Day 5

Already!

Today, we are feeling a little weary, so a later start. Still an ambitious program though.

We went up to Hampstead. There is a park there that was originally the home of the Earl of so and so. He gave his house to the National trust many years ago. It has been lovingly maintained. There is an extraordinary painting collection there. It's the scale of things that always impresses me. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller than I would imagine, always very well done.

To me, the wanderings in villages, the quick little conversations with strangers or shopkeepers are all very satisfying. The tiny scale of some of the houses gives them a toy feeling, and yet, people lived whole real lives in them, raising families and working.

We walked up to this Mansion called Kenwood, long sweeping driveway, pigeons, squirrels and lots of magpies. A lovely view down to a small lake surrounded by a forest. The grounds are all public now, with people walking dogs and riding horses. So near to the city yet so far.

The collection of paintings is amazing. A great deal of portraiture and then lots of their beloved animals. Unfortunately, the lighting in the rooms was at a preservation level of low and no flash was allowed. I will just have to keep all this in my minds eye.

A bus ride away from there brought us back down from the world of Jane Austen to a subway station in a high street of a village in the middle of massive construction. This is a general sight around London and to me, the sight of construction cranes is just part of the landscape.

I went on to the Victoria and Albert at this point, taking pictures of the Natural History Museum (other than photographing it's magnificent exterior) and going straight to the V&A.

My intent was to visit the costume section, but I did fit in a bit of other stuff too. 

Here is a selection.

 A light lunch (now around 3 in the afternoon) and back at the job of being a tourist.

I worked my way down toward the British Museum, but got fairly lost. 

A stop at a lovely cafe, with pain au chocolat as comforter helped me get my bearings back. Turned out I was, at this point, quite far from my destination, so I gave up and headed for home.

Day 6

Today I am determined to get up early and get going earlier. We have not gotten out of the house before 9:30 -10 since we arrived.

Our list today is the V&A again. The through Hyde Park and environs to work our way up to the Wellcome Institute, a science and medical place, not quite a museum. They were having a show on Sexology, a bit disappointing, but then I have no idea what I was expecting.

We worked our way over to Harrods after that and really enjoyed a gigantic sundae, expensive reatil eyeing of things and then... and then...the Food Hall. Wow! That is probably the most wonderful food emporium I have ever seen. Legendary is putting it mildly.

 The biggest sundae ever!

The afternoon was drawing on and we were getting footsore, so we headed for the Friday subway. Yoiks!

Craziness with all the escapees heading for the railways, excited kids out of school for the weekend and tired shoppers and tourists heading home.

I think that that is enough for our today.