chiswick house

introducing chiswick house and gardens.

as far as i'm concerned, there are few places as beautiful in the south west of london (outside of richmond). how gorgeous is this house? the slow-moving river and the beautiful railings, a conservatory full of camellias which unfortunately don't bloom until february.
i realise, the more i go to these heritage houses and properties that i'm a hopeless romantic at heart. i've surprised myself how much i love the english gardens, how the ivy clings to the brick walls. how i can't help daydreaming about what i must have been like to live in a house like this.

does anyone else have the feeling sometimes that they were born in the wrong country and wrong era?

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re: revisiting the gaze and mr. berger

i've long been crushing on john berger's mind.

for a good while now and finally picked up another one of this books, about looking. because it's saturday morning and i'm feeling particularly intellectual at the moment (it's fleeting so i should grasp it while it's there) i wanted to share a quote from the book and something i jotted down in my notebook while on the go.

"The eyes of an animals when they consider a man are attentive and wary. The same animal may well look at other species in the same way. He does not reserve a special look for man. But by no other species except man will the animals' look be recognized as familiar. 

Other animals are held by the look. 

Man becomes aware of himself returning the look." (chapter one: why look at animals, p4)

an animal looks. their stare stops other animals in their tracks. they're stopped. arrested in time. yet man does something different. he meets an animal's stare but it's with a look of power and dominance. some argue the animals don't have a gaze, because they're not aware of themselves looking. man is the only species who sees himself in the reflection of the water and knows it's himself looking back.

we see ourselves looking and when confronted with an animal, we also recognize that we are being looked back at. does it all go back to when narcissus first saw his face in the pool's reflection?

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le parc richmond

i love going out for the first time in a place, a new neighbourhood when everything is fresh. it's so big because it's your first time. new shops, new cafes, new streets and new parks. i'm just getting to know east sheen and i already love it. it's got that small town feel to it, but is still just a 20 minute train ride from waterloo station.

the other bonus? our new home is minutes from richmond park. in 1637 good 'ol king charles the first decided he wanted a park, for his deer (both red and fallow) and so you have it, richmond park. it's so quiet in the evenings, last night we spotted more than 50 deer grazing. their huge antlers! i'm not entirely a city girl, but there's something so magical about being able to get so close to wild animals, and know that you can just walk and see deer in the forest and fields just a few minutes from your apartment. i like this a lot.

figures though, that i didn't bring my phone with me last night in case we ran into any rioters.

but here are some photos from a previous walk in the park, enjoy!

(as you can tell, i'm definitely into instagram right now, if you like, you can follow me, i'm kfar)

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hello london, it's nice to meet you

i'm very good at ignoring this blog. did you notice? or at least moving is such hard work that i've hardly had a moment to sit and contemplate. reflect or muse. until yesterday.

at last. a full afternoon to do things i think i never did in budapest but i remember so fondly doing when i was spending a lot of time in european capitals a few years ago. i took tan early afternoon train into the city and got off the tube at euston station. a friend recommended a trip to the wellcome collection, so i headed there to see what's the hype about.

you must go. honestly. there is no other place on earth that you can see a pair of florence nightingale's moccasins, napoleon's toothbrush and a lock of henry v's hair + some funny japanese sex aids all in one room. for real this guy, sir henry william wellcome, kept a collection of some pretty curious objects.

post-museum and a serious case of square eyes i made my way to a park for some fresh air, then to a very old bookstore where i perused. i picked up a copy of john berger's about looking. i'm already pulled into the way he writes about something so simple as a glance, as complicated as a gaze.

a tall flat white later, i headed back to euston station to pick up a friend i hadn't seen for ages. we found the tackiest and cheapest chinese buffet in camden town we could find and ate our hearts out. it was a perfect day. i miss just wandering around new streets, picking up new literature nad feeding my mind on art and philosophy. those were the good old uni days and i had another little taste of it yesterday. time to go for my masters? i reckon it is about that time.

image one: pretty scientific bottles
image two:canvas bag from the wellcome collection shop
image three: classicly british, on my walk

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happy birthday frida kahlo

happy birthday to one of the most beautiful and talented women the world has ever known.

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a girl and her bike

the old saying goes, diamonds are a girl's best friend. i beg to differ. i'd trade a diamond for a bike any day. i'd trade another one for a friend to have a bike too. then i'd trade a third diamond for a free afternoon with sunshine. so i could go for a ride with that friend.

my little pearl. you may not work properly all the time but it doesn't matter.

i'm going away for the rest of the week so i thought i'd bring her up to the flat for safekeeping while i'm gone. running back and forth packing my bag and cooking up some quick lunch, i couldn't stop but admire the afternoon light, the herringbone floor boards and her fame, beautifully unsuspicious.

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one last glance at budapest

in t-minus twenty-five days i'll be saying good-bye budapest but there are still a million things i want to do and see and even more places to explore before i leave my keys in the mailbox on my way out. i doubt i'll ever live permanently in budapest again, but i'm refraining from the word never. because,

who knows what will happen?

[fisherman's bastion]

so, i have less than one month to start ticking off my "cultural" to-do list.


these ten are at the top:

one - spend a day at the thermal baths with some girl friends. soak in all those mineral waters and their healing powers... because god knows there aren't any spas this cheap in london.

two - check out the newest exhibition at the ludwig museum. it's called "the art of light" by lászló maholy-nagy, a hungarian artist known for his work in the avant-garde movement in the central/eastern part of europe in the twentieth century.

three - pack a picnic and enjoy it on the great lawn in the middle of margaret island. i did the same last spring when all the trees were in bloom. it was so nice and people were everywhere will their little dogs, picnic baskets and bicycles. my kind of place.

four - finish reading "the water method man" by john irving. it's quite thick and i'd appreciate not having to carry it with me in london. actually, i'll leave all my books here and bring them over in a couple months once we find our nice new home.

UPDATE: i didn't finish it there, but shortly after i arrived here in london. it's already been passed along to a friend though. so no space is taken up in my new (very small) flat.

five - send postcards to my bestest bests before i leave. budapest is far behind the times and you can still find great vintage postcards in smaller shops out of the city centre. they're so tacky that they're fashionable? if you want one, send me your address!

six - organize a city bike sight-seeing tour with friends/travellers so that i can say goodbye to all my favourite places at the same time.

seven - dance until the sun rises. preferably on a boar moored along the danube... a38 to be more precise. [holduvar on margrit island]

eight - see a performance at the budapest opera house. rumour has it that there are last-minute tickets in the nose-bleed section for cheap. now i just have to get my paws on a pair and convince someone to dress up with me to go. any takers? love high-class entertainment.

UPDATE: unfortunately the season has ended and new shows don't begin until september. doesn't anyone go to the opera in the summer???

nine - the next best thing, open-air cinema on margaret island with the french institute's film club. i'm even going to sneak in a few beers for this one.

ten - only the future will tell.

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