Weekend in Margate (Yes! Margate!)

The reaction I received from everyone when I said I was going to Margate for my birthday weekend was "Margate? Why?" A sleepy seaside town in Kent, Margate's hey day was about 100 years ago as a beach vacation destination. Margate is one of the many coastal towns  in the UK whose former Victorian glory has long since passed. It's more currently known as the birthplace of Tracy Emin and the new home to the Turner contemporary Collection opening April of this year.

However, I was not daunted by the naysayers, especially because we had booked into The Reading Rooms! By far, my absolute favorite place I have stayed just about anywhere in the world, and would highly recommended it (as alone it is a reason to go to Margate.) We stayed into Room 1, but I plan on staying again in Room 3. Owned by the lovely couple Louise and Liam, it's a three bedroom B&B situated in a renovated Georgian townhome on Hawley Square and within walking distance of everything you would want to see in Margate. Sumptious beds with overstuffed pillows, yummy linens and a cast iron tub underneath a whimsical chandelier with definitely enough room for two! And Ren bath products which = happiest place on Earth.

What do you mean you like it? (.....or my tempestuous love affair with London pt. 1)

Much like any love-hate and erstwhile manic relationship, such are my feelings about London.  On any vibrant, sunny day I am in love - the architecture (everything's so old!) the diversity (bonjour! dzien dobry! sat sri akal!) the fashion (I don't know how can she wear that and make it look chic but she does!) However, when in a matter of hours my blissful sunny day becomes a dark, cold, damp evening and I am getting on the tube at rush hour, I could very well throw myself in front of it. There's no avoiding the surge of bodies clamoring for less than ten inches of personal space. You'd think it was the Titanic. So when London is pretty and accomodating, I love her. When she is selfish, depressed and refuses to give me space, I want to end it.

So as a companion piece to my first blog about living here, here is my ongoing list of what I do love about living in London (and in no particular order....!)

My Great Gatsby evening at The Candlelight Club

Sigh. If all parties could be this tragically glamorous.

I have always wanted to go to a speakeasy (perhaps again my infatuation with the past and all things secretly naughty and glamorous?!?) And this weekend, my friend Douglas indulged my whim and was my stylish escort for the Candlelight Club in Angel. In order to attend the Candlelight Club, you purchase your tickets in advance with the stringently guarded location emailed to a select few merely days before the event.