4 Days in London: Day 2 = Tues. Dec 3, 2024

Tuesday, Dec 3, 2024 - Today's "plans" call for only 2 museums:

But let's start with pictures of my room:

Don't forget The View:

Breakfast is from 7-to-9 - croissant, yogurt, fruit cup and coffee.

Out the door at 8:45. My favourite streets in London are those that curve-around in the direction I want to go (otherwise there is a lot of left-right gridwork):

My first stop was my favorite Post Office today - W1W 7NE - London, UK (Great Portland branch):

I then pass a store that is a combination coffee-shop-and-Victoria's-Secret. I have died and gone to heaven:

I get to Tottenham Court Road, and The Dominion Theatre showing "The Devil Wears Prada" (music by Elton John):

I am down at Somerset House (the home of The Courtauld Gallery) at 9:57 for my 10:00 ticket entrance:

I stood in line ("in the queue"), joining a man who looked EXACTLY like the detective in "Foyle's War", which Wendy and I love:

I did buck-up my courage, and asked him - "Excuse me, but I'm from America, and my wife and I are big fans of Foyle's War", and you look exactly like the detective on the show." He smiled and muttered something like "no no no", and then we had a nice conversation about seeing art without our wives. We separated once we were inside. I still like to think it was him.

Nice area:

Starting at the Top Floor, you are exposed to the beauty of their Permanent Collection:

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) - "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere", 1882 oil:

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) - "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear", 1889 oil:

I will see 21 Monets in The Exhibition, but here are 2 from The Courtauld Gallery Permanent Collection - "Antibes", 1888 oil:

"Autumn Effect at Argenteuil", 1873 oil:

And then it was time for The Exhibition: "Monet and London: Views of the Thames". There are 21 pictures - 5 of Charing Cross Bridge, 9 of Waterloo Bridge, and 7 of The Houses of Parliament:

Favourites include:

"Charing Cross Bridge. The Thames", 1903 oil (from Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, France):

"Waterloo Bridge. Veiled Sun", 1903 oil (private collection):

"Waterloo Bridge, Overcast", 1903 oil (from Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen):

"London. The Houses of Parliment. Shaft of Sunlight in the Fog", 1904 oil (from Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France):

"The Houses of Parliament. Sunset", 1904 oil (from Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Kunstmuseum Krefeld, Germany):

In the rest of the building - Edgar Degas - "Two Dancers on a Stage", 1874 oil:

The Central Staircase:

Peter Paul Rubens - "Studies for an Altarpiece in Antwerp Cathedral", 1611-13 oil:

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) - "Bacchus", Around 1751-53 red and white chalk:

Outside in the Courtyard of Somerset House:

As I walk down The Strand, of course there is MORE THEATRE:

The National Gallery (on Trafalgar Square, with its statue of "Nelson's Column") is 1/2 mile southwest of The Courtauld Gallery:

Although there was no entry fee or timed-ticket, I did have to stand in line. I did a sudoku. You can tell the sun is trying to break through on this early-December day:

I printed a map of "Level 2" (their "Main Floor"), circling the 8 rooms I wanted to visit:

My first stop was Room 36, with its 2 paintings by J.M.W. Turner and 2 paintings by Claude Lorrain:

The 2 by J.M.W. Turner are "Dido building Carthage", 1815 oil:

and "Sun Rising through Vapour", before 1807 oil:

I took photos of 62 paintings. My top 8 are:

Claude Monet - "Water-Lilies", after 1916 oil:

J.M.W. Turner - "The Fighting Temeraire", 1839 oil:

J.M.W. Turner - "Ulysses deriding Polyphemus - Homer's Odyssey", 1829 oil:

Francesco Guardi - "Venice: Pizza San Marco", about 1760 oil:

Canaletto - "Venice: Campo S. Vidal and Santa Maria della Carità ('The Stonemason's Yard')", about 1728 oil:

Rembrandt - "Ecce Homo", 1634 oil:

Jan van Eyck - "The Arnolfini Portrait", 1434 oil:

Titian - "The Holy Family with a Shepherd", about 1510 oil:

Interestingly, the only exit is THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP:

I walked a little over a mile, in a little over one hour:

Back outside I had a Bratwurst with mustard - it was Perfect:

So, it is before 1 in the afternoon - WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? Hey, I can do The London Eye!:

There were only 6 of us in our capsule, and I got a great shot of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and The Houses of Parliment:

To get to the Tate Modern, I had a nice walk along The Thames:

The Tate Modern is a little brutalist:

This Museum has on-display 3 paintings by Georges Braque, 1 by Amedeo Modigliani, and 1 by Jackson Pollock (one painting I want to see by Picasso is currently in Worcester, MA as part of an Exhibition!):

Georges Braque - "Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on a Mantlepiece", 1911 oil:

Amedeo Modigliani - "The Little Peasant", c. 1918 oil:

It was still light as I walked across Blackfriars Bridge to see an interesting restaurant right across from St. Paul's Cathedral:

St. Paul's Cathedral is a very cool place. I bought a ticket, saw the Interior, and then made my way up to The Top (Golden Gallery):

I've seen a lot of things in cities, but I have never seen a fox:

London lights up at night!

That sure was fun stretching my legs around London:

Near as I can figure out, I walked 12.4 miles today (I guess I got both My Steps AND My Stairs Goals). 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/

4 Days in London: Day 1 = Mon. Dec 2, 2024

Monday, Dec 2, 2024 - 2 months ago I was told that because we are getting insulation blown into the attic eves the first week of December, we have to be out-of-the-house. Well, I thought, I'm going to go to LONDON (England, not Ontario)! There are 11 museums I want to visit, plus Westminster Abbey, Christie's, and Sotheby's:

It turns out that you can take the Heathrow Express to get from Heathrow Airport to Paddington Station. The Days Inn Hyde Park is just a few blocks from The Station (and I GET POINTS in my Wyndham account):

OF COURSE I asked Wendy if she would like to join me for this adventure. She smiled and rolled her eyes and said: "Thank you so much, but I don't want to "do museums" the way you "do museums" (um, 90 miles-an-hour?)." So that freed me up to plan my assault. The first thing that crossed my radar was an Exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery:

It is sold-out now, but at the time I was able to book a 10 AM ticket for Tuesday Dec 3.

It quickly became apparent that my original plan (3 days) was not going to work - Blessedly, Wendy said "Why don't you just take a 4th day?" BIG SMILE on my face! Virgin Atlantic has a red-eye from Boston-to-London, and a Friday morning flight back, so I booked them. I booked 4 nights (Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday) at the Days Inn Hyde Park for about $250-per-night. The Courtauld was the only museum that charged and had a specific entry time; The King's Gallery and The British Museum have no charge, but you must sign-up for a timed-entry-ticket. The Museum of London is closed until 2026. It looks like my itinerary will be:

Victoria and Albert Museum, and The King's Gallery on Monday
The Courtauld Gallery (Monet exhibit), and The National Gallery on Tuesday
The Wallace Collection, The British Museum, and Sir John Soane's Museum on Wednesday
Tate Modern, Tate Britain, and Westminster Abbey on Thursday (maybe fit in The London Eye between Tate Modern and Tate Britain)

Except for maybe getting over to the Tate Modern, I plan on walking everywhere.

On Sunday, Dec 1, Wendy dropped me off at Terminal E (Logan Airport) at 4 PM. It was a breeze checking my bag and going through Security, and I was at The Gate at 4:28 for my 8:10 PM flight:

Terminal E has a nice clean look to it:

Pretty cool lighting on The Plane:

Very Bad Turbulence 3 hours into the flight, but it went away, and 2-and-1/2 hours later we were over Greater London:

We landed at 7:55 AM Local Time. I got my bag and pulled out my phone to access the QR code for my "Heathrow Express" ticket:

Heathrow Express to Paddington Station £20.00 (one-way) The trip takes 15 minutes
To Paddington: train leaves every 15 minutes from 5:12am to 11:58pm.
From Paddington: train leaves every 15 minutes from 5:10am to 11:25pm.

This is where I saw "The Warning":

I was at Paddington Station at 9:25, where I had to re-scan my phone's QR code to exit the Train-Track:

Out on the street, and 3 blocks to my hotel (can you see R2D2?):

I had exchanged emails with them last week, asking (since I was staying 4 nights) if I could leave my bags behind the desk while I explored London today, and then "officially check-in" when I returned. They had said that would be fine. I introduced myself to the lady and gentleman behind the desk, and IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when he handed me my key!!! I went upstairs (took the lift to my 4th-floor room, but the stairs back down) and showered-shaved-and-shined! And headed out to the Victoria and Albert Museum:

Fun sightseeing south through Kensington Gardens:

Royal Albert Hall (where The Stones recorded their "Got Live If You Want It" album during their Autumn 1966 tour):

The dinosaur outside the Natural History Museum:

And then it was time for the Victoria and Albert Museum at 11:22 AM:

People generally "collect a lot of stuff". Imagine how much STUFF The Queen of England could collect:

Can one really ever have "too many pulpits"?

The art is wonderful:

J.M.W. Turner - "Venice from the Giudecca", 1840 oil:

J.M.W. Turner - "Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going off to a Stranded Vessel Making Signal (Blue Lights) of Distress", 1831 oil:

David Roberts - "Old Buildings on the Darro, Granada", 1834 oil:

John Martin - "Mountain Landscape with Rocks", About 1851 oil:

Bernardo Bellotto - "Capriccio with bridges and figures", About 1740-47 oil:

That was a good hike - I didn't realize I was right around the corner from Holy Trinity Brompton:

Then I was back out on the Streets of London:

I stopped at The Apple Store to recharge my phone:

Some streets are less-busy than others:

I reached The King's Gallery at 1:58 for my 2:00 entrance ticket:

This is where I turned-off MapMyWalk because it was just eating up too much battery, even with one of my rechargers:

The King's Gallery Exhibition is "Drawing the Italian Renaissance":

Beauties include: Daniele da Volterra (c. 1509-1566) - "A seated man", c. 1550 grey-black chalk:

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) - "The muscles of the trunk and the leg", c. 1510-11 pen and ink with wash, over black chalk:

And then it was back out on the streets around Buckingham Palace:

There was still plenty of daylight, so I made my way up-and-around to Christie's London:

Beauties include a pair of oil paintings by Michele Marieschi - "Venice, a stonemason's yard on the Grand Canal, with a view of the Palazzo Ca' Tron, the Palazzo Belloni Battagia, the Fondaco del Megio and the Fondaco dei Turchi" and "Venice, the Doge's Palace with the Campanile, the Libreria and Santa Maria della Salute beyond":

Rembrandt van Rijn - "Christ crucified between the two Thieves: 'The Three Crosses'", 1653 drypoint etching:

It was a festive walk back to my hotel:

Near as I can figure out, I walked 11.8 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/