© Daniel Mosher Long except where noted
Embedded Files
The distinctively shaped 20 Fenchurch Street building as seen at sunset from atop the Golden Gallery on St. Paul's uppermost dome. There are 528 stairs that wind to the top of St. Paul's. Wear good shoes. Eat after you visit, not before.
As seen at sunset from atop the Golden Gallery on St. Paul's uppermost dome: Blackfriars Bridge, The Eye (ferris wheel), Southwark & South Bank of Thames - looking towards Westminster with St. Paul's Cathedral Clock Tower & Unilever House in foreground.
Getting There
Getting There
January 8 - 14, 2018
A friend told us about his off-season long weekend in London. And we thought, why not?
We have been traveling at the height of tourist season for years. Because of our work schedules, we venture abroad during the Summer, when everyone else goes on vacation. Not during the Fall. Not during the Spring. That’s when we teach and can’t take time off. We go on vacation in the heat of the Summer.
But this year we decided to try something radically different. We decided to go away in January - for five nights - an extra-long weekend or a short week away before school starts up. Away-away. Not to New York City (which we often do in January). But far away. Across the Atlantic. To London!
Monday
Snow was predicted in the afternoon – roads were supposed to get slick. We left Storrs, CT for Framingham, MA and the Logan Express bus on the early side, at 2:30 PM, before the flakes flew. Framingham is about 1 hour and 20 minutes away from us and an easy exit off the Mass Pike. Logan Express is an alternative to driving to and/or parking at Logan Airport. The Logan Express bus leaves for Logan Airport approximately every half hour from Framingham depending on traffic (as well as other locations throughout Massachusetts). This was our first time using Logan Express instead of driving directly to the airport. We arrived at the bus terminal just before 4 PM and jumped on a departing bus – good timing/no wait. Aidan was our chauffeur, so we didn’t pay to park. It began snowing as he drove back.
We had printed our boarding passes at home and checking luggage at Logan was relatively straightforward. The lines through security were short at that time of day. The process was easy and we were done quickly. By 5:15 we were at our gate with four hours to kill before our flight! Four hours! Holy shit. How did we fuck this up?
Sitting at the gate for four hours was not what we anticipated. We expected slow travel due to the predicted snow, or missing the Logan Express bus, or getting waylaid by the rush hour Boston traffic, or stymied by glacially-long lines through security. This was our first international flight experience since our son missed his first-leg, connecting flight to Japan (via Chicago) because we didn't get him to the airport in time to get through the unusually long security lines at Bradley Airport in CT. Our son's trip was delayed by a day and the domino effect of the delay had consequences. We were vicariously traumatized by his missed flight. So we kept telling ourselves, better to err with caution and be early. Has anyone ever died from boredom?
We ate a leisurely and forgettable dinner at an airport pub. Logan has free WI-FI so we surfed the web and read. I people watched and tried to psychically control their every movement, which did not work. As much as I tried, I could not make a single person strip off their clothes and do a handstand. International flights at our terminal all seemed to depart around the same time, between 8 and 10 PM. The TSA/security lines grew very long close to departure time.
On the airplane (British Airways) Becky gave up her window seat and moved to a middle seat a few rows ahead so a mother and young daughter flying standby could sit together. I sat in an aisle seat next to the reunited mother and daughter. The mother put the 4-year-old in the middle seat – not sure why she would do that – and took the window seat for herself and plugged into her phone for the duration. The little girl laid with her head in her mother’s lap and extended her feet into my lap. The little girl proceeded to whine, squirm and kick me for the six-hour duration of the flight (while her mother ignored her). No good deed goes unpunished.
Please allow me to whine like a 4-year-old. My on-board entertainment system was broken. No movies. The reading light above my seat would not shut off. And the British Airways stewardess could not care less about either. At 3 AM I was in the spotlight - the brightest thing on the plane. So no sleeping. Just me and the little girl, both wide awake, both unhappy. The girl's mother snoring loudly.
Chelsea/ The Flat
Chelsea/ The Flat
Tuesday
We were through customs and baggage claim at Heathrow by approximately 10 AM London time. Our “Blackberry” driver was on time and we made it to our small flat on the corner of Cadogan and Rawlings Street, a comparatively quiet, residential neighborhood in Chelsea, by 11 AM and were greeted by the house cleaner and her little daughter.
Chelsea is an affluent (formerly hipster) area of South West London, bounded to the south by the Thames River. Technically, we were staying in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in the general area of Knightsbridge, Brompton Road and Harrods, fairly close to Hyde Park and Belgravia going north, and Sloan Square going south. The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History and Science Museums, Prince Albert Hall, and lots of upscale boutiques and restaurants were a ten or fifteen minute walk away.
From Rambling London: There are some interesting literary connections in Chelsea: P.L Travers and Bram Stoker lived in Chelsea, authors of Mary Poppins and Dracula respectively. Can you imagine two characters less like each other? Although, let’s remember, both of them can fly and they both seem to be immortal, so maybe there’s more there than we think… Ian Fleming’s James Bond also lived in an unnamed square off King’s Road.
The open-floor-plan kitchen and living space. The skylight helped brighten up the area. The mirrors made the flat feel spacious.
The bedroom with adjacent bathroom. There was also a half-bath in the entry way. Two loos for the price of one. Photos courtesy of Ivy Lettings.
We rented the flat through a British agency called Ivy Lettings, which is a curated version of VRBO or Airbnb. The flat was in a brick building (most all the buildings in the area were brick, many painted white). It had a first floor entryway “cloakroom” with a coat rack and a separate lavatory with a toilet and washer/dryer. Two bathrooms total (well, 1.5) - unusual. The main living area of the flat was upstairs on the second floor. It had a “kitchenette in a closet” with cupboards for glasses, mugs, and a few pots and pans. It had a two-burner electric range that the English call a “hob,” a separate oven, a microwave, a mini fridge (but no dishwasher), a French press coffeemaker and small sink - all in a tight, narrow space that could be closed off by a set of bi-fold doors (which is why I called it a kitchenette in a closet). Not a kitchen designed for a gourmet, multi-course meal. But perfect for our needs.
The main room had on one side a dining table and a rustic, peeling paint “buffet” with plates and silverware and kitchen utensils. On the other side of the main room the “lounge area” included an L shaped couch, a love seat, a coffee table in between, a couple of end tables, a bookcase and the TV. The bedroom was small but had a British king-sized bed (equivalent to an American queen sized bed) and plenty of space to stow one’s clothes. An ample modern bathroom was located off the bedroom. The flat felt like it was designed by an architect to make the most out of the limited square footage – it had hard wood floors, sufficient windows, a big skylight and lots of oversized “salvage” mirrors to reflect the light. It was smartly decorated with a mix of shabby-chic antiques and Scandinavian design furnishings and original drawings and prints.
All in all, the flat was clean, recently re-modeled/updated, quite comfortable, bright and quiet. While not large (at 650 sq. ft), it was big enough - a remarkably well-designed, very economical use of space. I could not tell if the flat was in a building that was 50 years old or 150 years old. It rented for around 200 pounds or $260 a night in 2018. It was probably less expensive than a comparable hotel suite in London and the location was hard to beat. Curiously, we did not pass by many (or any that I recall) hotels in Chelsea. I'm sure they exist. This flat, as of 2024, is still for rent and curiously, I don't think the photos have changed.
After we arrived, we picked up coffees and pastry at Baker and Spice, a small bakery café, conveniently located just a block away. The sky was darkly overcast but it was not raining. The temperature was around a balmy 45 degrees Fahrenheit, which felt tropical compared to the outrageously cold New England winter we left behind.
Winters in London can be damp and dreary. The British capital sits at 51.5 degrees latitude north – roughly equivalent to the Canadian city of Calgary and farther north than Montreal and Toronto.
On January 9th when we arrived, the sunset in London was officially 4:11 PM.
We returned to the flat and showered and put on fresh clothes. We had things to do before dark. Becky was on a mission to see every painting in London! And photograph most of them to incorporate into her art in the coming months.
Our flat as seen from the street. The round window is the bathroom window. The rectangular window is the kitchen window. The flat was above a realtor's office.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
Pockmarks. Germany launched its bombing raids on British cities – the Blitz – on September 7, 1940. For 11 weeks London and many other parts of England were besieged. The Victoria and Albert Museum closed only briefly due to an explosion that caused severe damage to the entrances and windows along the western side. These battle scars were never repaired.
No time to rest! No time for jet lag! We walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum from our flat on Cadogan and Rawlings Street. The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The V&A covers 12.5 acres and has multiple floors. There are over 140 galleries in the museum. It is a big museum. So big that we went twice.
The Cast Court was installed in the V&A to allow people "too poor to travel" to see culturally important works of art.
The tallest object in the V&A is a plaster cast of Trajan’s Column, which stands 116 feet high. In fact, it is displayed as two separate towers because it is too tall to fit inside the gallery without being sectioned. The column was being restored when we visited. This photo has reflections because it was shot through glass. In case you were wondering.
The Cast Court at the Victoria and Albert Museum consists of two large rooms that house a collection of reproductions of famous works of art from around the world. The Cast Court feature some of the museum's largest objects, including casts of Michelangelo's David, Trajan's Column, and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise.
From the V & A website (edited):
“This fig-leaf was hung on the David on the occasion of visits by royal ladies. It was last used in the time of Queen Mary (1867-1953). According to anecdotal information, on her first encounter with the cast of David, Queen Victoria was so shocked by his nudity that a firm suggestion was made that something had to be done.
Consequently, the correctly proportioned fig leaf was created and stored in readiness for any visit the Queen might make, for which occasions it was hung on the figure from two strategically implanted hooks.”
Ouch.
Reproduction casts of 13th century heads from the Salisbury Cathedral on display at the V&A.
The Museum of Manufactures, as the V&A was known when it opened in 1852, houses the world's largest collection of decorative arts, from Asian ceramics to Middle Eastern rugs, Chinese paintings, Western furniture, fashion from all ages and modern-day domestic appliances.
Spirit of Gaiety by Hibbert C. Binney, 1904.
This was a working trip for Becky. She was photographing paintings and sculpture for the photomontages she was making as part of her Peculiar Symbiosis series. Generally, she was photographing parts of paintings and sculptures that would get blended like Bouillabaisse into something that was more than a sum of its parts. As she dissected paintings with her camera (only to re-assemble them later), I would do crosswords, crochet and recite multiplication tables. You can see her work at rebeccaclarkphoto.com.
After the museum we ate at Tom’s Kitchen in Chelsea. Tom’s Kitchen was part of celebrity chef Tom Aiken’s chain of six Tom’s Kitchen restaurants, four of which were in London, one in Birmingham and one in Istanbul. The original Tom’s Kitchen opened in Chelsea in 2006. It was also the last to close in 2020. English food is widely considered to be boring, bland and boiled (not unlike the hearty New England cuisine I was raised on). Becky and I agreed to avoid meat pies and mash. And for the most part, we were very successful. Not that there's anything wrong with a meat pie, unless you are a vegetarian like my wife.
At Tom’s Kitchen, Becky’s smoked Cornish haddock with sweet potato & cauliflower chowder, pickled raisins and shiitake mushrooms was the hit of this meal – perhaps her favorite meal of the entire trip. Pickled raisins – much better than they sound. Thanks to website menus, I can “remember” exactly what we ate at each restaurant.
London is a big, sprawling city. It can take awhile to get from point A to point B. After a busy day of sightseeing, we didn’t want to spend too much time and effort getting to a restaurant, but we wanted to eat well. So four of the six main meals we had were in the Chelsea area, all within walking distance of “home.” We had plenty of places to choose from!
After dinner we walked to the local Sainsbury’s grocer and bought bread, cheese, eggs, butter and wine. Provisions for the flat.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel & Borough Market
Isambard Kingdom Brunel & Borough Market
Wednesday
No sleeping in - we set the alarm. In the morning we found our way to a Barclays Bank in Sloan Square (about a 7 minute walk) and got some cash from the ATM – about 100 pounds ($130). We would not need much cash in London because we were able to use our no-foreign-transaction-fee Visa card just about everywhere. Which was sweet. Once upon a time there were cash only restaurants and hotels in Europe. Places that did not accept credit cards. Which caught us unprepared on at least one occasion (when we checked out of a hotel in Venice).
We found our way to the Sloan Square tube station and used a machine to purchase two Oyster Cards for the underground (that is, plastic smartcards for the subway, known as the tube). We took our first “tube” ride to the Embankment station on the banks of the Thames.
We were en route to a 10:45 guided walk that met outside the tube station. The walking tour highlighted the accomplishments of the engineering Brunel family (three generations). Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 - 1859) “was one of the most versatile and audacious engineers of the 19th century, responsible for the design of tunnels, bridges, railway lines and ships.” In a 2002 poll by the BBC, Brunel was voted the second greatest Briton of all time (after Winston Churchill). Who would have guessed?
Brunel was responsible for trend-setting steamships, the Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames (in collaboration with his father Marc Brunel) and multiple bridges, including the Maidenhead Bridge across the Thames and a cutting-edge suspension bridge. He was appointed the chief engineer of the Great Western Railroad and built Paddington Station. Brunel really liked transportation: trains, tunnels, bridges and boats, oh my.
As part of the walk we visited the Rotherhithe Tunnel shaft and the Brunel Museum. Rotherhithe Tunnel was the first tunnel built under the Thames. It's 1,300 feet long and 75 feet deep. We also took a ferry down the Thames. The sun came out for the first... and almost the last time.
After the casual and informative 2-hour tour (which involved a small museum, another tube ride as well as the ferry), we went to the outdoor Borough Market, near London Bridge, for lunch. There were dozens of vendors selling everything from fresh produce and seafood, to hard cider and cheese. Nothing boring, bland or boiled at the Borough Market. One stall was selling freshly cooked mussels and paella made on site in giant steaming “woks.” I could have purchased an ostrich, venison or alligator burger, but did not. Next time I’m in London I’ll eat ostrich.
You have to take your baggie to the bank when your currency isn't current. We didn't know our coins were outdated until we tried to pay for coffee and scones. Seemingly our 24 "round" one-pound coins that we had left over from a previous trip to Scotland and had brought in a plastic baggie with us to London were no longer legal tender. The round one pound coin stopped being legal tender at midnight on October 15, 2017, although the coin was accepted at businesses for quite some time after. But not so much in January of 2018. A new 12-sided one pound coin replaced the old coin. We had to bring our old "round" coins to a bank and exchange them for the new 12-sided coins in order to spend them willy-nilly on coffee and scones like authentic Brits and savvy tourists. Above: The new one pound coin - as of 2017.
Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunel on his ship The Great Eastern. His accomplishments over 30 years were numerable. He died at the age of 53.
Brunel's transatlantic steamship The Great Western had its maiden voyage in 1837. At the time, it was the largest steamship in the world.
Becky on the banks of the Thames. Around two-thirds of London’s drinking water supply comes directly from the Thames – after it’s been filtered and treated. For centuries raw sewage flowed directly into the Thames. As the city’s population grew, so did the amount of sewage. During the hot summer of 1858 the stench of the river was so unbearable that Parliament had to be suspended. What followed was the development of London’s sewer system, which was built in 1865.
Mudlarking on the Thames refers to the practice of searching the riverbed at low tide to find historical artifacts, essentially scavenging the foreshore for items like old coins, pottery shards, buttons, and other everyday objects from centuries past; all mudlarks on the Thames require a permit from the Port of London Authority to legally search the riverbed. Mudlarking on the Thames.
The Cannon Street Railway Bridge, River Thames.
Millennium Bridge & Saint Paul’s Cathedral
Millennium Bridge & Saint Paul’s Cathedral
This photo of the Thames River foreshore with the Old Mutual buildings (AKA Millennium Bridge House) in the background was made at low tide from the Millennium Bridge. The Thames is a tidal river, at least for some of its length. The tide can substantially affect the river level in London - up to 20 feet.
The Waterloo Helmet is a pre-Roman Celtic bronze ceremonial helmet dating to circa 150–50 BC, that was found in 1868 in the River Thames near the Waterloo Bridge in London. It is now on display at the British Museum in London.
London is an old city. It was founded by the Romans around 43 AD as a trade settlement on the River Thames. It was known as Londinium. The Romans built various structures and amenities in Londinium, including a forum, bathhouses, temples, an amphitheater, and a basilica – all long gone. But parts of the city wall known as the The London Wall, constructed around 200 AD to fortify the city and protect it from potential invadors, can still be seen in modern-day London. For instance, the Wall was incorporated into the Tower of London and in the Barbican area. The Roman occupation of Londinium lasted for approximately 400 years, during which the city flourished as a cultural and commercial hub with as many as 60,000 residents. Who knew? What is left of Londinium? Well, most of it is now 20 feet underground. Except what gets washed up on the Thames’ foreshore.
The Millennium Bridge was the first bridge built over the River Thames in 100 years. It was named the Millennium Bridge because it opened in 2000 (but only for a few days). It was nicknamed the "Wobbley Bridge" after it opened. As of 2024, there were around 400 tiny works of art on the Millennium Bridge made by the street artist "The Chewing Gum Man" (real name, Ben Wilson). These minuscule masterpieces are painted onto a unique canvas: chewing gum dropped by other people. St. Paul's Dome can be seen in the background.
We crossed the Thames on the Millennium Bridge. The Millennium Bridge is a steel suspension footbridge that links St Paul's Cathedral on the north bank with the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe on the other side in Southwark. The bridge opened in 2000 (thus “Millennium Bridge”). It was closed the same day it opened because it swayed and wobbled so. It took two years to make it stable enough to re-open.
We toured Saint Paul’s Cathedral expressly for the view. At 365 feet high, it was the tallest building in London for a long time - from 1710 to 1967. The dome is among the highest cathedral domes in the world. The present cathedral, the masterpiece of Britain's most famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, is at least the fourth to have stood on the site. It was built between 1675 and 1710, after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. This cathedral survived the Blitz although struck by bombs twice. Saint Paul’s is the seat of the Bishop of London. The church has hosted the state funerals of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher and the royal wedding of Charles and Diana.
Saint Paul’s has three galleries inside the dome: the Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery, and the Golden Gallery.
To get to the top gallery, the Golden Gallery, one has to climb an often narrow staircase with 528 steps to the top of the dome – the 360 degree view was spectacular. We were at the top just as the sun started to set.
Dan walking along St. Paul's Stone Gallery. The curiously-shaped 20 Fenchurch Street building can be seen in the right-center background. 20 Fenchurch Street is a commercial skyscraper that has been nicknamed The Walkie-Talkie because of its distinctive profile. The 34-story building is 525 ft tall, making it the fifth-tallest building in the City of London.
Spitalfields Market/Food & Drink
Spitalfields Market/Food & Drink
We had intended to start the evening at Sky Gardens (a bar with a famous indoor garden and expansive views), but could not get a reservation. So we took the tube to Spitalfields Market instead. Guidebooks say that there has been some sort of outdoor market on this site for over 350 years. Spitalfields was shutting down for the day by the time we arrived. Oh well.
So around 5 PM (after dark) we found a wine bar called Vagabond on Brushfield Street for a drink. By the time we left Vagabond 45 minutes later the place was packed. Vagabond has an interesting system. First you buy from them a credit card-sized “tasting smartcard” and then you help yourself to wine. Wine bottles line the walls and are tubed and spigoted for dispensing. You read the descriptions (crisp and fruity, medium bodied with a zesty bouquet and hints of turpentine and cabbage), make your selection and insert the card into a “tasting machine” card reading slot. Grab a glass from the shelf and put it under a spigot, press a button for your desired flavor and quantity in milliliters and the machine dispenses the right amount of wine, deducting $ from your card. When you run out of money on your card, you go back to the cardman and add more. If you accidentally leave your card in the tasting machine slot, you have just bought a round for the house. Unfortunately, Vagabond on Brushfield Street did not survive longterm. But Vagabond wine bars may exist at other locations.
We ate at a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean “small plates” restaurant that night called Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi was recommended by friends in Storrs, CT. The celebrity chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, has written a number of cookbooks. The favorite dish tonight was sweet potato mash, marinated feta and urfa chilli honey. The sumac martini was also a hit (Ketel One vodka, sumac, velvet falernum, lime, pomegranate juice). We also had charred cabbage, a Pollock dish and tea-smoked lamb cutlets. Like most of the places we ate in London, there are several versions/locations of this restaurant around the city. Ottolenghi lived up to its reputation. (2025 update - this restaurant still has its fans).
Dennis Severs' House
Dennis Severs' House
Photos courtesy of the Dennis Sever's House
The night was not over. We had a 7:45 PM reservation to tour the quirky Dennis Severs’ House. Dennis Severs' House on Folgate Street is a "still-life drama" created by the previous owner Dennis Severs as a "historical fiction tableaux" of what life would have been like inside for a family of Huguenot silk weavers.
The famed painter David Hockney described visiting Dennis Severs’ House as "one of the world’s five great experiences." A bit hyperbolic perhaps. Atlas Obscura described the Severs' House as caught between history and obsession.
From 1979 to 1999 Dennis Severs lived in and decorated this house. Each room represents a different time period. Four floors of rooms were lit only by candle and firelight for our visit (which was after sunset).
Guests moved from room to room in total silence (you are asked to be silent). Cryptic notes written by Dennis Severs were strewn here and there. They said things like “There’s more here than what meets the eye.” Quite odd.
From their website: "Walk through the house at your own pace without speaking. 18 Folgate Street is famous for the quality of its silence, enlivened only by ticking clocks, distant church bells and horse-drawn carriages passing. You will discover that when there is no chatter, you grow more aware of the fragrances of each of the rooms. Compounded by the house’s intricate visual detail, this is an intense experience for all the senses."
Dennis and and his partner Simon were two of the first cases of HIV diagnosed in Britain. Dennis feared the world he created at 18 Folgate Street would not survive. So before his death in 1999 he sold his house and its contents to the Spitalfields Trust, who maintain it today.
National Gallery & Covent Garden
National Gallery & Covent Garden
Thursday
This morning we were off via the tube to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to about 1900. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Damn good art museum. Everything was hung straight and was well dusted.
An Allegory with Venus and Cupid - inspiration for Monty Python's foot fetish.
The Ugly Duchess is a portrait painted by the Flemish artist Quinten Matsys around 1513. It is part of the National Gallery. At least one art historian has suggested that this is a portrait of a cross-dressing man. The portrait had no known effect on Terry Gilliam.
From the Atlas Obscura -
"Hanging in Room 8 of London's National Gallery is another painting of Cupid and Venus, made for yet another King of France. The painting is Bronzino's Mannerist masterpiece An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, made in the 1500s for King Francis I. The piece hangs large alongside works by Michelangelo and Raphael, depicting with great detail and texture Cupid kissing his mother Venus.
Hundreds of years after Bronzino created his allegorical painting, a young animator working on a British television show wandered the museums of London looking for inspiration and imagery to use for his work. The animator was the gifted Terry Gilliam and the show was the epic comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus.
If you look carefully at the bottom lefthand corner of the painting, you may notice that Cupid's foot is the emblematic Monty Python foot—you know, the giant foot that randomly stamps down from the heavens obliterating objects beneath it. You may recognize the foot from the Flying Circus's animated title sequence: At the end of the opening, the giant foot descends and crushes the title. The foot became a trademark icon for the Monty Python comedy troupe."
Signs on two columns. Black text on a yellow field advertising a show of more than fifty painted objects created over 700 years at the National Gallery. The exhibition and the advertising had little in common.
Odalisque In Grisaille by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (from the Monochrome exhibition). Paintings in shades of gray - en grisaille - were often made to establish variations in tone as a guide to engravers of black and white reproductive prints. I have always loved the distorted proportions of this woman. Was Ingres thinking of seals or hungry for a turkey drumstick when he painted her?
After hours wandering the galleries in this massive museum we had a late lunch/early dinner at a mobbed Indian restaurant called Dishoom. Dishoom has multiple restaurants in London. We had calamari, slaw, jackfruit biryani, chicken curry, mattar paneer and roti. Everything was delicious. The chicken curry may have been my favorite dish in London. We reheated the leftovers for lunch on Saturday.
Next, since we were in the neighborhood, we explored Covent Garden with its shops and car-free piazza, which was, as one would expect, fairly touristy. On the way back to the tube we passed a whisky shop and tasted a few, purchasing an affordable single malt Scotch from the Orkney Isles called Scapa Skiren.
Back in Sloan Square we searched for a gourmet food market called Partridges, but could not find it. Back at the flat we looked up the address for Partridges and realized that we had walked past it. It was less than 10 minutes away in Duke of York Square, so after warming ourselves with a few wee drams of the new Scotch, we went grocery shopping. That night I watched British TV for the first time. I watched an English version of the series American Pickers called Salvage Hunters, where antique dealers relieve hoarders of their burden (well, anything that has value).
Churchill War Rooms & National Portrait Gallery
Churchill War Rooms & National Portrait Gallery
Friday
This morning we were off to the Churchill War Rooms. The Churchill War Rooms is one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum, located just around the corner from Westminster Abbey.
The museum is a historic underground complex that housed the British government command center throughout World War II.
The Blitz
At 4:56 PM on September 7, 1940, the air raid sirens wailed as the Luftwaffe launched a massive raid on London. Over 350 bombers flew across the Channel from airfields in France and dropped 300 tons of bombs on the docks and streets of the East End of London. This is when Churchill and his staff went underground. Nearly 2,000 people were killed or wounded in London's first night of the Blitz. London was then bombed every day and night, bar one, for 11 weeks. They say that one third of London was destroyed. During the Blitz 32,000 civilians were killed and 87,000 were seriously injured.
The Churchill Museum is part of the War Rooms. This museum is quite comprehensive, exploring the life & times of Churchill. Among other things I learned that Churchill’s favorite whisky was Johnnie Walker Red Label, which he began drinking in the morning.
Then we were off to the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. Yes, it is almost as satisfyingly dull as it seems. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site off Trafalgar Square adjoining the National Gallery. Becky did not mind the museum’s blandness as she photographed parts of just about every painting on display. She doesn’t photograph whole paintings. Just the parts she likes.
We ate that night at the trendy Australian-influenced Granger and Co. in Chelsea. Like all the restaurants we ate at, they have more than one location (five locations) in London. Becky had yellow fish curry, with spiced butternut squash. My crispy clementine duck was very tasty. Tonight’s designer cocktail was a Amaro Paloma - tequila, Montenegro amaro, grapefruit and soda water.
National Portrait Gallery. Becky thought I looked like the man in this portrait by Issac Fuller (1606 - 1672). I do admire his winter accessories (hat and scarf). And I suppose it's better than looking like Winston Churchill.
"The Roaring Lion" was taken in 1941 by the renown photographer Yousuf Karsh in Canada. Churchill was 67-years-old in this photo.
Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) is in the Churchill War Room/Museum neighborhood, as is Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
The five-year restoration project of Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben began in 2017. The clock would not ring in the New Year again until 2022.
The Shard is a pointy 72-story mixed-use skyscraper in Southwark, London. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. Standing 1,016 feet high, The Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the seventh-tallest building in Europe, and the second-tallest outside Russia. The Shard was built between 2009 and 2012.
There are a few buildings in London with very interesting shapes. This pregnant office building is known as the Riverside House. It was built in 1966 and has a striking profile.
Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre
Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre
After dinner we were off to see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. The London production opened in December to rave reviews. The tickets were 87 pounds each – a fraction of what it costs to see Hamilton in New York. Hamilton won 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, making it one of the most successful musicals in Broadway history. How does a musical about American history go over in England? I quote Ben Brantley in the New York Times (January 5, 2018): “Hamilton, it seems — especially as led by its incendiary newborn star, Mr. Westman — can make a traitor of any English citizen for a night.” Hamilton is currently due to close in September, 2025.
Inside the Victoria Palace Theatre (built in 1911).
Michael jibson as King George III (from the NYT/Matthew Murphy)
Portobello Road Market, Kensington Gardens & Tate Britain
Portobello Road Market, Kensington Gardens & Tate Britain
Saturday
We began the day by visiting the Portobello Road Market. Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Portobello Road Market is billed as the “world’s largest antiques market with over 1,000 dealers selling every kind of antique and collectible.” The main market day for antiques is Saturday, the only day when all five sections are opened: second-hand goods, clothing and fashion, household essentials, fruit, vegetables and other food, and antiques. It was mobbed.
We walked back to the flat by way of the Kensington Palace and through Kensington Gardens towards Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace to the Albert Memorial opposite the Royal Albert Hall. En route we watched people feeding wild bright green parakeets that would alight momentarily on an outstretched hand to grab a crumb. The birds are obviously not indigenous to Britain, but nobody really knows how they got there. Some say they escaped a film set, or were released in the Great Storm of 1987. Rumors that Jimi Hendrix set free a breeding pair on Carnaby Street in the 1960’s have been debunked.
We stopped off at Partridges Market for provisions. Despite my vow about English food, I had to try a Scotch egg – a must for a traveler (but I don’t need to do it again). A Scotch egg consists of a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and baked or deep-fried. We returned to our flat for lunch.
Bright green parakeets lurk in the trees.
Prince Albert Memorial & gold painted gates. The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. It is a 176 foot tall pavilion of sorts, in the style of a Gothic church altar, sheltering a seated statue of the prince. The memorial was opened in July 1872.
Among other things, four continents are presented as part of the Albert Memorial. Asia is imagined/represented by a sculpture that includes an elephant by John Henry Foley.
Then we were off to the Tate. Tate Britain (known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery) is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London. We wandered the museum until it closed at 5:30. The joint wasn’t too shabby. While we had hoped to make it toTate Britain's sister museum, the Tate Modern, we ran out of time.
We ate pizza that night at Obica Mozzarella Bar in South Kensington. Obica serves “the freshest Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP.” There are Obica restaurants scattered about London, ten or so in Italy and a half dozen in the US, including one in New York City. Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is made from buffalo’s milk, not cow’s milk. An Italian buffalo, not an American bison, which are notoriously hard to milk.
At the Tate Britain. Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit c.1620–5, by Nathaniel Bacon. As I was standing next to this painting, I heard an art patron whisper to his companion, "look at those melons."
This creepy painting at the Tate Britain is known as The Cholmondeley Ladies. The two ladies are thought to be sisters, said to be born and married on the same day. Were their babies born on the same day too? The painting dates from the early 1600s. The artist is unknown - as are the identity of the women.
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
The grave of Harry Thornton (1883-1918). He was a classical pianist. It is believed he died during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918.
Sunday
Dennis Sever's House was not our only visit to an attraction featured on the Atlas Obscura website, this morning we were off on a photo safari to Highgate Cemetery. We took our first and only Uber ride to get there as Highgate is a distance from Chelsea. Highgate Cemetery is comprised of the East and the West Cemeteries. There are over 170,000 people in 53,000 graves between the two. People can roam the East Cemetery, but access to the West Cemetery is by guided tour only. The cemetery was established in 1839 and by the 1950’s it had become unkempt, overgrown, unattended, in serious disrepair and creepy. Horror movies were filmed at the cemetery. In the 1970’s stories of grave robbing, desecration and vampires regularly made the news.
Today it is a state of “managed neglect.” Tall trees shade 37 acres of graves, as if a graveyard was built in a forest. The headstones at this point are crammed together, each leaning and lurching in a different direction. Vines cover everything! Birds flutter about. I watched a beautiful magpie hopping among the stones. Many of the Victorian mausoleums and gravestones are quite impressive.
In the East Cemetery we happened upon the graves of Bert Jansch (founding member of Pentangle), Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and Karl Marx (lead singer for the Communists). Artist Patrick Caulfield's tombstone was brutally to-the-point. Sculpted into it is one word: “DEAD” (and you really can't disagree with that assessment of the situation).
In the West Cemetery we saw the graves of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident who was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in 2006 in London's Millennium Hotel. His body is buried 12 feet-deep in a lead lined coffin to avoid the spread of radiation poisoning.
We saw the grave of Tom Sayers, the English bare-knuckle boxer whose tomb is guarded by the stone image of his mastiff. Sayers had 10,000 mourners attend his funeral. We did not get to visit George Michael’s grave.
We returned to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the afternoon to see the galleries we missed during our first visit.
We ate at the Good Earth (Chinese) Restaurant in Knightsbridge. Becky’s prawns were fried and eaten shell and all. Becky did not like that. Crunchy. Yum.
Monday
We left the flat for the airport at 7:30 AM in the pouring rain. Despite gloom and drizzle for most of the trip, it didn’t pour until our departure. Considering we were in London in January, we can’t complain. Sixteen hours later we arrived home in Storrs, CT.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse