Location: London, England Address: 280 Westbourne Park Rd. Date: September 2015 Website:www.visitlondon.com
There is a famous film location which can be found on Westbourne Park Road in London, England. It is located in the Notting Hill area and is from a film of the same name. In Notting Hill, William (Hugh Grant) is a bookstore owner who lives in a flat with a blue painted door. He lives there with his roommate Spike (Rhys Ifrans). In the movie the door and pillars in the photo above are all painted blue. At least when we arrived to check out this location the door was still blue.
In the film, William meets movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) in his bookstore and they start a relationship. Things don't work out until suddenly one day Anna is there at the blue door. She is looking for a place to hide out since some nude photos of her have surfaced in the press. Will agrees to let her stay and they spend the night together. The next morning the press has figured out where Anna is hiding and when Will goes to open the front door he is met with the flash of many cameras. Anna comes to the door and is horrified to realize they know she is there. Despite receiving a warning from William, Spike also ventures out in his underwear. He loves all the attention and strikes a few poses before returning inside very pleased with himself.
We played the part of the paparazzi and snapped a few photos ourselves in order to remember these movie moments.
Location: London, England Address: 150 Piccadily Street Date: August 2015 Website:www.theritzlondon.com
The Ritz Hotel in London, England is a high end hotel which opened in 1906. The term, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was inspired by the hotel and refers to surrounding yourself with luxury. While it wasn't quite in our budget to stay or dine at The Ritz, we did walk past it on our way to dine elsewhere.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at Rextail which was only a short walk away.
The Ritz Hotel is located on Piccadilly Street which is home to an interesting variety of architecture. The building above is one of the Ritz's across the street neighbours.
The hotel has hosted members of high society along with actors and actresses who would come to indulge and socialize. In the movie Notting Hill, Julia Roberts plays a popular Hollywood actress named Anna. She meets William (Hugh Grant) in the bookstore that he owns. She invites him to come and visit her at her Ritz Hotel suite. To William's surprise he is there along with a group of reporters ready to interview Anna about her latest sci-fi film. After pretending to be a reporter from Horse & Hound magazine, William and Anna finally go out and spend a nice evening together.
They go out for dinner again and then return to The Ritz. As they walk along the corridor above, Anna invites Will up to her room. Unfortunately, her American boyfriend is there and Will leaves the hotel confused and sad.
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to. Why don't you go where fashion sits.?
This Easter weekend we thought it would be a good time to take a look at our top 10 bunny encounters. Here they are in no particular order.
1 )Lop-Eared Rabbit
A friend of ours used to care for a very cute lop-eared bunny. A lop-eared bunny is a bunny whose long ears hang (we guess you could say lop) down. You will notice all of the other bunnies in this blog post have ears that stand straight up or sit back on top of their heads.
2) Bugs Bunny
One of the all-time favourite bunnies is Bugs Bunny from the Looney Tunes cartoons. He is among a short list of animated characters to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The outline drawing of Bugs Bunny (above) was in the Warner Brothers Studio's Museum.
3) Flemish Giant Rabbit
From Bugs Bunny we go to Big Bunny. A Flemish giant rabbit can weigh up to 10 kg and grow to about 30 inches long. It is one of the largest domesticated rabbits. The bunny above was at the Toronto Zoo for a short time and shared an enclosure with the wombats and wallabies. Perhaps it had outgrown its previous living space.
4) Arctic Hare
While we were in Churchill, Manitoba we spotted this hare just across the road from our lodge. While it may not be the smartest thing to do in polar bear territory at night, we headed outside to try and get a closer look. Luckily, he stood still long enough for us to get the picture above. It took us some time to determine if this was an arctic hare or a snowshoe hare as both inhabit Churchill. We read about one having bigger feet or ears than the other. Some reports said that one has bigger eyes or fluffier fur. We made our determination by the black on the ears. As far as we can tell arctic hares (like this one) have black just on the top tip of their ears while snowshoe hares have a black edge that may cover the tip, but runs further along the ear as well.
5) Lionhead Rabbit
A lionhead rabbit is bred to have a mane around its face like a lion. They end up looking like little balls of fur with ears. We wondered how they can even see where they are hopping. When taking pictures, the bunny below did flash us a look from beneath all that fur just to let us know he was in there. The lionhead above is from Prickly Ball Farm and the lionhead below is from Far Enough Farm.
6) Rabbit Balloon
Artist Jeff Koons had a piece of his art appear in Toronto's Nuit Blanche 2009. It was simply named Rabbit Balloon. It featured a giant shiny silver bunny that was floating inside the Eaton Centre. This bunny also once floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007.
7) Tortoise & Hare
In Boston's Copley Square is a sculpture of a tortoise and a hare. It was installed as a tribute to runner's of the famous Boston Marathon. It is based on the popular fable of The Tortoise & the Hare. The fable tells the story of a rabbit who was so confident in his ability to outrun the tortoise that during a race he ran ahead and took a nap. While he napped the tortoise passed by heading for the finish line. The hare finally awoke and tried to catch up, but it was too late.
8) Cute Bunnies
We think that all rabbits are cute. There is something special about a tiny bunny that you can pick up and hold in your hands while it sits quietly twitching its little nose. These cuties are from the Toronto Zoo kid's section and from Jungle Cat World.
9) Chocolate Bunnies
Chocolate shaped like eggs is good. Chocolate shaped like bunnies is good. This bunny above is a box from Teuscher Chocolates and hides a chocolate truffle in its belly. We like chocolate.
10) Eastern Cottontail
The one rabbit that we have encountered the most is the eastern cottontail. Actually we have eaten more chocolate bunnies and watched more Bugs Bunny cartoons than we have had encounters with eastern cottontails. Let's try that again. The eastern cottontail is the wild rabbit that we have encountered the most. Sometimes when you least expect it you look out into the yard and there is one munching away on something. Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail!
Drummonds Bank has been located across from Trafalgar Square since 1760. It is located at the top end of Whitehall which is a street in London that contains many government buildings. Those government buildings house many different departments and ministries. If an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is to be believed, there is one ministry that many people have never heard of.
In the skit, John Cleese portrays a minister who is shown walking up Whitehall. In the background you can clearly see the London icon Big Ben as well as the Old War Office. The minister has a very unusual walk which is hard to describe.
In Toronto, Canada there is a Firkin pub on Bloor Street East which has this silly walk painted on the wall beside its staircase.
John Cleese continues walking his walk along Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square. When he finally arrives at his destination he will have to apologize that his walk has become rather sillier recently and as a result it takes him longer to get to work.
We are now only a few silly steps from the offices of a ministry that is supposed to receive the same government spending as Defence, Social Security, Health, Housing and Education. Last year the British Government spent more money on National Defence than on the ministry in question.
John continues on past the railing above until the camera zooms in on a sign that reveals the name of the ministry.
We are now almost back at the entrance to Drummonds Bank and on the fence (above) between the ATM and the window with flowers is a sign which states, "Ministry Of Silly Walks". This skit has been an all time favourite amongst Monty Python fans. Monty Python's appeal lies in the fact that they combine both intelligence and silliness. We suggest that when you visit Trafalgar Square you should also take a walk along Whitehall Road to visit this filming location. Your walk may not be as silly as a member of this legendary comedy troupe, but like Michael Palin's character we think that with Government backing you could make it very silly.
The original Trainspotting movie, about the lives of a group of heroin users, was released in February 1996. A sequel is coming out in February 2017 which reunites the original cast 20 years later. The movie itself is also set 20 years after the first so there was no need for a make-up team to age the actors. Time had already done that for them. When we were in London we visited the Royal Eagle Hotel which was the filming location for some of the final scenes from Trainspotting.
A mews is a row of stables. This would be where the horses were kept, so it makes sense that there would be one next to a hotel. Craven Road has a lot of mews and a few of them are pictured above. None of the mews above appear in the movie and these days they would be filled with people, not horses.
The reason we mention mews is because the scene in question opens with the group walking out of Smallbrook Mews, crossing Craven Road and heading into the Royal Eagle Hotel for a drug deal (above). The group consists of Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Renton (Ewan McGregor), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle). The first three are all heroin addicts and Begbie is just a violent, troubled man.
The deal goes well and the group now has a large bag of cash. While the others are sleeping Renton steals the bag and heads out into the street. He heads down to Gloucester Mews. You can see the curved opening to the mews just past the man with the suitcases. The Royal Eagle Hotel has also cleaned up a lot since 1996, perhaps due to all the Trainspotting fans spending the night.
During this entire scene the soundtrack is playing Born Slippy by Underworld. This is a great track on its own as it slowly builds up. It works perfectly here. Finally, Renton turns and enters Gloucester Mews.
The camera is on an angle as Renton walks towards it. You can see the opening to Smallbrook Mews across the street. The camera turns with Renton and flips to look down into the mews. A lot of the walls have been repainted, but the black trim in the bottom of the picture (left side of the mews) matches with what we see in the film.
Renton has gotten away with it. Begbie goes ballistic.
The second Muppet movie, The Great Muppet Caper, was filmed in London, England. One of the locations used in the movie is just a short walk from Paddington Station. Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo end up staying at a hotel called the Happiness Hotel where they meet the rest of the Muppet gang.
The building looked to be in much better shape when we visited than it does in the movie. The hotel was such a dump that the bus would not even stop there. When Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo arrive the bus slows down and they get tossed to the curb. The hotel is surprised that somebody else actually wants to check in.
The next time Kermit The Frog and his friends arrive at the hotel they are driven there by Beauregard the cab driver. Beauregard is best known as the janitor of the Muppet Theatre. He apologizes that he can only take them as far as the lobby and then proceeds to drive the cab around the corner, across the courtyard and straight through the front door of the hotel.
The Great Muppet Caper was a wonderful achievement in both puppetry and film and we enjoyed our brief visit to one of its real life locations. The song Happiness Hotel is also one of the highlights of the movie's soundtrack.
The Blue Door
