London, 15 - 31 July, 2008
We met at Heathrow on July 15th after arriving on separate flights and headed to our exchange home in Kingston-upon-Thames, a lovely village, with a cute downtown and riverside areas. Our exchange home is comfortable, pleasant and flooded with light, but not as clean as we would have hoped. We spent the balance of the first day resting and getting organized. On Wed. we ventured out to explore Kingston and get familiar with public transport options, the local stores etc. We had a nice lunch overlooking swans and boats on the River Thames, and then strolled past many parks gardens and well tended front yards awash with blooms of hydrangea, lilacs and a variety of other flowers mostly in pink, red and all shades of purple and blue. Everything is very green. Richmond Park is directly behind our house but separated with a 10 foot brick wall to protect the property of the Crown. (It used to be a royal hunting ground). We have not yet been able to explore it. We stumbled upon a closing produce market and snagged the last 2 trays of the sweetest raspberries we’ve ever tasted. We gorged ourselves on them on our way home. The weather was extremely pleasant, cool and slightly drizzly from time to time but warmed up toward the end of the week and became hot..
On Thursday we decided to venture into the big city for an initial exposure. We were amazed at how much there was to see just around the Waterloo station, the south bank of the river is home to a huge cultural center which includes the National Theater, museums, and the London Eye (a huge Ferris wheel). There were dozens of eateries of all kinds, street performers and marvelous views across the river. There are several bridges in the area crossing the Thames and providing great vista points across the city. The views across the river are dominated by St. Paul’s Cathedral. We spent a couple of hours at the Tate Modern museum, which houses a wonderful collection of more contemporary European art from Impressionism forward. It is beautifully organized by style groups with terrific write-ups at each room explaining the periods and the paintings. We focused on the permanent collection although it only occupied about a third of the space. There were several special exhibits ongoing of among them a photography exhibit that looked very interesting. The museum book shops were most impressive and it is only because of luggage restrictions we didn’t end up with a bunch to bring home. On the way back we stopped at a wonderful café for dinner.
Our nieces, Lindsey and Lauren, arrived from the US on Friday for a week, so the next seven days were spent seeing the main highlights of London. The introduction was a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour for a quick once over of London, we enjoyed the tour, the weather was good but only understood about 30% of the live guided narrative. They speak funny English here :). We got off the bus at the Tower of London and took a tour inside; the highlight were the Crown Jewels. We hopped back on the bus and then took advantage of the perfect evening , watched a few interesting street performances at the park along the river and ended the day at sunset with a ride on the London Eye. What a great experience watching the light and the viewing angles change continually and gently as the huge wheel turned a complete revolution.
Sunday started with a boat ride on the Thames to Greenwich where we spent a few hours, enjoying the market and the culinary treats it offered, (the best roasted hog sandwich I ever had, but I am not sure if it was Kosher...) .We didn’t manage to see the famous Maritime museum or straddle the meridian line, so we need to go back and see it.
Monday we started early to catch the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace which turned out to be a let down. The castle itself was closed to visitors till next week. We had a picnic lunch at St. James Park and headed to the National Gallery which was interesting but heavy on 13-17th century art. Of course it has an incredible collection of every possible important artist of these periods. The Impressionist collection was beautiful if not vast. To rest our feet for a while we decided to have High Tea at Fortnum and Mason which is a very posh dept. store. We now understand that “high” refers to the price. Definitely not worth repeating, but the piano music was pleasant enough and the treats quite tasty. (Prices in general tend to be high so we are buying as little as possible.) The girls meanwhile explored the shops around Piccadilly Circus.
Tue: We visited the British Library which houses an incredible collection of old original historical manuscripts, most famous being the Magna Carta, and also many original literary and religious books, musical scores by the most famous western composers, and even the Beatles. Lindsey and Lauren seemed to enjoy it since they were able to see manuscripts of some to the books they are reading. Later in the day we toured Westminster Abbey and heard an organ concert there of modern organ music which was a little disappointing and not quite what we expected. The experience of hearing the organ sounds filling the giant space of the abbey was wonderful. But, somehow traditional music suits the space better.
Wed we all went our separate ways. Lance had a quiet day at home, Dahlia went to the National Portrait gallery which was amazing and the Cortauld Gallery and the Somerset house with a beautiful collection of impressionists. The girls went to see Hampton Court and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
From there we went to the British museum . Incredible!! We spent three hours and only saw a small sampling. Most impressive were the Rosetta stone, the incredible Assyrian collection of carved relief images that went on for miles it seemed. They were removed from walls protecting the ancient palaces of the Assyrian kings. The preservation of these ancient relics was amazing. These described in vivid sculptural images the conquests and defeats of the Assyrian kings… a real life confirmation of the historical stories of the bible in the old testament which seemed like fairy tales to me (D) when we were reading them at school- They turn out to be real after all!!! It was extremely moving. Seeing these ancient relics, some from 5000 BC from the Middle East area, and many others from current Israel Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and Greece was fascinating. It was interesting to see a reconstructed portion of the Greek Parthenon on display, right there in the giant hall. There was so much to see but our legs were getting tired. On our way out we spotted two Maasai warriors dressed in their traditional outfits appeared at the museum, unaccompanied, evidently to view a special African exhibit on display. It was a little hard to believe this was not some publicity stunt for something, but we were assured it was authentic… We didn’t even manage to see the mummies! We went back later to see more.
Friday, the last day of touring for L&L we decided to focus on English royalty by visiting Windsor Castle, some 40 minutes by train out of London. It is surrounded by a cute lively village with many nice shops, restaurants, a nice riverside area and, of course, tourist shops (we almost went for the Windsor Palace towels). The Castle is the current residence of the royal family and is huge, splendid and beautifully maintained. It has been occupied continuously for some 900 years. The seemingly endless wall surrounds a vast complex of buildings and is just as you would imagine a castle should be for a reigning monarch. Inside we saw the magnificent St. George chapel and state rooms decorated with endless beautiful paintings, by Rubens, Rembrandt, Hals and scores of others too many to mention (The display being only a sample of the royal collection)
Sat. hard to believe 10 days in London passed so quickly. There is so much to see and do that we can keep coming again and again and never be bored. Today is a day of rest and tea with Miriam, the friendly neighbor of the Perry’s. The girls left for the airport by cab this morning.
After a day of rest we felt fresh enough to spend the remaining four days seeing more of the wonderful attractions London have to offer, and we have only scratched the surface.
On Sunday we went to Kew gardens (it is not as lovely as Huntington Garden we thought, but the waterlily house and the palm house were magnificent and worth the trip). We then made another visit at the National Portrait gallery. (We could go again and again). There were many incredibly beautiful portraits by contemporary British artists we were not familiar with, including the exhibit of the 2008 National portrait competition. How humbling!!!!
On Monday we were finally able to meet our friends, Sandy, Irena and Katie for a wonderful lunch at Brown’s in the financial center where Katie is working. Sadly we didn’t get to see Isaac who is very ill and in the hospital. In the afternoon we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral with its beautiful light and open feeling in the absence of the typical stained glass windows. We arrived just after the police who told everyone to leave because of a bomb scare which turned out to be false. Before returning home we also briefly toured the London Museum which gave the history of London from pre-Roman times. It is hard to think of London as a Roman city but the history in undeniable.
On Tuesday we went to the Tate British which was wonderful as well (We now are starting from the most recent paintings and quit when we get to 16-17th century art and older). And then we went back to the British Museum to see the mummies which we’ve missed on a previous visit. We also saw an interesting exhibit about Hadrian’s empire, and a nice exhibit of prints by American painters (From Hooper to Pollok)
Wed. was another rest day for Lance while Dahlia explored the Piccadilly and Mayfair areas, which are not unlike the Rodeo drive area in Los Angeles. Our final day, tomorrow, will be spent at Hampton Court. And then we’re off to Italy for 2.5 weeks.
On Thursday we decided to venture into the big city for an initial exposure. We were amazed at how much there was to see just around the Waterloo station, the south bank of the river is home to a huge cultural center which includes the National Theater, museums, and the London Eye (a huge Ferris wheel). There were dozens of eateries of all kinds, street performers and marvelous views across the river. There are several bridges in the area crossing the Thames and providing great vista points across the city. The views across the river are dominated by St. Paul’s Cathedral. We spent a couple of hours at the Tate Modern museum, which houses a wonderful collection of more contemporary European art from Impressionism forward. It is beautifully organized by style groups with terrific write-ups at each room explaining the periods and the paintings. We focused on the permanent collection although it only occupied about a third of the space. There were several special exhibits ongoing of among them a photography exhibit that looked very interesting. The museum book shops were most impressive and it is only because of luggage restrictions we didn’t end up with a bunch to bring home. On the way back we stopped at a wonderful café for dinner.
Our nieces, Lindsey and Lauren, arrived from the US on Friday for a week, so the next seven days were spent seeing the main highlights of London. The introduction was a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour for a quick once over of London, we enjoyed the tour, the weather was good but only understood about 30% of the live guided narrative. They speak funny English here :). We got off the bus at the Tower of London and took a tour inside; the highlight were the Crown Jewels. We hopped back on the bus and then took advantage of the perfect evening , watched a few interesting street performances at the park along the river and ended the day at sunset with a ride on the London Eye. What a great experience watching the light and the viewing angles change continually and gently as the huge wheel turned a complete revolution.
Sunday started with a boat ride on the Thames to Greenwich where we spent a few hours, enjoying the market and the culinary treats it offered, (the best roasted hog sandwich I ever had, but I am not sure if it was Kosher...) .We didn’t manage to see the famous Maritime museum or straddle the meridian line, so we need to go back and see it.
Monday we started early to catch the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace which turned out to be a let down. The castle itself was closed to visitors till next week. We had a picnic lunch at St. James Park and headed to the National Gallery which was interesting but heavy on 13-17th century art. Of course it has an incredible collection of every possible important artist of these periods. The Impressionist collection was beautiful if not vast. To rest our feet for a while we decided to have High Tea at Fortnum and Mason which is a very posh dept. store. We now understand that “high” refers to the price. Definitely not worth repeating, but the piano music was pleasant enough and the treats quite tasty. (Prices in general tend to be high so we are buying as little as possible.) The girls meanwhile explored the shops around Piccadilly Circus.
Tue: We visited the British Library which houses an incredible collection of old original historical manuscripts, most famous being the Magna Carta, and also many original literary and religious books, musical scores by the most famous western composers, and even the Beatles. Lindsey and Lauren seemed to enjoy it since they were able to see manuscripts of some to the books they are reading. Later in the day we toured Westminster Abbey and heard an organ concert there of modern organ music which was a little disappointing and not quite what we expected. The experience of hearing the organ sounds filling the giant space of the abbey was wonderful. But, somehow traditional music suits the space better.
Wed we all went our separate ways. Lance had a quiet day at home, Dahlia went to the National Portrait gallery which was amazing and the Cortauld Gallery and the Somerset house with a beautiful collection of impressionists. The girls went to see Hampton Court and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
From there we went to the British museum . Incredible!! We spent three hours and only saw a small sampling. Most impressive were the Rosetta stone, the incredible Assyrian collection of carved relief images that went on for miles it seemed. They were removed from walls protecting the ancient palaces of the Assyrian kings. The preservation of these ancient relics was amazing. These described in vivid sculptural images the conquests and defeats of the Assyrian kings… a real life confirmation of the historical stories of the bible in the old testament which seemed like fairy tales to me (D) when we were reading them at school- They turn out to be real after all!!! It was extremely moving. Seeing these ancient relics, some from 5000 BC from the Middle East area, and many others from current Israel Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and Greece was fascinating. It was interesting to see a reconstructed portion of the Greek Parthenon on display, right there in the giant hall. There was so much to see but our legs were getting tired. On our way out we spotted two Maasai warriors dressed in their traditional outfits appeared at the museum, unaccompanied, evidently to view a special African exhibit on display. It was a little hard to believe this was not some publicity stunt for something, but we were assured it was authentic… We didn’t even manage to see the mummies! We went back later to see more.
Friday, the last day of touring for L&L we decided to focus on English royalty by visiting Windsor Castle, some 40 minutes by train out of London. It is surrounded by a cute lively village with many nice shops, restaurants, a nice riverside area and, of course, tourist shops (we almost went for the Windsor Palace towels). The Castle is the current residence of the royal family and is huge, splendid and beautifully maintained. It has been occupied continuously for some 900 years. The seemingly endless wall surrounds a vast complex of buildings and is just as you would imagine a castle should be for a reigning monarch. Inside we saw the magnificent St. George chapel and state rooms decorated with endless beautiful paintings, by Rubens, Rembrandt, Hals and scores of others too many to mention (The display being only a sample of the royal collection)
Sat. hard to believe 10 days in London passed so quickly. There is so much to see and do that we can keep coming again and again and never be bored. Today is a day of rest and tea with Miriam, the friendly neighbor of the Perry’s. The girls left for the airport by cab this morning.
After a day of rest we felt fresh enough to spend the remaining four days seeing more of the wonderful attractions London have to offer, and we have only scratched the surface.
On Sunday we went to Kew gardens (it is not as lovely as Huntington Garden we thought, but the waterlily house and the palm house were magnificent and worth the trip). We then made another visit at the National Portrait gallery. (We could go again and again). There were many incredibly beautiful portraits by contemporary British artists we were not familiar with, including the exhibit of the 2008 National portrait competition. How humbling!!!!
On Monday we were finally able to meet our friends, Sandy, Irena and Katie for a wonderful lunch at Brown’s in the financial center where Katie is working. Sadly we didn’t get to see Isaac who is very ill and in the hospital. In the afternoon we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral with its beautiful light and open feeling in the absence of the typical stained glass windows. We arrived just after the police who told everyone to leave because of a bomb scare which turned out to be false. Before returning home we also briefly toured the London Museum which gave the history of London from pre-Roman times. It is hard to think of London as a Roman city but the history in undeniable.
On Tuesday we went to the Tate British which was wonderful as well (We now are starting from the most recent paintings and quit when we get to 16-17th century art and older). And then we went back to the British Museum to see the mummies which we’ve missed on a previous visit. We also saw an interesting exhibit about Hadrian’s empire, and a nice exhibit of prints by American painters (From Hooper to Pollok)
Wed. was another rest day for Lance while Dahlia explored the Piccadilly and Mayfair areas, which are not unlike the Rodeo drive area in Los Angeles. Our final day, tomorrow, will be spent at Hampton Court. And then we’re off to Italy for 2.5 weeks.
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 1:39 AM
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