Notes from a vacation: August 22
Aug. 31st, 2007 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerSecond (and only full) Day in London
The weather in London was, predictably, drizzly and foggy. Kind of like San Francisco. We didn't see the sun at all while we were there -- I was glad I had my leather jacket and wool cap.
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bonacorsi figured out how to work the overhead shower. The problem was that, being Californians, we were expecting a water-saving device. Once we discarded that idea the method of operation was easy.
After the hotel buffet breakfast (typicalish Brit, with sauteed mushrooms, beans, boiled bacon, and hard-boiled eggs; but you could make your own toast and eat it hot) we took the Tube to the Tower of London. One word: Wow. We spent about four hours and thoroughly enjoyed touring the whole thing. The Crown Jewels, the church, the room where Sir Thomas More was imprisoned, the lot. The only mildly disappointing part was the original section of the Tower complex, the White Tower. The first room you enter is the chapel that is still relatively original. Then it becomes a 19th/20th century armory exhibit, which was insanely crowded. I didn't see the appeal, but we had to walk through the whole thing just to exit. I just wanted to see the 11th century architecture!
We had wandered by Buckingham Palace the previous day and noted that the Queen's Gallery had an exhibit on "Italian Art of the Renaissance and Baroque", so we then went there. But the wait to get in was over an hour and after the wife perused the catalog, she opined that given our limited time it wasn't worth it. She really wanted to see the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey (it was closed by the time we got there the previous day) so back we went. It was interesting, but not worth a second visit in my opinion. Oh well. Also by that time we had done a ton of walking and I was mildly cranky...
We stopped at the Wolseley for afternoon tea; we didn't know we needed reservations, but they fit us in despite. It was lovely and a good break.
Next stop: the National Portrait Gallery for a quick hit of the pre-1600s. Then to the National Gallery, because it stayed open until 9 PM on Wednesdays. Sadly, a staff strike meant that they had closed many of the wings, including all the pre-1500s; we didn't get to see their Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Botticelli, the Arnolfini portrait... we did see their Titians and a Lorenzo Lotto. It was enough that my brain was full.
Dinner was adequate at an Indian place. We didn't want pub grub and this is one of the situations where having a local's recommendation would have been exceedingly useful, if only to provide us with a destination. Oh well.
What I read: Jamie Malanowski, The Coup
The weather in London was, predictably, drizzly and foggy. Kind of like San Francisco. We didn't see the sun at all while we were there -- I was glad I had my leather jacket and wool cap.
bonacorsi figured out how to work the overhead shower. The problem was that, being Californians, we were expecting a water-saving device. Once we discarded that idea the method of operation was easy.After the hotel buffet breakfast (typicalish Brit, with sauteed mushrooms, beans, boiled bacon, and hard-boiled eggs; but you could make your own toast and eat it hot) we took the Tube to the Tower of London. One word: Wow. We spent about four hours and thoroughly enjoyed touring the whole thing. The Crown Jewels, the church, the room where Sir Thomas More was imprisoned, the lot. The only mildly disappointing part was the original section of the Tower complex, the White Tower. The first room you enter is the chapel that is still relatively original. Then it becomes a 19th/20th century armory exhibit, which was insanely crowded. I didn't see the appeal, but we had to walk through the whole thing just to exit. I just wanted to see the 11th century architecture!
We had wandered by Buckingham Palace the previous day and noted that the Queen's Gallery had an exhibit on "Italian Art of the Renaissance and Baroque", so we then went there. But the wait to get in was over an hour and after the wife perused the catalog, she opined that given our limited time it wasn't worth it. She really wanted to see the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey (it was closed by the time we got there the previous day) so back we went. It was interesting, but not worth a second visit in my opinion. Oh well. Also by that time we had done a ton of walking and I was mildly cranky...
We stopped at the Wolseley for afternoon tea; we didn't know we needed reservations, but they fit us in despite. It was lovely and a good break.
Next stop: the National Portrait Gallery for a quick hit of the pre-1600s. Then to the National Gallery, because it stayed open until 9 PM on Wednesdays. Sadly, a staff strike meant that they had closed many of the wings, including all the pre-1500s; we didn't get to see their Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Botticelli, the Arnolfini portrait... we did see their Titians and a Lorenzo Lotto. It was enough that my brain was full.
Dinner was adequate at an Indian place. We didn't want pub grub and this is one of the situations where having a local's recommendation would have been exceedingly useful, if only to provide us with a destination. Oh well.
What I read: Jamie Malanowski, The Coup
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 12:31 am (UTC)I'm glad you got to see at least some of the exhibits at least.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-01 10:02 pm (UTC)Boy, does that sound familiar. They did that to us at the British Museum (twice); the union and the management/gummint were at loggerheads, and the union decided that inconveniencing tourists and regular museum-goers would enhance their position. French unions have a better idea: when they went en greve at the Louvre, they let everyone in for free (after holding up the opening for an hour).