LONDON IN WINTER: Museums and More, Part 2

Inner courtyard, Westminster Abbey, London

 (Continuation of previous post, my week in London, January 2013)

High tea at the Cranley

Tuesday– Went to Westminster Abbey.  At 16 pounds each (the senior or concession rate) it seemed expensive, but the self-guided audio tour, narrated by Jeremy Irons, is quite good.  And the cathedral is packed with history–it was consecrated in 1066 and has been going ever since as a center of the church and burial place for notables. We had lunch (pumpkin soup for me and a sandwich and ginger beer for Art )in the Cathedral café (which was nice and warm, compared to the church which felt nearly as chilly as the air outside.)  We then took the tube to Green Park to see Patrick Blanc’s vertical gardens on the Athenaeum Hotel, which are very impressive.  Our original plan was to take high tea there, but at 29 pounds per person, it seemed a bit steep, so we went back to our hotel where we ordered a delicious high tea for only 10 pounds per person.

Pinter Theater

That evening, we went to see Old Times with Kristen Scott Thomas at the Pinter Theater in the West End.  Afterward, we went back to our hotel, stopping at the Hereford Arms on Gloucester Road for a beer and crisps (potato chips).  Apparently the Hereford Arms is famous for its association with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and for the American soldiers who turned the Hereford Square park across the street into a baseball diamond during World War II when they were stationed nearby.

Saatchi Gallery, once a military barracks

Wednesday– Walked to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs.  Also saw an interesting exhibit of art from the first voyage to Australia (First Fleet) in a gallery devoted to art and science.  The museum was filled with school groups, some wearing green neon vests, others in suits and ties, and one group carrying note pads and wearing lab coats with “dinosaur scientist” printed on back. Then we met our friend Gretchen and went to the Bumpkin for lunch–I had a crispy duck salad (with pickled vegetables), Art had chicken pie again and Gretchen had a cheese tart.  We finished with sticky toffee pudding.  We then walked (about two miles) to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea where we saw two exhibits of Russian art and an amazing permanent installation on the ground floor that is a room covered with a layer of oil that perfectly reflects the posts and ceiling.  The effect is disconcerting.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Thursday– Walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see  Light from the Middle East, a photography show by Middle East and Asian photographers.  We made our way to a far corner of the museum to see the museum's permanent photography collection (a representative selection from the beginning of photography in 1846 to the 1970's) passing through countless halls of sculpture, ironwork, casts of famous artworks, including the huge pillars of Hadrian from Rome (prepared in the 1800s for students to copy), jewelry, and more.  According to a friend, the V and A is where they put everything that doesn’t fit into the other British museums. It has a random feel. We ate lunch in the café and spent another hour (I spent most of it in the Indian galleries looking at Hindu and Moghul miniatures and Art went back to the photography room.)

The next day was Art’s meeting and on Saturday we headed back to Heathrow for our flight to Los Angeles.  We had had a full and invigorating week in London.  And despite all the time we spent in museums, we only saw a fraction of the displays, so we always have a reason to go back.