260423 – 25 London with Patti!

Patti: I landed at Heathrow, followed John’s excellent directions to Tottenham Court Station (couldn’t be easier – just jump on the Elizabeth Line) and he met me, as promised, at street level, carrying the three panniers for me to the hotel without even a whimper. I quickly unpacked, rewarded John with a box of Brownie Cookies from home, showered (to remove the ick of Air de Boeing) and by 2:30 we were walking in London’s warmth and sunshine, enroute to the National Portrait Gallery. LOVE the NP Gallery.

After a thoughtful stroll through the gallery and a 15 minute guided tour through some of the galleries, we left, and happened on a virtuosic, chamber music rehearsal at the famous St. Martin-in-the-Fields. “The church is known for its regular lunchtime and evening concerts: many ensembles perform there, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which was co-founded by Sir Neville Marriner and John Churchill, a former Master of Music at St Martin’s.” It’s a true community church, supporting the local population in critical outreach, in addition to its famous, music tradition. What a thrill to listen to these musicians. (And we have no idea who they were. Sorry. LOL.)

Walking further, we noticed a billboard for the play, Oh, Mary! outside the Trafalgar Theatre. Just last week, we had changed our plans and added three extra nights in London (because John found a bike shop in St. Albans to do the maintenance on our bikes instead of trying to do it all on his own with insuffient space or equipment like baths of varsol for gummed-up chains). That meant that now, we had time to see Oh Mary!, and, to my excitement, Monday night would be Catherine Tate‘s first performance. So… we bought tickets!

After 12,600 steps we grabbed a light dinner, and headed back to the hotel because…

Friday we planned to visit Greenwich.

John has already written about Greenwich. We had a beautiful day – sunny and warm – and were lucky enough to jump onto two tours (one in The Painted Room, the second, a general grounds tour). There are so many things to see at Greenwich, not the least of which is the observatory and the line for Greenwich Mean Time. London was getting ready for Sunday’s London Marathon and I think the turn-around point was somewhere near Greenwich or Canary Wharf, so there were signs and fencing everywhere. (In fact, I was grateful to see a bank of loo’s lined up for the marathon, sometimes a loo is hard to find unless you’re willing to “spend a penny”, as they say.

John – the snacker – grabbed a gelato, we bought tickets for a boat ride back downtown, and while we waited to embark, we enjoyed the sunshine in front of the Cutty Sark. We had a nice walk back from where we disembarked, split a pizza for dinner, and then saw Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville as C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands. It was a tremendously moving production. Highly recommended.

23,300 steps. We fell into bed, exhausted but sated!

Travellers’ tip: allow a full day for all of the buildings at Greenwich, and plan to be at the Observatory for 1:00 when the famous red ball drops to indicate the authoritative time. Take one of the tour boats back to Westminster from the Greenwich docks. You’ll be grateful for the chance to sit and admire London from the water after all of those steps.

Saturday morning, first thing, on the advice of our pal Brian Knapp (who is, incidentally, looking after our house in Toronto while we’re over here gallivanting), we made our way to Sir John Soane’s Museum, “a house museum, located next to Lincoln’s Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane’s projects and a large collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and antiquities that he acquired over many years. The museum was established during Soane’s lifetime by a private act of Parliament, Sir John Soane’s Museum Act 1833, which took effect on his death in 1837. Soane engaged in this lengthy parliamentary campaign in order to disinherit his son, whom he disliked intensely.The act stipulated that on Soane’s death, his house and collections would pass into the care of a board of trustees acting on behalf of the nation, and that they would be preserved as nearly as possible exactly in the state they were at his death.” (Wikipedia). It is a massive collection, gorgeously and lovingly curated by Soane, himself. It reminded me a little of the Frick Collection, as in, it’s a highly personal collection.  Highly recommended. (Soane was quite a shopper. Luckily, he knew how to collect. I completely understood why it is a strong recommendation from collector, Brian.)

Next up, a Tube ride to the V&A to see the Elsa Schiaparelli show. Madness, I know, to visit the V&A on a Saturday but although there were tons of people and children, it was all very civilized. I’ll let the photos tell the story. (The Schiaparelli show is sold out, but because we had bought a V&A membership in the Fall in order to see the also-sold-out Cartier and Marie Antoinette shows, we were granted access to Schiaparelli. With the membership also comes access to either of the members’ restaurant lounges, and that’s a nice perq. Quiet. And excellent carrot cake for the snacker. We also really enjoyed the Glass Gallery, and the Architecture gallery (fabulous architectural models).

Then back out into the brilliant sunshine and crowds on the sidewalks. Through Harrods (meh, disappointing, not like I remembered from 1996), across Green Park, Jermyn Street (the mens’ shirts, the British tailoring… sigh). We split a fish and chips dinner, and then fell into our seats to see the National Theatre’s production of Inter Alia, starring Rosamund Pike. It was one of the most thrilling productions either of us has ever seen. It ends June 20th. If there is any way you can swing it…. see it.

20,300 steps.