as above, so below

Happy International Moon Day, folks! Look up to the skies and catch these nightly spectacular stellar extravaganzas. Brought to us by the Earth's guardian celestial orb - the moon, our lunar sentinel. 

wonder | wander | women are eternal moon maids and Luna devotees. 

International Moon Day marks the anniversary of the first landing by humans on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969. 

fact & fantasy for the survival of the human race

The UN General Assembly declared International Moon Day, a United Nations-designated international day to be observed annually on 20 July, in its resolution 76/76 on “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space” in 2021.

Battersea Power Station 2013 - the last exhibition

In 2013 the iconic London landmark, the Battersea Power Station, was finally about to begin redevelopment after decades of abandonment. The city held an open house event on the weekend of 21-22 September - for free - and forty thousand people passed through the massive mid-century icon over two days. wonder | wander | women were fortunate to be among those people!

NYC holiday season

New York! New York! Holiday season is here again. The Big Apple is dressed to her nines. All showy and sparkly in everything she's got to offer us all.

There’s so much to see and so much to do, it seems there is never a definite answer as to where exactly your time should be spent in this massive urban jungle of eye candy overload.

recipes for wonder at the Royal Institution!

The Royal Institution (or the Ri) was founded at the end of the 18th century by the leading scientific minds of the time. It still hosts the original laboratory of Michael Faraday, the father of electromagnetic principles, and the annual BBC Christmas Lectures by the leading minds of today, including Professor Stephen Hawking.

Sir James Dewar lectures on liquid hydrogen

wild ones at the wellcome collection

There are periodic rituals in Europe where men (and very lately, women) put on costumes of animal skin and straps covered in ringing, clanking bells, and cross into a space between rational and primal, civilisation and instinct.

Wellcome Collection Friday Late Spectacular: Wild Ones

behind the scenes and after hours

...at the museum?

The London HQ of wonder | wander | women works at a quirky little wonderland of a museum called the Wellcome Collection. This museum of science and medicine is funded by the Wellcome Trust, founded by pharmaceutical entrepreneur Sir Henry Wellcome in 1938. There are several floors of exhibitions, plus a museum shop and an organic cafe.

The Wellcome Collection is famous for its odd and wide-ranging displays of (mostly medicine-related) artefacts from all over the world, most of them personally chosen by Sir Henry. Over time the museum grew enough to exhibit limited shows that tickle scientific curiosity, such as the body's relationship to death and the science of sleeping and dreaming. All of these shows are completely free to the public, as is the library and its gorgeous reading room on the first floor.

Japan Matsuri 2014

At the end of September London was lucky enough to still have a nice warm day for one of the big cultural events of the year. My Japanese-American friend and I attended the Japan Matsuri in Trafalgar Square.

There were stalls lining the grounds selling irresistible-smelling trays of ramen, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and nabe (all of which we tried), aside from other staples like sushi, onigiri, donburi and tempura, and desserts like kakigoori. Other stalls sold Japanese prints, kitchen crockery, souvenirs, and even kimono.

The festival officially started with a thunderous performance of Taiko drumming.

birthday at the Barbican

It was a warm, sunny Sunday, the day before my birthday, and my friend J had the perfect present: tickets to the Digital Revolution exhibit at the Barbican Centre.  

The Barbican Centre is a stunning modernist complex split into several levels, with a cafe, a library, an exhibition space and several theatres. A lot of the free space was given to the Digital Revolution exhibit, with video game spaces, shops, and kinetic installations that responded to touch like these motion-sensitive robots.

Minimaforms' installation Petting Zoo

NYC: my corner of the sky

We took three days in New York City as, no matter how easy it is living close by, there's nothing that beats falling asleep and waking up in the city that goes on and on and on. . . .We loved most taking full advantage of some of the best theatres and museums in the world.