
I've been celebrating the New Year in London these past few days at the beautiful
St. Ermin's Hotel, which is steeped in spy lore. A secret tunnel is rumored to run beneath the grand staircase (pictured above) all the way to the houses of Westminster.
Part of the reason I've been ploughing through
The Karla Trilogy
is because I knew I'd be staying here. Back in the 40's Winston Churchill held a meeting at St. Ermin's to recuit the founding members of the
SOE, who, headquartered at St. Ermin's, carried out covert operations during WWII. The MI6 also had a floor of the hotel. In the 50s, it was rumored that members of the Cambridge 5, including Guy Burgess handed over secret papers to their Russian handlers in St. Ermin's Caxton Bar.

I met up with Ada, who pens one of my favorite daily reads,
Classiq, at the
Valentino exhibit. It was amazing, and of course later we had to meet up with Ada's husband for a drink at the famous Caxton bar. No spies in sight, although you never know...
Hoping your first week of the new year has been a good one!
Labels: stylish living
22 Comments:
Happy Belated New Year Mary Jo! I cannot believe I missed both of you but I was away for hols! Hope you had a fabulous time in Londontown (and that the weather treated you well!).
Have a fantastic 2013!
x.o.x.o
i love everything about this! the hotel looks amazingly beautiful but with all that history, oh, so much better. i am such a sucker for that sort of thing. and i love that you and ada were able to meet up for the valentino exhibit (nice!) and to share a drink - it's great to see you two, such a nice photo!
What a great place to spend the holidays. Hope you have a wonderful new year.
Happy New Year, Mary Jo!! I hope you had a wonderful time in London, one of my favorite cities!! I am sure meeting Ada was an extraordinary experience and probably you both had a great time together!
I wish you a beautiful year 2013, filled with love and may all your wishes come true!
Have a fabulous weekend!
xoxoxo
Looks like you kicked off the new year in a fine fashion. And it's lovely you got to meet up with Ada as well.
Happy 2103! I hope this year brings you much joy, great health and good fortune Mary Jo!
Rowena @ rolala loves
Wow!! It's gorgeous, and the history is absolutely fascinating! I love love mysterious places like this, and the decor is stunning. Have a wonderful time in London!! (I'm jealous!:)
xo
Rachel
It's beautiful. Glad that you are enjoying your London holiday. I love places like this, so much dramatic & clandestine-like history. Happy new year. :)
What a perfect place to celebrate. Happy new year!
i am soooo jealous! i heard about that place mary jo. it was a documentary on churchill where they talked about it. gorgeous hotel! so glad you're having a fabulous time. you deserve it!
http://www.averysweetblog.com/
It was wonderful to finally meet you, Mary Jo. This truly made it my favourite trip to London so far. Enjoy the rest o your stay! xo
Ada
Have a great 2013!!!
Love it!!!
London is one of my favourite cities. The City looks so enchanting and mysterious in any season. Have a lovely weekend.
Love London, miss London, will see it this summer, a lucky girl you are.....
xo
m
Belated Happy New Year Mary Jo! Just headed over here from Ada's blog to see your London pics! Must make my way to St Ermin's for a drink now!
Just beautiful & dreamy...love that architecture...gorgeous pictures xo
There are my two favourite ladies together in a photo ... love it ;-) The story of that hotel is fascinating. Now I'm dying to read that trilogy. I have only seen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but never read any of Carré's 'Karla' books.
Happy New Year Mary Jo! What an intriguing bit of history on that Hotel. I'll have to keep an eye out for the book you just mentioned. I do love a good spy story. I'm quite envious that you're in London right now. What a fabulous time of year to be there. Have a great time!
xx Jenee C.
{camo meets couture}
So lovely that you met! I am so glad to see you together, the magic and friendship of the blogger all over the world, beautiful! I hope you had a lovely time together, that place looks like a fairytale! Happy New Year, Mary Jo!
Happy belated New Year! Just adore these photos! Looks like it was a fabulous time!
Jayme & Mendi @ Her Late Night Cravings
Having a good old catch up - wow you are really traveling! Lovely pic of you and Ada - is that you on the left? T
I didn't know that you met up with Ada, what a nice surprise! I'm sure you had a lovely time in London!
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