London: Day Three
Yesterday evening we went on a guided walk with London Walks. We did the Kensington Village walk. Our tour guide, Nick, was a real likeable fellow and an excellent guide. He was witty and knowledgeable -- full of interesting anecdotes about the area. We learned about the Great Exhibition of 1851 which raised the funds for the building of some of London's greatest museums, saw the houses where David Frost and Albert Finney lived, and heard tales about some of Kensington's more notorious residents. Along the way we stopped into a couple of pubs for a quick pint (or half pint, in my case). My favorite stop along this walk was the Michelin building. Now a restaurant, it was the original UK headquarters of the Michelin tire company. The building displays the first depiction of the Michelin Man, Bibendum, and there were many motifs on the building both in stone and in lights that played on the tire motif.
We went to Sir John Soane's Museum today and what a treat it was. Sir John Soane was an architect who lived in the late 1700s/early 1800s. He filled his town house on Linconln's Inn Fields with his eclectic collection of paintings, architectural models, marble details from old buildings, and many exotic and intriguing oddities. He had so much stuff that he eventually took over the two adjoining townhouses. Before his death, Soane had the foresight to bequeath his mansion to the city as a museum with the stipulation that nothing was to be changed. The house itself is an architectural wonderland with narrow passageways, hidden courtyards, folding picture panels and inventive use of available light. We had much fun exploring the museum and its many nooks and crannies.
After lunch we went to the National Portrait Gallery. We started at the top floor and made our way down so that we'd be viewing the portraits in chronological order. This must be one of the few museums in which I looked at every entry. In each room I tried to figure who was who before reading the labels. I also played a little game in which I determined what famous current celebrity most resembled some of the older portraits. My favorite thing in the museum was the special exhibit, a national photo portrait competiton. There were some very inventive entries and it was good to see portraits of real down-to-earth people.
Today there was a parade in honor of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who was officially installed in office to much fanfare. There were fireworks scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. We arrived a bit too late to get a good spot for viewing the fireworks (they were being set off from a barge on the Thames river) -- all I could see were the ones that went really high. I much preferred the display we had recently seen for Bonfire Night in Harrogate.
In the evening we went to see Spirited Away, a Japanese anime film we have been wanting to see ever since it was released in Tokyo last year. It was a fabulous movie and we were thrilled that we got to see the Japanese version with English subtitles.
Yesterday evening we went on a guided walk with London Walks. We did the Kensington Village walk. Our tour guide, Nick, was a real likeable fellow and an excellent guide. He was witty and knowledgeable -- full of interesting anecdotes about the area. We learned about the Great Exhibition of 1851 which raised the funds for the building of some of London's greatest museums, saw the houses where David Frost and Albert Finney lived, and heard tales about some of Kensington's more notorious residents. Along the way we stopped into a couple of pubs for a quick pint (or half pint, in my case). My favorite stop along this walk was the Michelin building. Now a restaurant, it was the original UK headquarters of the Michelin tire company. The building displays the first depiction of the Michelin Man, Bibendum, and there were many motifs on the building both in stone and in lights that played on the tire motif.
We went to Sir John Soane's Museum today and what a treat it was. Sir John Soane was an architect who lived in the late 1700s/early 1800s. He filled his town house on Linconln's Inn Fields with his eclectic collection of paintings, architectural models, marble details from old buildings, and many exotic and intriguing oddities. He had so much stuff that he eventually took over the two adjoining townhouses. Before his death, Soane had the foresight to bequeath his mansion to the city as a museum with the stipulation that nothing was to be changed. The house itself is an architectural wonderland with narrow passageways, hidden courtyards, folding picture panels and inventive use of available light. We had much fun exploring the museum and its many nooks and crannies.
After lunch we went to the National Portrait Gallery. We started at the top floor and made our way down so that we'd be viewing the portraits in chronological order. This must be one of the few museums in which I looked at every entry. In each room I tried to figure who was who before reading the labels. I also played a little game in which I determined what famous current celebrity most resembled some of the older portraits. My favorite thing in the museum was the special exhibit, a national photo portrait competiton. There were some very inventive entries and it was good to see portraits of real down-to-earth people.
Today there was a parade in honor of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who was officially installed in office to much fanfare. There were fireworks scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. We arrived a bit too late to get a good spot for viewing the fireworks (they were being set off from a barge on the Thames river) -- all I could see were the ones that went really high. I much preferred the display we had recently seen for Bonfire Night in Harrogate.
In the evening we went to see Spirited Away, a Japanese anime film we have been wanting to see ever since it was released in Tokyo last year. It was a fabulous movie and we were thrilled that we got to see the Japanese version with English subtitles.
posted by lenora at 6:45 PM
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