@tedgale,

You might find these interesting takes on why some residential neighborhoods in London don't feel like they have residents

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/wo...-visitors.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/soci...de-park-london

Fascinating articles

I enjoyed your trip report. Thank you!

Always encouraging to get feedback. Sometimes it seems as though only a few die-hards read our trip reports! Thanks for posting, lovs2travel.

Loving the trip report and the details. You really are a great writer. I'm really sorry for the sudden loss of your SIL.

I loved your trip report . Can't wait to be in London in April / May and seeing the Singer exhibition - he did portraits of my husbands family which may be in the exhibition. You have given lots of new places to go to. I found Sir John Soames home overpowering and just too much !

northie - we went to the Sergeant exhibition last weekend. I definitely urge you to pre-book and get early morning tickets - it was busy when we got there at 10.30 and we only just got into the 10-30 -11am slot. By the time we came out the queue was very long and the galleries were quite crowded. it's definitely also worth putting as much as you can in the cloakroom downstairs - there are self-service lockers for £1 or you leave put as much as you like with the attendant for £2.

well worth it though - lovely pictures. lots of portraits; we particularly like the ones he did of his friends like Robert Louis Stevenson, Monet, etc. Not knowing your DH's family's name, i can't tell you if they feature but if you don't mind giving that detail, I can tell you if they are there from the catalogue.

We also went to the National Gallery but didn't get as far as the Sainsbury Wing as we were tired from fighting our way through the crowds in the rest of it. Perhaps the S'Wing would have been better. Anyway we saw the impressionists etc and the C18 - a wonderful horse by Stubbs really stood out for us. And Turner of course - he makes the neighbouring paintings by Constable look like painting by numbers!

tedgale,

I suspect a great many people who read the Fodor's message boards only read the trip reports and never post to ask questions. They may not even be registered to post.

Hi again TED,

Really enjoying your continued jaunt on foot through so many neighborhoods - you do get around. I can relate to trying to find different author's abodes in London. When I visited Regency Park on a lovely but hot summer day, I did not have the energy to proceed up to Primrose Hill where the unfortunate American novelist Sylvia Plath had lived and died. Of course, the Park is huge and I was near the Euston Road entry.

I also enjoyed the beauty of the Nash Terrace houses.

SANDRALIST, thank for the links to the article. This phenomenon has developed over the past few decades - these lovely areas of Belgravia and Grosvenor Square are basically lifeless except for a few months a year.

ANNHIG - "We also went to the National Gallery but didn't get as far as the Sainsbury Wing..." I hear you. Haven't made it to that wing either. I always get hung up with the Impressionists and post Impressionist as you enter on the right.

Also love "Whistlejacket" by Stubbs - recently read that the painting once graced the Wentworth estate of the coal barons, the Fitzwilliams of Yorkshire. So glad they gave it to the Nation.

TED, again thanks for a great report... :)

Thanks, tedgale! Sighing for the National Gallery, TDu.

I've booked the Sargent in Late April -- really looking forward to it. I did book @ 10:30 but probably should have picked 10:00 just so it wouldn't be so crowded. Oh well . . .

Tegdale: I didn't know about Room A . . . and since I'm doing the Sargent on a Wed, I'll be in the area. Thanks.

JJ - certainly it wasn't too bad at 10.50 when we eventually got in there after descending to the basement to ablute, divest ourselves of coats and bags, etc. in fact we were warned to take off as much as reasonably possible as the day before they had had to cart several people off the hospital with heat exhaustion!

By the time we came out it was a bit more crowded, particularly in the areas which might be described as bottlenecks. [just one or two].

Afterwards we were able to go upstairs to see the Tudors but that exhibition ended this weekend; i don't know what's going in its place.

the thickest crowds were in the National Gallery - even at 2pm the cafe was packed as were the galleries. perhaps a Wednesday will be better than a Saturday - I certainly hope so!

This all sounds a lot more hectic and crowded than when I was there. Things were busy but not crazy. Maybe there's a big uptick in tourism at the start of March.

JANISJ, you will love the Sargent exhibit. I presume it will be much the same as the one in Boston a few years back which was a smashing success.

My favorite was "Carnation,_Lily,_Lily,_Rose" which I enjoyed at the TATE MODERN last summer. Boy, these paintings get around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnati...ly,_Lily,_Rose

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is one of my favorite paintings. The light is ethereal - almost magical.

(It is normally at Tate <i>Britain</i> - visited it sort of like an old friend in October.)

tedgale, thank you for taking the time to write this trip report, you are a talented writer. It has been quite a while since I read a report this interesting and insightful.

Thanks, ziggypop

Thanks annhig for the heads up re booking. The portrait is of Sir George Lewis . Is that in the exhibition?
Others paintings are by Burne jones and Whistler . I have asked at the portrait gallery on other occasions but just thought they may have paintings from other galleries and owners in this exhibition.

Tegdale - loved your report

Oops tedgale -sorry