In Foggy London Town

London

Oh, jet lag.  After an unremarkable plane ride, we had a massive case of jet lag and nearly slept away not only our first day but also all of the morning of our second day.  Eventually, we woke up and started to enjoy this wonderful city.

And, contrary to the title of this blog post, London was not foggy at all.  In fact, the whole southern part of the country is enjoying unusually warm spring weather. Attentive readers of my travel blogs will recognize that most post titles are, in fact, song lyrics.  Thus, Foggy London Town (can't you just hear Sinatra?  No?  Well I do).

We rented a basement flat in S. Kensington, a very upscale neighborhood.  It faced on a private garden for residents of the square.  Here's a view from inside of the garden, with lots of lovely flowers in bloom.

In spite of our fatigue, we went to a fun concert at the Royal Academy of Music, presented by the student jazz band.  It was an exuberant program of Harlem jazz from the 20's through the 40's.  It was loud and fun.  I loved it. Amazingly, they played songs that I had never heard before.  This is the lovely room where the concert was performed.  The pipe organ in the background is of a modern design and was a gift of Elton John.

Naturally, we spent quite a bit of time at the museums, which are not only world class, but also have the distinct advantage of being free admission. Out in front of the National Gallery, looking out onto Trafalgar Square, was this new, colorful resident in town which roosted in front of Canada House.

On Sunday, we went to Kensington Garden because I really like to go there. In the past, on Sunday afternoons some of the local gentlemen take their radio controlled little boats and have a regatta in the pond.  It's a lot of fun to watch. Alas, this time, the pond and surrounding areas are under repair, so the pond was fenced off, not open to boating on this lovely spring afternoon. But there were lots and lots of people taking advantage of the sunny warm weather.  Lots of picnics going on.

We certainly couldn't go to the Garden without stopping to see the Palace as well, though in my opinion, it really doesn't much look like a "palace"; more like a large apartment complex.

A couple of months ago, Larry had purchased tickets to a play which was presented in a reconstruction of the Globe, but built inside so that plays could be done all year instead of just summer (the other reconstructed Globe in London is open air, as was the custom).  As you can see, the theater was lit with candles.  During interval ("intermission" to Americans), the stagehands lowered the lights and trimmed the wicks, then relit the candles and raised them up again.  

We saw a play by Beaumont, a playwright who was a generation younger than Shakespeare. I can't say that I was terribly excited about seeing it, but I'm glad that we went.  It turned out to be hilarious.

We walked back to the tube station over the pedestrian bridge and Larry got this great shot of the London Eye.  

One day we did a bit of shopping, something that we rarely do while traveling, because think about it: you have to carry all that stuff back home  -- where are you going to put it?  But we did succumb to some fun things for gifts.  One of the stores that I particularly wanted to see is this one, Liberty of London, the one place where one would shop for top of the line home accessories.  I went in search of their famous fabrics.  Wow, pricey!  They were the equivalent of about $36/yard.  I comforted myself with some notions instead.  It was a fun place to go.  One can dream, right?

We finished up the week in London with a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, a favorite of mine.  We were staying just a short walk from the V&A, so for once, no underground necessary.  This is one of my favorite rooms, the sculpture court.

Museum cafes are often stuck in the basement, or even in an added on glass enclosure from part of the former parking lot, but the cafe at the V&A is just lovely.  Take a look.

Eight days in London is never enough, but we did a lot.  Three concerts, two plays (the other one was Lear at the National Theatre), a trip to Greenwich, four museums and a visit to the home of painter Frederick Leighton (what a great, quirky place).

I would say, a week well done.

Then, we picked up our car and I had the thrill of driving through London on the left hand side.