4 Days in London: Day 4 = Thurs. Dec 5, 2024

Thursday, Dec 5, 2024 - Although they were calling for "Rain" today, it looks like I will have a rain-free window from 8 AM to 1 PM. Plenty of time for me to to grab Post Offices North-and-West of my hotel:

It is a nice day for a walk-about:

It is FUN to "peek-over-the-wall" once in a while:

Although I was in "non-rain", it had rained throughout the night. I'm sure these sidewalks made Wonderful Sense when they were designed (and even installed), but when you GET RAIN on them, they are VERY SLICK and Great Attention must be paid just to walk on them:

More FUN Houses-in-London:

I wound up collecting 9 Post Offices today. My favorite is when the building/location is exclusively a "Post Office" (W9 3ND - London, UK):

I find them much-less-appealing when the "Post Office function" is just a small part of the business (W9 1EU - London, UK, for example):

I was just about done with my 7-mile-hike at noon, and had lunch at Harrison's Coffee:

The view to my right from my lunch-table:

Back to the Hotel as the rain started coming down (had to get a bag of chips on the way). I worked on my computer, and read my Science-Fiction book, and packed. It turns out that I grabbed 34 Post Offices over 4 days:

4 on Monday (purple)
12 on Tuesday (orange)
9 on Wednesday (black)
9 on Thursday (blue):

And I wound up walking 42.2 miles over those 4 days:

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Friday, Dec 6, 2024
My flight home is Virgin Atlantic #4011 - Economy Class (handled by Delta)
Terminal 3 (Gate 23?)
Heathrow Airport, London, UK, 08:50 AM - Logan Airport, Boston, MA, US, 11:45 AM

Heathrow Express From Paddington: every 15 minutes from 5:10am to 11:25pm

I got up after 4 AM; cleaned up and got out of there. Reached Paddington Station at 4:51

I went down to the end of the platform and looked back:

15-minute ride to The Airport:

When you get off the train, you first look right:

And then you look left. Well, I am flying Virgin-and-Delta, so this LOOKS GOOD:

I checked-in, got through Security, and the tried to find the Gate for my Flight-to-Boston. So glad I got here early:

I think Heathrow has taken lessons from The Museums - the Only Way to the Gates is through The Gift Shops:

I finally found a seat among some nice little stores:

Nice plane with a lot of room:

Taking off from Heathrow:

Cool window seat:

Landing at Boston - that's My Plane:

WOW - Thank you God for all these wonderful "Adventures-in-London" days! (and for Safe Travels hither-thither-and-yon)

Past entries of this blog are available on the website https://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

4 Days in London: Day 3 = Wed. Dec 4, 2024

Wednesday, Dec 4, 2024 - First of all, I have to apologize for yesterday's blog. I put SO MUCH STUFF into The Blog that Gmail didn't even show THE WHOLE BLOG - you have to click on "View entire message" to see the rest:

Let's see about today. The forecast is for "overcast" (no rain), with tempatures in the 50s (I'm just wearing my jacket-and-tie, while everyone else seems to be in down parkas). Tomorrow, however, they are calling for "Rain", so I'm going to try to fit-it-all-in today:

I doubled-up at Breakfast = 2 croissants, then hit the streets at 8:40. I grabbed a few Post Offices, and saw some nice "London streets":

At one point I saw a car turn down into "Devonshire Place Mews" - looks very nice and calm and quiet:

A couple of nice pictures in London, including the BBC Tower:

My first stop today was The Wallace Collection, which opened at 10 AM:

I am a fan of the Rooms and Gallery themselves:

Beauties include: Rembrandt van Rijn - "Self Portrait", c. 1637 oil:

Canaletto - "Venice: the Bacino di San Marco from the Canale della Giudecca", c. 1735-1744 oil:

Richard P. Bonington - "The Piazza San Marco, Venice", 1828 oil:

Francesco Guardi - "Venice: San Giorgio Maggiore with the Giudecca and the Zitelle", 1780s oil:

Fun Museum:

Back out on the street I had some lunch:

Speaking of the Streets of London, THE CITY IS FILTHY! I don't want to say anything bad about any place, but there is trash everywhere. I think the major reason is there ARE NO GARBAGE CANS ANYWHERE (maybe one every 10 blocks, and certainly none at any of the MAJOR INTERSECTIONS). As a result, my rule here is DO NOT PICK UP TRASH UNLESS YOU SEE A PLACE TO PUT IT:

My next stop was The British Museum:

The Rosetta Stone:

The Elgin Marbles:

Assyria/Nineveh carvings:

Finished The British Museum at 1:45

And then off to Sir John Soane's Museum at 2 PM:

On their website they have a REALLY COOL "Virtual Tour" (click here)

How can I be polite about this - Sometimes people just collect TOO MUCH STUFF (I know, I know - Look in the mirror, Dennis):

I think we can still fit one or two more paintings up there:

Beauties include (facsimilies of his original drawings by) Piranesi - 15 original Piranesi drawings for Paestum in his Picture Room:

Canaletto (1697-1768) - "Riva degli schiavoni, Venice", c.1734-35 oil:

J.M.W. Turner - "Admiral van Tromp's Barge at the entrance to the Texel, 1645", 1831 oil:

It was only 2:30 when I was done, so I walked down to the Tate Britain, passing Westminster Abbey on the way:

I reached the Tate Britain at 3:10

This is where "The Turner Bequest" wound up. For J.M.W. Turner, I took pictures of 53 oils, 28 watercolours, and 3 etchings/engravings. The 6 best are:

"Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps", exhibited 1812 oil

"The Shipwreck", exhibited 1805 oil:

"Regulus", 1828, reworked 1837 oil:

"Ancient Rome; Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus", exhibited 1839 oil:

"Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth", exhibited 1842 oil:

"The Dogana, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa", exhibited 1842 oil:

The Museum is Beautiful:

Besides J.M.W. Turner, other wonderful artists include:

Henry Moore 1898-1986 - "Working Model for Unesco Reclining Figure 1957", cast c.1959-61 bronze

Samuel Scott 1702-72 - "An Arch of Westminster Bridge", c. 1750 oil:

John Martin 1789-1854 - "The Great Day of His Wrath", 1851-53 oil:

Richard Parkes Bonington 1802-1828 - "A Distant View of St-Omer", c. 1824 oil:

It was 4:30 when I exited The Museum:

Lambeth Bridge is beautiful (with The London Eye behind it):

Wow, "London At Night" is just wonderful, from The Houses of Parliment to Big Ben to Westminster Abbey:

I made my way up to Waterloo Gardens and up "Regent Street Saint Jame's":

Unfortunately (or "fortunately" - I guess it depends on your point-of-view), the street runs into "Piccadilly Circus" = London's version of Times Square:

I made my way up to Sotheby's - unfortunately The Galleries were closed because they are having an Auction tonight:

Walked back to my hotel. That was a Fun Hike Around London:

Near as I can figure out, I walked 11.0 miles today. Thank you God for these wonderful "Adventures-in-London" days!

Past entries of this blog are available on the website https://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/