So I set the alarm clock to ring at 3:30 versus 4:30 am – it was okay as I did not sleep much any way. The Tube opens at 5:30 am so we had a 5 minute wait. Picadilly line from Holborn to Heathrow takes all of 1 hour. I was please to have the extra time in reclaiming my Oyster Card unused credit.
The Hotel Renaissance Chancery Court once again proved to be a great location. The British Museum was only blocks away.
The Ship Tavern is located down a short alley-way from our hotel. It is a terrific local place to have a lamb pie and brew. Yummy!
P.S. They also make a ‘mean’ hamburger.
I found this museum to be a frustrating maze of rooms. The V&A is home to an interesting collection of oddities.
Once you figure a pathway through the museum to the new medieval rooms – you will be delighted. The collection is displayed in a modern style. The education and learning perspective of the exhibits are terrific. It is an easy and enjoyable collection to take a few hours to view.
The North Sea Fish Restaurant at 7-8 Leigh Street was highly recommended for its fresh seafood. The fish and chips are wonderful. It is a delightful place to rest and feed.
What a wonderful treat to spend time in the National Gallery. Over time this gallery has grown to accommodate an every increasing collection of fine paintings. Best of all – many of the halls are being restored to their original grandeur. Paintings are from the 13th to 20th Century.
We started our tour in the new Sainsbury Wing just off Trafalgar square. Our docent (from Context Tours, my favorite company) was an expert in 13th –16th Century art of sacred subjects. The new wing has been specially designed to display these amazing works by the likes of Botticelli. After 3 hours – we completed an in-depth discussion of only a dozen of the 50 plus galleries.
Like most galleries – the National started (1838) off small and has grown over time. It collection is intended to contain some the best examples of art during the period and is assemble for that purpose. Originally the museum shared its space with the Royal Academy.
We caught a last glance at one of Titian’s early works Bacchus and Ariadne which is co-own with Scotland’s National Gallery. It spends an alternating 6 years in each of its homes and is bound for Scotland soon.
If you find yourself in London on a Wednesday – the storerooms for the Museum are open to the public in the afternoon. We missed having access to them on this trip. A perfect excuse to come back to London.
It is easy to understand how this museum attracts millions of visitors each year. Since the early 1810’s it has housed some many of the World’s finest treasures. The museum is home to some 70,000 objects and originally 20,000 books. The books have now been moved to the National Library from their original home in the museum’s courtyard.
The courtyard was covered in 2000 for the Millennium. Since the central library is slightly off center each piece of glass measures a different size. Today the courtyard is a perfect escape from London’s ‘drippy’ weather.
The Louvre has the Mona Lisa. The British Museum has the Rosetta Stone. Luckily the stone has been placed in a larger space to accommodate the crowds. Discovered by Napoleon’s army, the stone (it was used as a corner stone in a Fort) would ultimately provide the key to Egyptian hieroglyphs. The English won the battle and … the stone.
For me – the Egyptian wall paintings (room 61) made the trip.
Okay … I have to admit that I find it a strange feature that London’s museums are free and it’s churches charge for access.
Just around the corner from our home away from home is one of the most curious museums – Sir John Soane’s Museum. Today Soane would be accused of being a hoarder. His home -which grew from one to three houses – is filled with objects.
We wandered through the collection enjoying a surprise at each turn. It is a delightful museum. Soane was an architect and the features of the home are worthy of a visit alone.
A recent addition to the collection is the Napoleon Ring which was returned after being away for 170 years. The ring is Soane’s mourning ring for Napoleon and contains a lock of Napoleon’s hair.
Weather at home did not make getting to London easy. We chose the perfect time to escape Dallas on a rare winter snowfall. We arrived safely in London some 3 hours later than expected. A quick ride on the Picadilly line to Holborn brought us only steps away from our Hotel – the Renaissance London Chancery Court.
Winter weather at home threatened to our trip. After many hours and planes, trains and well good ol’ walking – we reached our final destination.
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For some deciding on the perfect birthday gift can be very challenging – For me it was easy. Our first visit to London several years ago left us eager to return. We only had moments at the British Museum to view the Rosetta Stone before venturing off on a incredibly wonderful tour of the city.
This trip is to celebrate Rob’s recent Birthday. Barbara and I have decided to treat him to a long weekend trip to London’s finest museums. Now the only question will be if I can sneak in a quick peek at works housed in the the Tate Modern Museum (my favorite).
Our friends at Context will lead us through a 2.5 hour walk in the British Museum.
This walk explores how the British Museum came into existence in the mid-eighteenth century during the period of Enlightenment, so called because of people's desire to re-examine received ideas and explore new ones using different methods of collecting data. During the Enlightenment period different disciplines were born, among them archaeology, art history and the study of languages and scripts.
We will look at some of the antiquities and languages of ancient Iraq and Iran as material from these areas forms some of the earliest collections in the British Museum. Large-scale excavation in the ancient Middle East and the race for deciphering of hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts were inspired by the finds from Mesopotamia and Persia. The beginnings of the British Museum are inextricably tied to the European re-discovery of these ancient cultures.
Our itinerary includes a 3 hour tour and time-on-our-own at London's National Gallery.
The National Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of western painting in the world. Located in Trafalgar Square, in the centre of the West End, it is a must for any visit to London with a collection of over 2,000 works spanning some 650 years and containing masterpieces from each of the major periods.
