Just a short and quick outfit post which also concludes these series of travel pictures of my trip to London.

I wore this for the flight back to Singapore. I love this top… it’s Korean. I love Korean designs… there are so many stores in Singapore these days that ship in Korean clothes but they are so much more expensive then getting it in Seoul.

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I’ve been very very sick since I got back from my beach trip. Fever, cold sweat, flu, cough… the works. And I didn’t even have the energy to log online at all.  I’ll be safely tucked into bed now trying to ride over my flu instead of blogging but I’ve got a flight to catch in a few hours and I better be awake so I don’t miss it!

Back to where I left off, the City of Bath is a beautiful one and it’s worth staying at least one night there.

The day I was there, they had a night market going on. I’m not sure if it’s a permanent thing or just for that weekend but it was absolutely delightful! And I got to ride on a carousel! Yes, I know it’s a tad childish for a lady my age to still enjoy carousel rides but I do!

So if you are like me and enjoy non-age appropriate activities, go ahead and enjoy yourself. As long as it doesn’t harm anyone else I really don’t see why not. Happiness is such a valuable commodity and there are so many people out there that seems to want to put a limit to it. But at the end of the day if I’m happy then I don’t have to care what others say. If you’re thinking that I’m speaking about more than just my little joy ride then you’re probably right… lol.

I guess I’ve been seeing a lot of unnecessary streaks of meanest in people recently. From strangers to strangers and from lovers to friends. I don’t believe that they realize what they are doing exactly but it’s still a little sad to see how people can get so easily worked up over the smallest of issues and spread that unhappiness to someone else. I’m wondering if society’s stress is getting too much for people to bear or is just lashing out without thinking just a trendy with people these days. If we could just plant one seed of kindness a day… how more beautiful life could be.

I know I’m totally digressing! But I think the pictures speak for themselves! I was very happy in Bath… somehow it felt a little less gloomy there compared to London even though the weather was pretty much the same. Overcast and drizzling !

Other than the quaint village market, I think I really enjoyed having hot chocolate drinks while people watching at the cafes there. It is the really thick and chocolaty espresso sort so do try if you are a chocolate lover!

And I’ll end my little segment on Bath with a video! ( You can only watch this video on www.renzze.com )

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I love the City Of Bath. Love all the lovely buildings and the cobblestone roads. So pretty and quaint. I think my favorite building is the Bath Abbey.  A beautiful cathedral with beautiful stain glass windows.

Bath has been home to historic writers, such as Jane Austin, artists such as  Gainsborough, architects and designers John Wood and Goodridge, inventors, John Oliver

Of course the main attraction in Bath is the Roman Bath. The City of Bath is built at the mouth of an extinct volcano and was renown in its time as a spa town.

The Roman Baths Complex has be wonderfully preserved from the times of the Romans and gives a great insight to their cultural and social habits. It’s also interesting to note that Bath is the only place in the whole of UK that has natural hot spring waters!

Although the bath waters still bubbles at 46C today, visitors are not allowed to enter the waters as the spring still runs through the original lead pipes that may have radioactive substances. Also, the biggest threat is infectious diseases. However, if you would like to experience the hot springs of bath with all it’s reputed healing powers, you may head to Thermae Bath Spa which is located in a different building. It is a modern bath that was specially built so people can enjoy the Bath Spring Waters.

Entrance came in a form of a little plastic token. And the moment I walked in, I was mesmerized by the ceilings and walls of the interior.

The Roman Baths started around 60-70AD when the Celts used this place as a shrine to Sulis. Later the Romans continued populating the Bath and dedicated it to Minerva (also known as Athena to some).

My photos absolutely doesn’t do the place enough justice. I also loved how they incorporated modern chandeliers that seem to go so well with this Roman architecture.

On the terrace overlooking the Great Bath, you can see many carvings of Roman Emperors and Governors of Roman Britain.

A quick tour of the museum gives one a better understanding of the importance of the Roman Bath in ancient times.

Many artifacts from the temple can be seen. From Tritons (mermens) that served Neptune to Gorgon heads and Oceanus, the temple has a mixture of statues that serves both Celtic and Roman gods.

The picture above is supposedly of a Gorgon in a very rare male form. Usually Gorgons with their head of snakes are depicted as females.

Also noteworthy is a large collection of curses. About 130 curse tablets or binding spells have been found at the Baths. This is about as close a look we have to ancient Roman/Greek form of black magic. A similar practice to what the Chinese have in the form of  ”Ta Xiao Ren”. Other than curses which are carved into thin metal plates, sometimes you can find a love spell or two! Not surprisingly, a large number of curse tablets found at the bath relates to getting their clothes stolen while they are in the bath. LOL.

Standing next to the stream of hot spring, I can feel the heat as it dissipates quickly into the winter chilly air.

The main bath area is actually located underground from the main building. The water is a lovely shade of blue and steam can be seen rising despite the rainy weather. It would have been such a glorious bath in its heydays.

Also, in a scared spring nearby, there are about 12000 Roman coins found. I supposed they were offered to the Goddess in a wishing well style. This is the largest collective votive deposit known from Britain.

Hope you found Bath to be as interesting as I do. I’ll do another follow up post on the City of Bath soon

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The surreal landscape set the tone for my visit to one of the world’s most famous stones. The Stonehenge. Found in Wiltshire, England amidst countless of other burial mounds and stone monuments.

The Stonehenge is said to be built during the Neolithic (last of the stone ages) and Bronze Ages. These stones were errected here around 3000BC – 2500BC! That’s such a long time ago and it makes it hard to process how and why these stones were placed here.

The area around Stonehenge is a burial ground for humans at the early beginning but it is unknown if there were any other uses of these ancient stones throughout history. Many believe it is used as a temple or a worship place of some sort. It is voted as one of Britain Seven Wonders and at some point in time had been a gathering point for many neopaganism believers.

Though personally I much prefer ancient buildings rather than rock formations, I can understand how Stonehenge can be such an intriguing mystery given that these massive stones were carried to these plains from a distance of 240miles away. With no modern tools, it would have taken 600 men to get past some obstacles in while transporting!

If you believe in legends and mystery, then this place in all purposes and intents is one with magical mystic powers of honor and healing. It is said that King Arthur and his descendants were all buried here. And that Merlin the wizard had the stones magically moved from Ireland to it’s current location.

In the photo above you’ll see me standing in front of a drawing of what the Stonehenge Circle was supposed to look like while the photo below shows you what is left of it today.

There isn’t much else around Stonehenge itself because the government is working hard to maintain the land to be the way it was thousands of years ago. Of course there are still a little commercialism seen near the site with a gift shop or two but the wide vast lands nearby is devoid of houses or anything much actually.

If you are interested in the Stonehenge, the best time to visit it is on the 21st June where the Summer Solstice festival is celebrated there. Admission the the circle is free and throngs of people would camp at Stonehenge overnight to greet the first day of summer. Normally the stones are roped off to prevent visitor contact but for that one night, you could actually stand next to the stones, touch, feel and become transported to the time when druids gathered for festivals around the rocks.

Hope you enjoy the little video clip I have of my trip there. ( Video clip can only be watched at www.renzze.com)

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Just a real short outfit post! Was heading out over the Salisbury Plains to go visit Stonehenge which I will share with you all soon!

Salisbury Plains is the largest military training area in the UK and the conditions are pretty rough. I can’t imagine having to train out there in the bitter cold! Because of all the training, the grass here is rather sparse and live firing occurs 340 days a year so no wandering off on your own!

A closer look at my flats before I head off! Will try to post again soon. Am working on a new contest as well! So watch out for it!

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Took a little trip to Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral. It was a really cold day so for lunch we stopped by a little bed and breakfast place for some local delights.

It felt so good to be in such a warm homely place with lovely food! And the best thing for me on a cold winter’s day is always hot chocolate. I don’t really take coffee so hot chocolate with lots of hand whipped cream is my little addiction and in winter I can have hot chocolate up to 5 times a day! Hopping into a cafe or every time I see one! Many of my favorite travel memories have my favorite comfort drink involved.  In New York, drinking hot chocolate in Starbucks and watching snow fall outside while hearing Christmas songs playing in the cafe; having home made hot chocolate with marshmallows in a outdoor jacuzzi in a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods on the top of the  great old smoky mountai range in the Tennessee-North Caroline border; having a flask of hot chocolate while lying on the beach admiring the sunset on the bluish green waters of the Caribbean seas in the autumn… I really could go on but I’m guessing that you already get my fondness with hot chocolate and winter.

Anyways, I digress. The lunch was lovely and I love love love the pumpkin pie I had for dessert! Huge piece but it was all gone in no time.

I’m heading out for Sunday brunch with some lovely ladies so I better stop writing and head out. Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll share more soon.

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As promised, I’m gonna share with you with more details of my time in the United Kingdom. Well, I bought a greyline bus ticket and visited Windsor Castle in the English County of Berkshire . It is currently still one of Queen Elizabeth II’s official residences and is the world’s oldest castle that has continuous occupation. Which simply means it’s always been a home to the royals since King William I of England which was born in 1029. Gosh! That makes this a 900+ year old castle!

Windsor is pretty much what you would expect of  the sort of castle you hear of in fairy tales. Huge, made of stones, lots of guards and the Queen stays here.  It appeals to me so much more than Buckingham Palace ever did. Buckingham Palace is more like the Queen’s office.

We weren’t allowed to take much photos inside the castle but there were lots of exhibits and a few room filled with knights armors, swords and medals through the ages. Even my umbrella was considered dangerous and had to be left at the coat check in before I was allowed to proceed through!

When you are inside the walls of the castle, you’ll realized that the whole place was built and expanded around this round tower on top of a motte. This was actually the original beginnings of the castle and when it was first built, it was built with wood. Of course it got replaced with stone bricks and over the years, the various monarchs slowly expanded the castle till it is the way it is today. The round tower, being smack in the middle also divides the castle into to main wards. The upper ward houses the Queen, formal state rooms and the main arena for the Order of the Garter. The lower ward is mainly occupied by St George’s Chapel.

The view around the castle has a serene feel to it. It’s as if time stood still here and I was transported to the time where women wore corsets and curtsy while the men escorted them from horse carriages. There is so much history and so many important events started their origins from this ground. ( Do you know that the current official marathon length race is derived from the distance from Windsor Castle to Olympic Stadium in London.) It has been a home, a fortress and at some dark moments a prison for so many rulers.

A short distance away is Eton College, one of the original 9 public schools in England. Which is a total misnomer since this public school is anything but open to the general public. It’s the world famous school for the uppity up of the who’s who! Their students include 18 former prime ministers, lots of princes ( recent onces being Prince William and Prince Harry), European kings and royalty, Asian royal family ( Kings of Thailand, Nepal, India, etc) and many many more famous personalities like Ian Fleming, Boris Johnson, Hugh Laurie to name a few. If you watched “Shakespeare In Love” you probably saw how Eton looks on the inside as quite a large part of the filming was done there.

Other than the gorgeous chapel, one of the main tourist draws in the castle is Queen Mary’s Doll House. Queen Mary was a huge fan of miniature creations. So this doll house was created. It’s a impressive work of art with every single thing in the doll house made in exactness to their real counterparts.

Unbelievably beautiful! Most of the items are made from the actual companies that made the original full size versions. Miniaturize paintings by their original painters, miniaturized books written specially by their authors including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, among others. The lights work like lights do and so do the plumbing. Tiny toilets flushes when pressed together with tiny toilet paper! I love the fabrics of the furnishings which are cut from the same fabrics used in Windsor Castle.

I didn’t get a chance to bump into any royalty but I did spot this fat cat lounging in the confines of Windsor Castle. A royal cat I suppose. LOL.

Heading down to the lower ward I got to explore the St George’s Chapel. Other than hosting the Order of the Garter (which is basically the most exclusive form of knighthood since Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table), the chapel has overseen a number of royal marriages. The most recent one being the Blessing of Union between The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles.

The chapel is also mainly the place for many royal funerals and interments and when the present Queen Elizabeth II dies, she’ll most likely be buried here as well.

Being at the right time at the right place, I manage to catch 2 change of guards ceremony at different parts of the castle. And if you view the video at the end of this post, you might see how I feel that the guards here are a lot friendlier and more adorable then the ones at the Buckingham Palace.

Enjoy the video and remember, if you are viewing this anywhere else other then www.renzze.com , you can’t see the video so go to renzze.com ! In the front part of the video, if you pay close attention, you’ll see the Singapore flag cause we drove pass the Embassy area. And no one, including the guide, knew which country that was! With people making all sorts of wild guess. So I supposed Singapore isn’t as high profiled as I though

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I’m just going to post my outfit shot cause I didn’t really bother to take much photos that day. Headed down over the other side of the River through tower bridge (you can read my previous entry about that here) and then caught a musical.

Wore my white boots out only once but don’t worry you’ll probably see this jacket again cause I love it so much I re-wore it on quite a few days of my trip!

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Good morning everyone!

Hoping that everyone’s getting a great breakfast to start your day! I know I haven’t been writing in detail about my London trip as in where I went, what I did and so on. But I promise that I’ll try to do more of that in my next post so bear with me yah?

It’s Thursday already… one step closer to the weekend. Yay!

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Took the tube to Bond Street to do major shopping at Oxford Street. Oxford Street is the high street of retail in London and it stretches past many tube stations. Bond Street Station is one of those that hit right in the middle of Oxford Street.

Dropped by Marks and Spencer Simply Food to grab some yummy food and drinks to stock up in the hotel cause it was winter when I was in London and the cold makes me hungry all the time!

Beautiful lightings and lots of stores from American Apparel & H & M to Primark and Urban Outfitters! I spent a whole lot of time (and unfortunately money) at Selfridges as well so not much time to take photos. The only consolation is that the pound is pretty low these days.

After shopping it was time to meet up with girl pals and have some really good dinner.

And in London, really good dinner roughly translates into Bayswater Roast Goose Rice. I usually eat at Gold Mine. Yummy, fatty and sinful but absolutely irresistible!

Greedy me even had additional fried wantons and hot soup ( a must-have when it’s chilly outside)!

Finally some slices of complimentary oranges. But these were the most sour oranges ever! LOL… I had a shock when I bit into it as you would see from the video.

Enjoy the short video

(For those who are viewing this elsewhere, please go to www.renzze.com to view the video.)

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