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| First stop was Chelsea and lunch at the original Ottolenghi Bakery, where his empire all began. |
We had just landed in London, but surprisingly we had the energy to accompany my niece Victoria and her daughter Alexis to Chelsea where we stopped at Ottolenghi's original location and picked out some salads and their fabulous brownies. Too bad the salads weren't equally fabulous. Because it looked like rain, we scored a table outside on this busy Saturday and sat down to eat and watch the passersby in this posh district.
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| Notice my Teva's, the only shoes I could wear after breaking my pinky toe before the trip |
We woke up late to a warm, drizzly Sunday. We headed for the Chiswick Farmer's Market by bus, not far from Victoria's house in Chiswick, London. Luckily she and her family keep lots of umbrellas on hand. This is England, after all!
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| Weekly Sunday Market |
The annual Chiswick dog show was going on in the park so we stopped and watched the judges award the best costume to this smart fellow. The costumes were based on the show So You Think You Can Dance with Mel Giedroyc introducing all the Doggy contestants. I recognized her voice from her role in The Great British Baking Show. She's a faithful supporter of this event
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| People and dog watching at the show was a blast |
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| Chiswick house and Gardens (pronounced Chizick) |
Here's Victoria leaving the Sunday market with chard for our dinner. Baggy jeans are fashionable in London now. That style hasn't caught on in the US yet, or maybe never. After the market and dog events we wandered around the lovely neighborhood and I had a SIM card installed in my phone so we could access the internet while on the go. We didn't realize how important that would be! At our ages we needed all the help we could get. Fortunately Londoners couldn't have been more helpful when our Google maps failed, which was often.
First, the Tate Modern which was featuring a major exhibition on the Expressionist painters centered around Wassily Kandinsky in Munich and Bavaria in the early 20th century just before the First World War. There were paintings by Kandinsky and his partner Gabriele Münter, as well as Paul Klee, Franz Marc and many others. We loved it and felt so lucky to visit during those dates. Also worth mentioning: most museums in London are free.
After finding the museum with some difficulty, our first stop was lunch at the café looking out at St Pauls across the river. All the museum cafés in London were surprisingly good, serving fresh, healthy options as you can see above.
From our table we could see St Paul's Cathedral across the Thames. It survived the bombings of London during WWII and became a symbol of resilience for the British during those dark years
On to some favorite paintings from the exhibition
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| Tiger in the Jungle by Franz Marc |
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| Lady in Moscow by Wassily Kandinsky |
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| I didn't take note of the artist, but I love the painting |
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| Milliner's Shop by August Macke |
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| Kandinsky's painting of his dining room. The thick application of paint was striking |
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| Kandinsky sitting at the Kitchen Table by Gabriele Mûnter |
Back to reality and home to our Turnham Green Tube Stop.
The next day was clear and cool so we took the bus past Shepard's Bush to Portobello Road and Notting Hill, about a half hour's ride on the upper deck, of course.
We wandered around Notting Hill for a while and then stopped for lunch at a typical english pub which turned out to have an excellent chef.
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| Lunch at The Duke of Wellington on Portobello Road |
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| Somerset House, home to the Courtauld Gallery |
The Cortauld Gallery with its excellent collection of impressionist paintings was on my list of museums
to visit. Somerset House is imposing and stony but the galleries within are modern and welcoming. For an informative and humorous overview of the museum, google the actor Bill Nighey's video on the Courtauld, one of his favorite museums in London where he lives. I wasn't able to import the video here but it's easy to find on Google.
Three of my favorites by Paul Cézanne viewed in the Courtauld Impressionist Wing
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| Man with a Pipe by Cézanne |
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| Pot of Flowers and Fruit |
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| Lac d'Annecy |
Exiting the massive building was so complicated that again we had to ask directions to the nearest tube stop from a guard outside. As a lifelong Londoner he couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. We had actually exited from the wrong side of Somerset House, so he accompanied us to the back of the building and sent us on our way to a stop on the Victoria Line.
We were so bushed from tromping around all day that we made a joint decision to skip our evening at The Old Vic where we had tickets for Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing. Instead, we had a relaxing evening at home with my relatives and never regretted our decision.
To be continued...
