Charles Dickens Museum

In this house in Holborn, where he lived in the late 1830's with his wife Catherine Hogarth and the first 3 of their 10 children, Charles Dickens completed The Pickwick Papers and wrote the entirety of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.  Today it is a fascinating museum restored to how the residence appeared at the time of their occupancy and featuring many of Dickens' personal items.  An incredibly prolific author, Dickens achieved great fame in his lifetime, becoming the first literary megastar with fans worldwide clamoring for his output as it was published. 

Entry hall to the Dickens home.

Dining Room

Charles and Catherine

In this chair, at this desk, albeit in a later home, Dickens wrote
A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend.

Miniature of a young Dickens, by Margaret Gillies

The Drawing Room, with Dickens' favorite armchair at right.

Court suit worn by Dickens at a reception hosted by
 Edward, Prince of Wales, at St. James's Palace in 1870,
the year Dickens died (age 58).
2020 is the 150th anniversary of his death.

1858 photo of Dickens giving a public reading.
Colorized in 2020.

This is the earliest surviving photo (also recently colorized),
from 1852 at age 40.

  

The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace

George IV: Art & Spectacle is the current exhibit at Buckingham Palace's Queen's Gallery.  On display is the dazzling collection of George IV, an inveterate sybarite, dandy, & acquirer of fine art and furnishings, who replaced his ailing father, "Mad King" George III, in 1811 as regent and then in 1820 as monarch.

George IV

The Fencing-Match between the Chevalier de Saint-Georges and
the Chevalier d'Eon, 1787, by Alexandre-Auguste Robineau.
The future King George IV (in hat & blue coat) is observing.
The Chevalier d'Eon was the first openly transvestite man in British history.

Nonpareil and Monitor, 1820's, by James Ward

Napoleon le Grand, 1808, by Francois Gerard,
the most expensive print George ever purchased.

The Three Eldest Princesses, 1783, by Thomas Gainsborough

Items from George's coronation.

In 1824, the King & Queen of Hawaii personally brought this
cape to England as a gift for George IV.  They returned to
Hawaii in coffins, having succumbed to measles while in London.

Coronation portrait of George IV

Sir Walter Scott, 1820, by Thomas Lawrence

Coffer, 1813

Sleek black Lamborghini

Striking silver Aston Martin Cygnet

We encountered a fashion shoot on swanky Sloane Street in Knightsbridge.

 

Kew Gardens

Founded in 1840, these 330 acres in southwest London contain the most extensive botanical collection in the world.  We spent over 6 hours wandering around here and still didn't see it all.

Lunch with a view.

The Palm House

Inside the Temperate House

Golden Lotus Banana, sacred to Buddhists

The Temperate House

The Great Pagoda

A fierce dragon guarding the pagoda.

California Redwood Grove

Kew Palace

Queen's Garden

The Hive, an installation that recreates life inside a beehive.

Inside the Palm House

Beehive Ginger

Waterlily House

Oregon Ash

English Oak

Student Vegetable Plots

Rock Garden

Official Kew Gardens soaps