October 1
It rained all night and was still
raining this morning when I headed out. April stayed back at the flat while I
would start my day at the National Gallery.
I took the Tube to Leicester Square and walked down Charing Cross to
Trafalgar Square.
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| Trafalgar Square in the rain |
I spent the next two hours
walking through most of the rooms. I followed the guide the Gallery hands out
identifying the 10 paintings you should look at if you only have an hour. I don’t know how anyone could do it in the
hour as the placement of the rooms could be confusing (at least to me), and I
never did find the Caravaggio!
I did, however, recognize many of
the pictures as I had watched a 24 lecture series on the Gallery and many of
the paintings were discussed in detail.
The Gallery has two Vermeers, and
there were two on display, but one, The Guitar Player, is on a short term loan
while Kentwood House is being remodelled.
Typically there are two versions of A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal,
but there was only one there today.
After a couple of hours, I headed
back out into the rain to go to the British Museum. The Museum is a fair
distance from the nearest Tube station, Holburn. It was easy to find as there was a lot of
signage to point you in the right direction as you went along. It was now about 1:45 and I had only had a
couple of pieces of toast for breakfast and I was getting very hungry.
I went into the Museum Tavern, a
grade 2 building across from the Museum, and had a delicious lunch of bangers
and mash. Once fortified, I headed into
the Museum.
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| Museum Tavern |
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| Rosetta Stone |
Again, I just aimed to hit the
high points due to time constraints. The famous Reading Room is now used for
special exhibits. The Rosetta Stone was
constantly encircled by people.
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| Elgin Marbles |
The Elgin Marbles were displayed
in a large room, though they weren't referred to as the Marbles, but rather as “pieces
from the Parthenon”.
I also saw the remains of the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, which was one of the Wonders of the Ancient
World.
The Standard of Ur, was
surprisingly small.
The Lewis chessman, from the 12th
century, were incredibly intricate.
The museum itself was a wonder,
with great mosaics and sculpture everywhere you looked.
While the signage was very good
going from the Tube station to the British Museum, there wasn't comparable
signage to trace one’s way back to the Tube! Thank goodness for the iPhone that
the company that rented the flat gave us to use. I just located the Holburn
station on the map and the phone would let me know if I was walking closer and
further away from my destination.
As it was now 3 PM, I headed back
to the flat, with very sore feet from all the walking. A quick constitutional cup of tea and April
and I headed out to Tesco’s. Thanks to Google, we knew to take Lothbury to Old
Jewry Lane and through the Lane down to Poultry / Cheapside. We picked up some
yogurt and bread for breakfast and some replacement pasta for the penne we had
eaten the night before.
We headed back to the flat and
got ready to go out. We took the Tube to
the Embankment station and started looking for the Playhouse Theatre. It was
just around the corner from the Tube and when we got there (around 5:45), the
box office was open. I had ordered the tickets on-line when we were in Paris,
but I only needed to give her my name and we had the tickets.
As we still had 1.5 hours until
the show, we went for dinner. April had chestnut and mushroom soup, which she
found quite bland. I ordered fish and chips (again), but they continue to be
good, but not great. For dessert, I
ordered a passion fruit pavlova that was delicious. We walked back along Craven
Street and noticed a number of plaques on the buildings. Herman Melville, Heinrich
Heine, and Benjamin Franklin had all lived here in these Georgian buildings.
We headed back to the theatre and
were there about 6:55. The show was a
one-man presentation of the Mystery of Charles Dickens, performed by Simon
Callow. It only started a couple of
weeks ago, but we were surprised to see the theatre (very small to begin with),
was only half full.
Callow was excellent, sometimes
narrating information about Dickens’ life, sometimes playing the characters.
The show started at 7:30 and was over by 9:30, and we headed back by Tube.
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| Lothbury exit at Bank Tube station |
It was another great day in
London. I think we are going to try and
take in St. Paul’s, the Tower, and the Globe tomorrow.
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