Tag Archives: history

Memoirs of a Blue Badge Guide

This is a very special blog post to me. In March, I qualified as a Blue Badge tour guide, and I am proud to be following in my Grandma’s footsteps. She has been a Blue Badge Guide since 1972! I decided to use all my extra lockdown time to interview her and hear some of her guiding stories.

ROA and Stubbs: (Street) Art in London

London has an incredible collection of art galleries, and more recently, street art has been moving our galleries outdoors. Street art and “High” art seem like two completely different worlds, but not as much separates them as we think.

Death at the National Gallery

I know it sounds morbid, but it’s still sort of Halloween, right? And over the centuries humanity’s obsession with death and what happens after we shuffle off this mortal coil has had a continuous and exciting influence on art.
Here are just a few examples…

Stranger Danger (Italian edition)

I’m starting to get the impression that I can’t have a proper holiday anymore without putting my life in the hands of at least one stranger. Italy was no different.

Stranger Danger

I would never have survived my three days in New York without strangers. Okay, maybe slightly dramatic, but the people I interacted with certainly nudged me in the right direction when I needed it most.
From photographers to navigators to new friends, be safe and always talk to strangers.

Thoughts on… Palace design

I’m a history student so I’ve seen my fair share of castles and palaces and they all have their individual charms and unfortunate flaws. I’m also an avid watcher of Homes under the Hammer and Grand Designs which basically makes me a professional architect, project manager, builder and interior designer. So when I came to Herrenchiemsee, I was able to look at the building with my critical historian/design protege eye and had a few helpful notes.