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| The Old Registry, Kensington Where James Joyce & Nora Barnacle married July 4, 1931 D.H. Lawrence, author of Lady Chatterley's Lover, also married here |
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| 28 Campden Grove, Kensington Where James Joyce and Nora Barnacle lived |
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| The Old Registry Now a Private Home |
It was our first time in Brixton in south London and we wandered among the many markets surrounding the Brixton tube station that were selling produce, meat and fish, clothing and jewelry from Africa and the Caribbean. We stopped at Eat of Eden for an early dinner.
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| Red rice, olive salad, pumpkin and sweet potato curry with dumpling Red rice, green salad, lentil stew with macaroni and cheese |
Westminster Cathedral, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. Located close to Victoria Station, it can sit as many as 3,000 people. The Cathedral, which opened in 1903, has many interesting mosaics.
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| Saint Patrick |
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| The Chapel of Saint Patrick and of the Saints of Ireland |
This afternoon Eddie took me to a food hall in Mayfair where we sat and had ice Americanos. The food hall is situated in the recently restored church of St. Mark, built in 1828. I've never been in a eatery quite like this, with beautiful stain glass windows and and a craft beer bar on the alter. It was a divine experience!
Today we went to see the Masterpieces from the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace exhibit. As the Palace is being renovated, the paintings that normally hang in the picture gallery have been moved to the Queen's Gallery exhibition space. I photographed a few that caught my eye. The Royal Collection is owned by Elizabeth II and is overseen by the Royal Collection Trust. It is the largest private art collection in the world. My photographs below are poor facsimiles and one must visit the Palace to see how magnificent these works of art are.
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| The Grocer's Shop, 1762, Gerrit Dou |
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| A Rabbi with a Cap, 1635, Rembrandt van Rijn |
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| Self Portrait in a Flat Cap, 1642, Rembrandt van Rijn |
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| Christ Healing the Paralytic, 1618-1619, Sir Anthony Van Dyck |
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| The Piazzetta Looking Toward Santa Maria Della Salute, 1723-1724, Canaletto |
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| Judith with the Head of Holfernes, 1613, Christofano Alloir |
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| Madonna and Child in a Landscape with Tobias and the Angel, 1537, Titian |
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| The Libyan Sibyl, 1651 Guercino |
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| Eddie admiring Works by Canaletto |
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| A Kermis on St. George Day, 1649, David Teniers the Younger |
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| Interiors of a Farmhouse with Figures (The Stolen Kiss), 1660, David Teniers the Younger |
JMW Turner (1775-1851) is considered today to be England's greatest landscape painter. Often called "the painter of light," he is well-known for his large oil paintings on canvas depicting the sea as a malevolent and unforgiving force. If you have not seen it, I recommend the 2014 movie "Mr. Turner" starring Timothy Spall to learn about the artist. Turner was 32 years old when he acquired a large plot of land between Twickenham and Richmond Bridge in what is today West London. In 1813, on this plot of land, he built a country retreat which also served as a home for his father in his retirement. Turner sold the house in 1826. Today we visited the home which has been restored. The world's largest collection of Turner's paintings are at the Tate Britain Museum in London and I'll be posting photographs of his work later on this blog because I find his work amazing. Turner's particular style still feels fresh today, with images that are both beautiful and horrifying at the same time.
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| House Entrance |
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| Turner's home on Sandycoombe Road is known today as Sandycombe Lodge |
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| The garden is full of Jupiter's Beard which is a native of the Mediterranean region but today found throughout the world including San Francisco |
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| The staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms |
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| A window screen shows what the view would have looked like when the house was in the remote countryside |
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| Turner's bedroom |
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| A corner in Turner's Bedroom |
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| Paintings by Turner exhibited in the bedroom of "Old Dad" |
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| The elegant staircase |
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| The dining room with the then-popular Willow-pattern dishware |
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| Fireplace in the dining room |
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| Hallway, Main Floor |
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| Staircase top-lit by painted and etched glass |
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| The Little Parlour on the first floor |
Today we checked out the engineering feat that is the Thames Barrier, a retractable barrier system designed to prevent the floodplain of most of greater London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. Thames Barrier Park has an interesting undulating hedge design.
