Alexandra Palace

Last weekend we headed over - or should I say up? - to the iconic North London venue, the huge Alexandra Palace, located on a hill surrounded by a park and offering fantastic views of the city. It is quite an impressive building and we were sad to see that unfortunately it is a bit derelict in parts. Luckily there are plans and efforts to regenerate the place over the next decade which would definitely be worth while! The potential is enormous... but see for yourself: below are a few photos we took inside the west wing.  This seems to be one of the parts in not too bad a state and gives you an idea of how beautiful the palace could be in general. We found its history and involvment with the BBC to be quite interesting too.

Interested in Photography?

Juliette Greco by Man Ray


Well, then at least those of you who are in London or planning a visit here should not miss the wonderful exhibition of Man Ray's work at the National Portrait Gallery. We went yesterday evening and loved it! It's a lot to take in - a bit overwhelming nearly - due to the high number of photographs exhibited, and it is quite crowded, too, but nevertheless such a treat!
So, take time and enjoy portraits of the arty, intellectual, beautiful people Man Ray met during the first half of the last century!

Sunny Morning

Ah, how wonderful it is when after days of grey the sky is blue and sunshine spills out over the city!

Here a few impressions from today's morning walk though London - enjoy!

   Building cranes on Goodge Street

   Bunnies in a shop window

    Beautiful Charlotte Street Hotel
    - one of our favourite destinations for a drink on the terrace in summer.

                      Knitted art by Kate Jenkins at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery on Charlotte Street
   

Isn't LOVE just wonderful...

Ok, now today's the day - really the right day to wish you all a very Happy Valentine!
Dear fans, friends and customers, Tusch und Egon love you!

Happy Valentine Everybody!

Isn't it great that this cold, grey month of February, when everybody is yearning for the colours of spring, is brightened up in the middle by the celebration of Valentine's Day?!

Red roses and hearts greet us in nearly every shop window, patisseries offer delicious, beautifully pink and red decorated goodies, love messages on cards make us smile and people go searching for just the right gift for their loved ones. All this warms our hearts and makes life in winter a bit nicer.
Below we have quoted a few lines from Valentine poems - enjoy!

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
- Aristotle

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu

My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.
- Anais Nin

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
- Zora Neale Hurston

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.
- Leo Tolstoy

Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.
- Dorothy Parker

I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.
- Alice Walker

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
- Pablo Neruda, "Love Sonnet XVII"