More out and about

After another morning spent piously grading papers, I rewarded myself yesterday with a visit to the last of Rick Steves' major London recommendations, the Courtauld Gallery. What a gem of a place! It's small enough (three levels reached by the winding stairs at the right, but it has a small footprint) that it doesn't feel overwhelming the way the larger museums do. However, it packs quite a punch in the quality of its collection. Cezannes, Gaugins, Manets, Degas' and Rubens' by the dozens—thanks, again, Rick, for not steering me wrong!

A special treat was their current temporary exhibition of Turner watercolors—a mesmerizing little collection of small paintings and drawings. Can't ever get enough Turner!

Actually the Gallery was my second stop of the day. I first headed to the Temple Inns of Court, which had always sounded intriguing to me—a cluster of offices and residences for barristers, like a little college in the middle of London. It was intriguing in person, too, especially since I had trouble finding my way out of the maze of buildings. It would probably be a more interesting place during the week, when there would be more activity. As it was a Saturday, I just enjoyed admiring the architecture, and eventually found my way out using breadcrumbs that led back to the way I entered—apparently the only open gate at the weekend.

I think you should look for something like this in your next law office, Henry:


I'd ridden buses often on the streets around the Temple and the Courtauld, but never walked them, and there were lots of fine views of wonderful buildings and churches like St. Mary-le-Strand and St. Clement Danes, seen at the left (St. Mary's in the foreground). After ambling around this area for a while, I still had some time to kill before evensong at St. Paul's, which was my plan for finishing off the day. So I stopped off in one of Joan's favorite haunts, a Costa Coffee, this one on Oxford Street, to warm up and refresh myself with tea and a muffin.

I'm enjoying these last few days of London sight-seeing (and it is nice not to have competition for the computer 8-) ) but I really miss my guests! Wish you all could have stayed longer!

Evensong at St. Paul's was very nice. The choir (mixed children and adults) and the organ sounded marvelous, but overall the musical selections weren't anything special. However, just being in such an amazing space, with any kind of musical accompaniment, is a pretty awesome experience.

Here is the view along a festively decorated Watling Street (I think) as I approached St. Paul's just before dark (this is at 4:30). I cannot get anywhere near this edifice without "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins starting to play on my mind's radio, and it even plays when I see this picture. Anyone else have this malady?

Another day, another great museum

After nipping back down to the Churchill Museum for some souvenir shopping, and a couple hours of good work in the office, I made it to another wonderful museum yesterday, the Tate Britain.

The big attraction for me there was their collection of Turners, so I was pleased to discover I'd arrived in time to catch a tour of those galleries. The docent was entertaining and informative and though I was disappointed to learn that many of these pieces are out on loan, what was there was still pretty spectacular. And the rest of the museum was very fine, too. I learned more about other British painters during the Turner talk, and went to seek them out. Another disappointment was that the Blake room was closed, but it's due to open before I leave, so I'll have to make another trip down to Pimlico.

No time for more blogging today. I've still got some errands to run before Henry arrives. Yes! I'm about to have another guest!

I'll leave you with a lovely sunset, as seen last night from my living room window. We've certainly had great weather lately, and can't help but wonder how long it will last.