very interesting. On the one hand you see a historical castle with mesmerising view of Tower Bridge and on the other hand there is financial centre of the city with its modern architecture. And between these buildings surrounding Tower Hill, right on the north bank of Thames River you can find St. Dunstan Church in the East (don't mix it up with the one on the West, they are two different churches). Here is its brief history:

And now the Church itself... I was amazed to see this place exist in real life. It feels like you are on a set of a movie or in Wonderland itself. It's unbelievable how such a garden can be located in the middle of a megapolis. The place magically brings piece to you. These are winter views of the church that I took on December the 5th, now imagine its beauty in summer when everything is green. 

Bath, UK. part 2

part 1

After sightseeing in Bath I headed to the Jane Austen Centre, which situated on 40 Gay Street, Queen Square. You enter the Centre and purchase a ticket for a tour.

You wait on the 1st floor in a nice waiting room, while you can watch video about Jane Austen Festival and other events held by the Centre.

First part of the tour is basically a little lecture about the writer, her family, connection to Bath and its effect on her novels. It is presented by a lovely lady in Regency era costume. Then you go downstairs and look through details about Jane Austen's life and the period she lived in Bath.

There are also some costumes to try on.

Leave a note for the Centre in the visitor’s book.

And try to write with a dip pen as Jane Austen wrote her all novels...

After the tour ends in the souvenir shop you find a lot of interesting books, rare old editions of Jane Austen novels, tea sets, letter writing sets, pens  etc.

 

There is a Regency Tea Room on the second floor of the building with cozy interior.  Waitresses are friendly and smiling, wearing regency era costumes. The menu of the Tea Room consists of different teas named after Jane Austen and her characters, champagne, desserts and sandwiches. All these make you feel like a lady drinking an afternoon tea back in time.

 My purchases from the souvenir shop: The Jane Austen Pocket Bible (a book with facts abour her life and novels), Pride and Prejudice comic book (I find it really funny) and pin badges with favourite male characters :)

            That is how your journey with Jane Austen Centre ends. But wandering in the city riminds you of the novels and the period all the time. The next tourist attraction I visited was Roman Baths. Wikipedia will tell you facts more than I can ;) I'll just show you...

This is where the water comes from

And of course a basin full of coins. Couldn't pass by this without throwing a coin :)

                 At 5 o'clock I said goodby to Bath and took a train back to London. Only positive and beautiful feelings are left after the trip. Just wanted to share them. Hope you enjoyed it as I did :)

             P.S. As every good moment in a movie comes with a good soundtrack, every trip has its background music, that sets the mood. For this one I chose Duffy and an amazing duet by 2 male vocals that make your girly heart melt: Michael Buble and Blake Shelton.
             Duffy is a British singer with unique voice that captivated my mind from the first time I heard her songs. Her album Endlessly is one of my favourites. 2 songs that I love most: My Boy and Too Hurt to Dance.

              And the duo... My obsession with Buble songs is a whole another blog post)) but this duet with Blake Shelton(a country singer) hasn't even recorded in a studio. They sang this song separately on their own, but for a concert in honour of the author of the hit they performed it together and I fell in love with this version immideatly, because you can enjoy their different voices and versions of the song at the same time. I listened to it several times on my way to Bath and back. For you to judge...