mar, 16th - a room for london....

day 1123 / 222:

so, for our anniversary, i managed to book us into a room for london.......this is a 'hotel installation' by the Living Architecture group {see day 1119 / 218}. the installation, is a boat-hotel-room perched on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's Southbank and was only meant to be in place as part of an Olympic feature for 2012. the plan after that, was for the boat to pop-up in other locations around London and the UK. the boat's residence has been extended into 2013 but you can only secure a night via a ballot......so, having ticked the 'any night' option back in December it was more by sheer chance rather than any cunning plan that our winning night happened to fall close to our anniversary...

due to the logistics of staying on top of a working performance hall, you have to go for  a full briefing before you can stay......so, one thursday evening, a couple of weeks ago, i was strolling across a sunlit bridge looking across the Thames at where we were going to spend the night. 

after our briefing and being led to our very own lift.....we emerged on top of the building to check in to our room....

as you expect with any of their properties, it's unique and well executed......spacious for two, it combines luxury with a strong sense of still being on a boat....books are piled everywhere and if you're not studying the spines close-up then you are completely distracted by the amazing, panoramic view....there is intelligence in the architecture and design but to be honest, I would have missed the references to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness if I hadn't read the following in this review:

The boat is called the Roi des Belges, after the vessel in which Conrad himself sailed up the river Congo, in the journey that would inspire Heart of Darkness. Inside there is a cabinet containing old maps of the Thames and the Congo, in reference to the parallels that Conrad made between the two rivers. An octagonal table and a box of dominos echo similar objects described in the master's novels.

I like the fact that there are still things that are being revealed to me even after my stay.

after a fantastic night out and having the luxury of strolling home through central London....we enjoyed coffees on the roof in the morning and then hotfooted it to meet the girls....

staying in a room for london, makes you feel like you are inside a london kaleidoscope....like you are living in a scene from Mary Poppins. it conjures up both the past and the present.....romance and grit.....poetry and reality (watching people on their daily commute to work)....

and, if it's next locations are even half as spectacular then i will be following this boat as it sets sail across the capital.

our room at night........