I'm sorry I'm not posting much at the moment but I seem to have real life keep happening.
On Monday we went to the National Gallery as planned and it was very swish. We were offered canapés from transparent acrylic frames that looked like mini bookcases, and the soft drink on offer was a mint/peach smoothie. Very odd. My husband had the sparkling wine. There was a live clarinettist there too, playing some very unstructured jazzy music. Not to my taste but it was definitely posh. I don't know if any of you have seen the National Gallery but it's a huge building with high ceilings and enormous rooms. You can see a slide show of it here.
I loved seeing the pictures. It's so different from seeing a reproduction. I remember when I first took my kids to the art gallery and we were all taken with the sheer size of some of the paintings. If you reduce a 6 foot by 8 foot painting to an A4 reproduction, you're bound to lose some of the sense of it.
Later, we walked over the river to Waterloo Station. The South Bank is such fun: there was an interactive display of light columns and we queued for our turn to wander round it. We're so lucky to live near London.
8 COMMENTS:
Oh, I've been to the National Gallery! I LOVE London. Love, love, love. I know it's probably an American romanticization of all things Brit, but I loved Kew Gardens and the Underground and those sandwiches in the plastic triangles. I'm an idiot.
I love London too. Kew Gardens is (are?) beautiful but I never thought of loving the Underground. I do love Covent Garden and the river.
Quite a lot of the best bits of London are in walking distance of Charing Cross or Waterloo stations, which are an easy journey from here.
Live clarinettists are the best — the dead ones just sit there staring into space.
I don't get to visit London very often, but the last time I was there, I chanced upon the Trooping of The Colour quite by accident. The entire Royal Family swished past on horseback and I had to take a ride on the London Eye to calm myself down.
Ah, I love art galleries. Maybe some day I'll be able to go to London.
I really want to see The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, but it's at the Tate Gallery.
Whirlochre, you always make me laugh.
Freddie, that's a very unusual painting. How did you even get to hear about it? I had to google it.
It was on Neil Gaiman's site a while back. Someone (I forget who) wrote a book of the same title featuring the painting. I haven't read the book, but the painting as described sounds fascinating.
Yes, I have some strange interests.
Well, I realize loving the underground is a bit nuts, but, you see, I'd kill for public transport like that. I mean, you could live without a car! That just rocks. Really. I live in Texas, where the rule seems to be--if you really want to be somewhere, you gotta drive. Or maybe it's--if it doesn't require a car, it can't be good.
It's a long way to come to see one painting, freddie. It does look fascinating, though, and I'd like to go and see it. Do you know, I've been to the National Gallery and to Tate Modern (which is great fun) but I don't think I've ever been to Tate Britain. I really should go and see what's there.
Mapelba: That is such a different way of life than I have here. There's no way anyone would drive in London when the Tube is so useful. And even locally, I'm only 15 minutes walk from the shops, the library and the station. Mind you, I need the car for supermarket shopping (when I don't get it delivered) and for swimming and visiting friends and family. But I don't drive every day.
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