Bernini, Rome,and miscellaneous

In London, we call the financial district 

- the Wall Street of London - the City.

It gets technical.

Because the city of London is just where all the banks are so technically 

I don't live in the 'city of London'.

They had a live band playing background music.

But I went there even though I don't work in the financial industry because my friends and I went to the Ned Hotel for afternoon tea.

There are plenty of pictures on Instagram.

It is the Soho House for all those people who can't be members at all the other Soho Houses because Soho House has a rule they don't like to take bankers as members.

The hotel used to be a bank and this is the huge vault in the basement that has yet another bar.

I would recommend the hotel for a drink as it is HUGE!

It is like an old train station.

I went to Rome for a few days as one of my best friends who lives in L.A. was there so I tagged along.

I went to the Palazzo Pamphiji which is the Roman equivalent to a grand British country estate.

Except it is bang in the middle of Rome.

I thought it looked like the corridors of the Vatican - just emptier.

Then it made sense because the house was 

bought /built / acquired ( all three ) by this pope below.

For those who like art will recognise him as one of those miserable looking guys in Velazquez or the Borgias.

Nearly 500 years of pedigree but they still had plastic on the seating.

But then again, there is always a family member that blows the money right?

But they had a lovely Christmas tree in what used to be their ballroom.

This ballroom was nice enough but not a standout for a grand European house.

But what made it stand apart was that the original electric system was technically still working and they some electric historians took some of the wiring to preserve it and study how it still worked after more than a century. 

The house was really not in great shape and almost forgotten in the minds of visitors as it is walking distance away from the Colosseum and the Forum.

I have been to Rome many times but this was my first visit to this palace.

The present generation still lives there though and has the best parking spot in Rome.

As usual I ate my way through the place where I am.

I had one of the richest versions of Carbonara ever.

I go a little crazy with pasta and I tend to order pasta for the pasta course and the main course.

I don't even pretend to be a local.

And then I order cappuccino after lunch!

The waiters in Rome did a lot of head shaking around me.

Rome has one of the best delis ever.

I also found a bathroom that I want to copy if I ever need to remodel my bathroom.

Went to the special Bernini exhibition at the Villa Borghese.

If you go - make sure you pre book tickets because it is normally booked out certain days.

Good stuff.

I am not Robert Hughes ok?

Once again, the relationship between art and setting was glorious.

This building near my hotel was apparently some Swedish cultural institute.

But I thought it looked more like a brothel that could have featured in the movie - Le Grande Belleza.

You know what I love most about Rome thought?

Its trees.

I think hotel suggestions are useless in Rome because one rarely spends time in the hotel in such a city but please do at least go to the Hotel Eden for a drink because it has some of the best views ever of the city.

I showed you V V Rouleaux's shopfront at night but here it is during the day.

How good is that?

How is Mercury retrograde going for you?

I thought I got lucky because I got invited to a Manolo Blahnik shoe sale and I thought I would get this pair of sandals but they couldn't find the other side.

But it is okay because I have plenty of cute shoes that I never wear anyway.

In other news, I cut someone off who is always lurking on my social media while not following me and says it is boring to just have coffee with me and says we should do something exciting instead and insists we meet up when she is in town.

Do you have one of those people you haven't cut off yet but would like to?

Is there a word of digital social media frenemy/but we weren't ever that great friends anyway but why do you take such an interest in me and ghost me all the time type of person?

Anyway, it feels good.

Back to food.

As much as I love Italian food, I can't handle the lack of variety in Italy.

So the minute I got off the plane I went to have dim sum.

This is a cafe that was outdoors and we froze our butts off to sip tea here because we all thought it was so beautiful.

I also went to visit my friend's family at their beach house one night and despite the sun it was so cold that I am still not thawed out from going to there.

I am not that into the whole men in uniform thing.

But these look better than Batman with those capes.

Pace yourselves people during this crazy time otherwise you will be exhausted for new year! x