I love reading and I love spending time in bookstores curled up in a comfy chair ,with the smell of new books all round and slipping away in my mind on crazy adventures to far away places or chasing killers through the pages of a racy thriller.Whatever your genre’ of books , a visit to the historic Daunt Bookstore in London at Marylebone is a MUST!
Why ?
Well ,for one ,it’s inside an old Victorian building and though set now amidst a lot of modern shops around in the heart of Central London , one step inside and you are instantly inside a different world.
When you walk into the main area inside also where one can see a glass stained window and the steps leading to the basement and to the mezzanine sort of area and if you don’t fall in love with this book store then you are probably not one of the crazy book lovers that exist !
The beautiful eco friendly jute carry bag that one can buy from bookstore also has a stencilled image of this very view ,so readers feats your eyes on the image below and I hope it makes u sigh , I did , rather audibly so …
It’s old world charm coupled with the fact that they do have rather large and well researched collection of books is any book lovers dream come true.
My very pregnant pal K and me spent hours browsing ,reading -of course after settling ourselves near this massive stain glassed area on two cane chairs, but hey the basement is cosier , quieter and a proper ”loose yourself in the moment” type of setting .
I did find it annoying though that some people who came in , didn’t bother to speak in hushed tones or put their cellphones on silent mode ,grrrr , I dislike such bad habits ..note: making angry bird faces 🙂
I must also add that it was very nice indeed that one of the staff members allowed me to click these images inside with the promise that it wouldn’t disturb anyone.
Of course it would be massive injustice to us and the bookstore to walk out empty handed so K purchased a book on parenting and I decided to go for a classic : Three Men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome .
I did have an small debate whether I should allow myself to splash out on other books or beautiful post cards with vintage prints but on my shoe string budget and part time employment income it just didn’t seem right , oh well , in hope of happier days 🙂
After such a beautiful experience it was necessary to end the day perfectly so after a brief de-tour to a rather interesting shop selling fresh sea food,we landed at Patisserie Valerie ( the foodie in me just ended up walking into the sea food store ,chatting up with the friendly fella there and chomping on a green green sea weed which looks like thin tiny sticks with joints evenly spaced, it is naturally salty in taste and one can eat it after lightly stir frying in a generous blob of butter just as you would relish say, fresh asparagus !I unfortunately can’t recollect the name of the weed or of the store , oh well ! ) I am ever so grateful to the shop owner who was kind enough to let me click these images !
Well, after these visual delights , we allowed our senses to be bombarded with the amazing display of a maddening variety of cakes,pastries,pies and chocolates on display at the Patisserie Valerie. After settling onto a table I decided to gorge on tart .Unfortunately , I was so besotted with the place and later lost in the experience that I didn’t take any pictures inside this wonder full cafe. Established in 1926 all their 50 cafes spread across England have an undeniable charm ,one must visit to know. Of course now they are high tech too with a website and social media presence, their website link is given below :
http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/default.aspx
It certainly was one magical Wednesday but we had to part and get back from Victorian Times to attend the mundane tasks of our daily existence , ever so reluctantly we did ….
