Wednesday 28 April 2010

Marathon Weekend

I have been in London this weekend to watch my brother, Mark run the marathon. It feels like I have almost run a marathon myself! We have had a very busy weekend. My mother and I arrived by train on Saturday morning and then checked in to our hotel in Docklands. We had a great view of Canary Wharf and the O2 Arena. The next morning we met up with the rest of the family and stood for nearly two hours at the half way point on the marathon route, waiting for my brother to run past. He made it at pretty much the time he'd estimated but in the meantime we were entertained by all the fun runners and the celebrities and saw Gordon Ramsey and Richard Branson run past us.
The streets were strewn with empty water bottles.
We then set off to another part of the route to try and see my brother again and got the tube to Westminster. It was a really good atmosphere here but there were a lot of very tired runners who needed a lot of encouragement as it was only a mile from the finish.

After about two hours standing in the crowd we eventually saw my brother run past again and he looked okay considering he only had a mile left!


We then walked to the 'meet and greet' at Horse Guards to try and find Mark at the finish.



And here he is with my sister in law, Katherine, proudly showing off his medal!


Of course I couldn't go to London without doing a spot of shopping and first place on my list was my favourite shop, Liberty.



Lots of Liberty print goodies.


We spent the evening in Covent Garden and my nephew Rufus enjoyed watching the buskers in the street.




On the Monday my mother and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the wardrobe of one my favourite style icons, Princess Grace, on display. I have always loved her style so it was a real thrill to see the collection. There were gorgeous haute couture gowns from the 60's and 70's as well as dresses from her films.

The poster from the exhibition.

The dress she is wearing here, in the film High Society, was also on display and was really beautiful. It also made you realise how slim she was!


I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. I'm having a blog giveaway next week of some souvenirs I have bought back from London so see you next week!
Susie

14 comments:

  1. Hi Susie!
    What a curious way of visiting the Capital, while following the springs of your brother!
    Hope you're having a bit of relax now ;-)
    xxxx

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  2. Susie, Thank you for sharing your busy weekend in London. You certainly "packed in" some great activities and sights! I would love to fly "over the pond" to take in the Grace Kelly exhibit! Cassandra ♥

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  3. I'm loving your header picture. It sooooo fits your blog.

    That picture of the tudor row houses is awesome too.

    I went to London once - - - but not to see the queen. It was so lovely. Of course, that was in a younger more romantic time - - -

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  4. I like to watch it on the TV,but the atmosphere must be amazing when you're actually following in London.Well done to your brother...a great achievement!
    Grace Kelly is my favourite actress from that era...so beautiful,graceful and feminine.

    Bellaboo :0)

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  5. What a great all action packed weekend you had - Well done to your Bro!. xxxx

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  6. Congratulations to your brother!! Great !!
    and really really nice atmosphere and marathon's route!!

    Cant wait next week!!

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  7. I so admire anyone who can run a marathon! Congrats to Mark! And thank you for taking me on a mini tour of London too. You know that I SO want to go see it all for myself one day!
    Have a wonderful week!
    Carol

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  8. Congratulations to your brother! What an amazing weekend.....I loved Grace Kelly! xxx

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  9. Wow what a great weekend but how exhausting I'm feeling quite out of breath looking at the photos

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  10. What a delightful blog... I hope you would visit me... we're having a "Victorian Tea Party" on Mother's Day... come see!

    Cielo

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  11. Congrats to Mark. Susie darling you managed so brilliantly to pack so much into one weekend, well done and thank you for taking us along, great photos. Wishing you another fun and hopefully sunny weekend luv.

    Love & Hugs
    Duchess

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  12. Hola Susie, my god, I thought it was you running...!!! Your brother keeps himself in a very good shape, what a brave thing to do running those miles!!!
    Liberty shop is so great.
    Cariños,
    Maria Cecilia

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  13. Congrats to your brother. My husband ran the L.A. marathon 2 years ago and it really takes a lot of mental energy to get through. Looks like you had a great time with your family.

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  14. Oh ... thank you for that glimpse of Liberty! I LOVE that store -- could spend many hours in it. Now you've made me want to go back to England again. Well, I would ... but no budget for it this year!

    Congrats to your brother; that is an accomplishment! And I loved the flower pictures in your other post -- beautiful shots. Your blog is beautiful, and I am fascinated by your cottage. it's gorgeous!
    Cass

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