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!

silence

Our lives are full of 'one more thing'. We're always chasing something, catching up, keeping busy, keeping up. Where is the pause?

St. Pancras Old Church and Gardens

they paved paradise, and put up...

...a paradise.

Brutalist architecture is called so for a reason. Distressed textures, the muddy colour of raw concrete and the stark lines of mid-20th-century* design exemplified this style. Many condemned it (and still do!) as ugly and intrusive.

birthday reflections

It was my birthday yesterday and I celebrated by taking myself on a date: walking, shopping, eating. Spending time alone after a hectic few months.

Limehouse Cut Canal

Reflecting back on the past year made me think of New Year traditions in different cultures: looking at our previous actions with wiser and kinder thoughts, learning our lessons and moving past our obstacles. Especially when we stand in our own way.

open city | open heart

Living on the fringes of big cities as the wonder | wander | women do, we often get friends passing through. But after hitting the big tourist attractions, taking in a couple of shows, and having tea at the Savoy or drinks under the King Cole mural at the St Regis, our friends can tire of the crowds and famous sights. So we take them to places beloved by locals.

Image courtesy of Lola Abrera

slow down

Recently it seems as if most of the world is going through massive upheaval. As soon as we catch up in our lives, the world moves forward again and we have another paradigm shift to deal with. Tranquility seems rare and far away.

Sometimes this gives us tunnel vision, focused only on how to deal with the next big change that rocks our world. Sometimes, though, it gives us startling insight on things in our lives that we previously took for granted.

sharing London, part 2

This week the wonder | wander | women read an interview with travel writer Pico Iyer on Pure Life Experiences, a travel magazine. Pico Iyer lives in Nara, one of the most beautiful cities in Japan, and grew up in Santa Barbara, California, where his mother still lives.

He says:

"When I’m at my desk or traipsing off to the health-club or paying my bills, I often sleepwalk through my life, barely aware of the beauties around me.  

"As soon as a friend visits me in either place, I’m newly attentive to what’s wondrous about my hometowns, and newly excited about them. And the minute I’m in a place I think of as foreign, I start watching everything around me, so that even the smallest details become something curious and fascinating."

quiet time, green spaces too

One half of us is back in London and the Wonder Wander Women are missing each other! 

When we are in one place we always manage to find some quiet time to spend together, but once us time is over and we go back to our separate routines it's not as easy to keep doing.