tedgale

Thursday: A truncated sight-seeing day, as we were busy from 3 PM onward with the memorial service and the follow-on events.

We had booked 11 AM tickets for the Sargent show that opened that day at the National Portrait Gallery. I used the early part of the day to explore the Embankment Gardens that stretch westward from the vicinity of our flat in Craven Street.

Craven Street is a fine street of mid-18th C brick houses. Most are now offices but there are still some residential properties. One a few doors down had an estate agent's sign that indicated the selling price: 6.25 million GBP. Blue plaques identify the famous figures that have lived here: Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, the poet Heinrich Heine.

Nip through a passage under the railway arches and you reach the pedestrian street leading down to Embankment Tube station. At this hour of the morning, it thronged with a ceaseless surge of office workers. From here, you turn left into the Gardens and are immediately in a world of manicured greenness.

I was almost alone as I walked past the rear entrance to the Savoy, then approached the high, grey bulk of Somerset House. The view from its deserted terrace -- developed as a smart outdoor cafe and bar but unused at this season or at this hour -- was well worth the climb.

On my way home, I explored the remnants of the Adelphi Buildings, designed by the Adam brothers in the second half of the 18th C. Great names of literature and the arts once lived here: Shaw, Thomas Hardy. Sir James Barrie, Galsworthy, David Garrick, D'Oyly Carte. The New Adelphi, a huge Art Deco building that replaced much of the Adam development, remains even today a handsome intruder in this sleepy backwater.

We arrived at the National Portrait Gallery well ahead of our ticket time and were chagrined to discover no tickets were waiting for us. I had all the necessary print-outs of course but the official at the counter seemed unconcerned. "Just tell them Steve said it was OK" he said. We did and it was. He was at our elbow when we went into the exhibition and signalled to the guard to let us pass.

I was struck at how unruffled and yet how helpful this man was. My long-ago memories of lower-level public employees were of thin skin, defensiveness, immovable indifference and a mulish, obstinate adherence to rules. Clearly something has changed in Britain.

If you have a chance to see the Sargent exhibition before it comes down on May 25, seize it. The particular interest of the show is the subjects of the portraits. These are not commercial works but portraits of friends, relatives, patrons and fellow artists (portraitists painted each other and exchanged the portraits as a professional compliment). They are intimate and sometimes affectionate. There was no need to flatter or impress a client.

They are almost all fine paintings but the ones I liked best are the earliest works, from Sargent's student days. These are obviously influenced by the prevailing Parisian masters of the '70s and early '80s: you look at them and say "Degas!" or "Manet!" They have the smoky, sombre colours of that period and they mostly lack the bravura touches that Sargent so shamelessly exploited later in his career.

The arrangement of the 70 paintings is very good and the accompanying mini-catalogue is a goldmine of intelligent information and insights.

janisj

Terrific . . . Now I plan to see the Sargent show at the end of April for sure. Will book tomorrow . . .

Cathinjoetown

I really appreciate all your excellent detail and observations.

Starting much earlier but particularly due to or thanks to the 2012 Olympics, the central core of London is amazingly groomed, immaculate, spiffy and shiny. However, many areas, still central London are not nearly as well-maintained.

Our son lives in Camden, less than 15 minutes from Picadilly and while still quite "high rent" it is not particularly clean nor racially homogeneous, if by that you mean white. Thanks in part to the diversity and the music scene it's an area he loves and we enjoy visiting.

The blank dark windows in some neighborhoods are indicative of the huge influx in foreign investors who are buying up flats, often holding them vacant as investments or only living in them for short periods of the year. Entirely legal but increasing the squeeze on people who want to live and work in the city who earn "normal" salaries.

latedaytraveler

Hi again TEDGALE,

"Craven Street is a fine street of mid-18th C brick houses... One a few doors down had an estate agent's sign that indicated the selling price: 6.25 million GBP. Blue plaques identify the famous figures that have lived here: Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, the poet Heinrich Heine."

Love this neighborhood. Perhaps the next time you can visit the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOUSE, a delightful small venue on Craven Street with an "historical experience" about the great man - very well done.

http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org...ns/default.htm

I really enjoyed your meanderings around the Embankment, the Savoy, the theaters as well as your jaunts on foot as described above.

Glad you enjoyed the Sargent exhibit at the Portrait Gallery - same show was in Boston a few years back. It was wonderful. An excellent account of Sargent's career is contained in David McCullough's THE GREATER JOURNEY: Americans in Paris 1830-1900.

Forgive the digression, but your report really brings these details to mind...

ekscrunchy

Marvelous report with many useful details. Like you, I'd let many years elapse before returning to London for a brief visit a few years ago. That left me longing to return, again, for a more lengthy stay, and will certainly look into Air B&B.

irishface

Thanks, Ted and all other contributers, who are giving me too many ideas for my return trip to fabulous London!

tedgale

Thanks to readers for all your comments and compliments. Almost finished my report.

We have a weekend visitor who has escaped from glacial Perth, Ontario to slightly less glacial Savannah. So that is my first priority.

If I can scrape together a few minutes, I will post my concluding material about our final three days.

As soon as that's done, I have to resume my long deferred planning for our trip to Portugal and Barcelona, which begins on -- gasp, shudder! -- April 7.

bilboburgler

In terms of the attitude, I originally service staff in the UK did that work because they could do nothing else. They developed an attitude. Then, as part of the EU they got competition from the best that Poland/Czech etc could offer as service functions here were offering better pay than in those countries for University Graduates. Suddenly with competition the quality of UK staff had to improve.

Once service began to improve it became a competitive advantage to be nice to customers.

Londoners have always been friendly but a little shy. the olympics taught them that they were allowed to talk to lost visitors.

tedgale

Interesting perspective. I was talking the other day to an old friend in Milan whose son has just completed graduate studies at U of London. He said the brain drain from Italy to the UK is huge -- joblessness for Italian graduates is very high and people will take any job just to get rooted in Britain.

latedaytraveler

Hi BILBOBURGLER,

"... as part of the EU they got competition from the best that Poland/Czech etc could offer as service functions here were offering better pay than in those countries for University Graduates. Suddenly with competition the quality of UK staff had to improve."

So true. These young Eastern European service workers all over the UK and Ireland are really charming and accommodating. Most are so refined - you can tell that the majority are university grads. Competition is good, eh?

tedgale

Friday: Friday was moving day, so most of the morning (after an early amble in the Embankment Gardens and the surrounding streets) was eaten up by packing up our few possessions and traveling by Tube from Embankment to South Kensington station, then settling in to our studio apartment in Egerton Gardens.

By 11:30, we were ready to venture out to Kensington Palace, a favourite spot of line on previous visits. It was a blustery day and we did not tarry en route -- I had hoped to wander in Kensington Gardens but the ground was soggy and rain threatened. It got worse later.

At the ticket office, we found our tickets waiting and were directed toward the public rooms. Once again I was struck by the courtesy and eagerness of the young and outgoing museum staff. I was less impressed by another change that had taken place in the years since our last visit -- the re-focusing of the museum toward celebrity culture.

Having seen Hampton Court only two days before, I was forcefully struck by the similarities of architecture, decoration and court life as lived in the two palaces. In both, the newly crowned William and Mary had undertaken ambitious programs of rebuilding that were later continued through even more opulent renovations undertaken by the early Georges.

In both places, the two families had each created their own grand suite of state apartments comprising roughly the same elements: a monumental painted staircase, leading through a guards' checkpoint to a series of progressively more exclusive (yet still public) spaces arranged without corridors "en enfilade" until you came to the inner sanctum, the monarch's bedchamber, where only the most exalted were welcome. In parallel to this, there was a suite of intimate private rooms where the royal couple actually lived.

In addition to these rooms, the public can also visit the exhibit "Fashion Rules", couture dresses of the young Queen Elizabeth, her sister Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales. The dresses from the 1950s are impressive in their workmanship and design; the later items, though very characteristic of their wearers, are not things of beauty. A couple of Diana's dresses gave me that familiar reaction we all have nowadays to the '80s: "What were we/ they thinking?"

There is also a section devoted to Queen Victoria's reign. I admit I found it depressing to contemplate the apparent pomposity and humourlessness of that court and its reclusive, grief-stricken yet domineering monarch. Victoria, conservative and controlling, seems to stand in stark contrast to the vital energy and intellectual daring of her Victorian subjects and their hearty embrace of radical economic, social and political changes in Britain's great age of industry, science and empire.

Since the refurbishment and reorganization of the public areas a dozen or more years ago, the emphasis seems to have shifted away from the expected focus on history and architecture -- it IS a Christopher Wren creation, after all, and contains brilliant works by William Kent. Now the focus seems to be on personality, specifically the royal women who have lived there.

I saw only one reference to Wren in the explanatory panels -- but more than one to Queen Mary's obsessive fondness for blue and white china. Benches in public areas are decorated with pillows embroidered with profiles of Diana, Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth, as well as long-dead royals. These small details seemed emblematic of a larger change.

It was raining when we emerged, so we hopped a bus to the High Street Kensington station, at a quick lunch of tangy asian takeaway and traveled back to South Kensington. In light of the weather, I opted to spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the V&A, whose main floor stays open until 10 PM on Fridays.

The museum is thoroughly familiar to many posters here, so I won't dwell on the details of its staggering collection of works of applied and decorative arts of many cultures, whose special concentration is on Britain from the Renaissance to modern times. I admire the way the collections are organized in two distinct but complementary ways: by material and technique (wood turning, wood carving, wood marquetry and inlay, etc) and chronologically/ stylistically. It's an unashamedly didactic approach. The way of grouping and presenting the collection allows you to teach yourself and make your own discoveries, however.

I walked home -- it took two minutes at most -- for a brief break, then arranged to meet my sister and her husband for dinner in the V&A cafe at 7:30 PM -- a highly successful evening described in the restaurant section above.

cobbie2

Ted, we visited Hampton Court Palace the same week you did. It was cold and not raining. We froze inside the rooms (other than the kitchen with the huge fire). Made us realize why the residents in the 1500s were always wearing heavy clothes and cloaks. Enjoyed the audio tours and didn't have the energy to stroll the grounds but did view from the upstairs windows.

Great report. I keep returning to London because it is such a fascinating city.

tomarkot

Tedgate, enjoying your informative report. We were in London twice, and missed many of the things you describe. Good ideas for a future visit!

tedgale

Thanks to all for the kind words. I will wrap this up shortly.

Trophywife007

I've been enjoying your trip report so much I had to book our own trip. We've been wanting to see that Sargent exhibition since forever. Thank you!

Seamus

ted, I am vicariously visiting London through your words - thank you!

A few comments - agree the United Club at Dulles is spartan (and that is being kind) but drinks are still complimentary though they do also offer premium brands for a cost. Really does feel like just another waiting room with slightly better seating. Also find Dulles overall a rather dismal place.

Love your description of Sir John's museum - stumbled on it a few years back and was enchanted, have returned twice.

Also patronized Zedel last autumn and found it about as you described. Our food was actually quite good, better than I would have expected at a place that does such volume - as I recall, my lamb was very nice. Distinctly recall that the baguette arrived fresh from the oven. The servers, seemingly all from Eastern Europe, were very good as well.

tedgale

Thanks Seamus. I forgot to mention the bread at Zedel, which was superlative.

I stand corrected on the cost of drinks at Dulles. As I mentioned, I am teetotal these days. I read complaints online about having to pay for drinks and assumed that meant all drinks.

tedgale

Final instalment. Thanks to all of you for coming along on the trip!

Saturday and Sunday: Not too many essential items remained on my "to do" list. I started out on Saturday to see a small part of the National Gallery, then wander at will.

I decided to confine myself to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, plus the 18th C British collection, the summit of Britain's achievement in painting. These rooms are superb, of course. They were full of visitors but I was far from mobbed. I expected the National Gallery to be not only overwhelming -- it is -- but oppressively so: it wasn't.

I had never seen the Sainsbury Wing and despite my resolve not to try to see too much, I felt impelled to see this austere, high, narrow structure whose design so irritated Prince Charles.

I thought it was lovely. On my way, I was lucky enough to chance upon Room A, a mysterious and seldom-opened space. Here, curatorial staff has hung, cheek-by-jowl and one above the other, a large portion of the Gallery's 700 major works that are not part of any permanent display.

Imagine a warehouse of minor masterpieces: http://www.thearttribune.com/Room-A-...allery-in.html

It was interesting to see when and how the various pieces were acquired -- especially what the Victorians purchased. I had read long ago about the English mid-Victorians' obsession with pre-Renaissance and Renaissance Italian art (as I recall, Prince Albert was an energetic advocate for the public acquisition of Italian works of these periods).

My afternoon (I was on my own for this day, under a threatening sky) was spent in hopping on and off Tube trains and buses.

First, to the southern edge of the Regent's Park, which I had not seen in decades. I walked up the east side of the Park through the Nash terraces, looking for the long-ago home of the Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, which figures prominently in The Death of the Heart, as does the Park itself in The Heat of the Day, Mysterious Kor and other works.

I congratulated myself on locating Chester Terrace -- and marveled at how much less monumental the houses looked close-up. The other surprise was how plain, even dowdy are the streets behind the Nash terraces and the second line of Nash houses and mews immediately adjacent. Nash built a thin cordon of gentility around the Park; a few steps to the east and you find yourself amidst 1960s council housing.

It was only later that I realized that Bowen lived on the west side of the Park, in another Nash row, Clarence Terrace -- not Chester Terrace, as I mistakenly thought.

Then a train to Farringdon station, near Smithfield Market, from which I walked and bused south toward Blackfriars Bridge. Here it was hilly -- London hills are always a surprise to me, though there are lots of them, both north and south of the city core.

From Blackfriars (whose river views are tremendous) I traveled to Victoria, then struck out to explore Belgravia (whose dullish opulence seems to squelch all life) and make my way home via Knightsbridge. Valentine's day dinner at nearby Aubaine, then bed.

Sunday was much the same: A quick visit to the V&A before our family lunch in Chelsea, followed by an amble together from St James's Park station. We passed through the exquisite early-Georgian backwater of Queen Anne's Gate, where mellow red brick provides the backdrop for the intricately carved wooden porticoes that are a famous feature of the street.

From there we wandered into St James's Park, where polite Sunday crowds wandered in the watery sunshine. We made our way to Buckingham Palace and admired the elegant ironwork of Canada Gate (Newfoundland gets its own metallic commemoration -- much smaller).

On Sunday, it seems, motor traffic is stopped along the Mall and in front of the Palace. Here the families of visitors and Londoners throng, liberated from the constant thrum of London traffic.

Passing into St James's, we got as close as we could to St James's Palace, Clarence House and Marlborough House -- all officially out of bounds to us. Many nooks and crannies here, as elsewhere: I was delighted by the discovery of the mid-Georgian Blue Ball Yard, once home to a stable and small businesses. Now some of its buildings are a posh bar and terrace of The Stafford, an expensive hotel catering to well-heeled, cosmopolitan foreigners and London businessmen.

A little time remained in the afternoon. Back to the National Gallery and the early Italian paintings in the Sainsbury Wing. Then a brasserie dinner at Zedel, a bit of a bedtime stroll near the flat and an early turn-in.

Across the Atlantic, a snowstorm was brewing that would upset my sister's plans and ours as well, compelling us to spend an extra day in the Washington, DC area (at a very nice resort, courtesy of United Airlines).

But we didn't know that then and our sleep on our last night was deep and contented.

Josser

What Prince Charles objected to was the original competition winning scheme for the National Gallery site, designed by Ahrends Burton & Korale It was abandoned and went toVenturi, Scott Brown & Associates. There was a lot of press hostility at the time, but people seemed to have become reconciled.

tedgale

Thanks for that correction. It seemed odd to me that he could object to what I saw: it's very unobtrusive.