Walking home this evening, I stopped and took this photograph...

One of our local pubs, the Churchill Arms Pub & Restaurant
all dressed up for the holidays.

Recent Photographs

Portrait of Margaret Gainsborough, around 1778
by Thomas Gainsborough
Courtauld Institute of Art

The Venus Fountain in Sloane Square

Inside the British Museum

The Sutton Hoo Helmet
Early Medieval, circa 625, Anglo Saxon England
On display at the British Museum

Bronze Head of Nero
1st Century AD
Found in Suffolk

Decorations Regent Street

Two Year Anniversary

Friday, December 6, 2019, we arrived in London.  Two years later, we are still here, living life under the great pandemic.   

We continue to note the differences in culture, housing, food and weather between the US and Britain.  Books, in general, seem better bound in the States.  Twice a week, at the designated time, we throw our household garbage out onto the sidewalk in plastic bags, and the garbage vanishes when we aren't looking. Illegal dumping is called fly-tipping. For having 9 million people, London is surprising clean. Eggplant is called aubergine and zucchini is called courgette and both are used more extensively in meals here than in the States. Elderflower mixed with apple juice is a popular drink.  Sausage rolls and vegan sausage rolls are popular.  Halloumi cheese and Moroccan Tagine are no longer strange to us. Today we bought cheddar cheese at Whole Foods that came all the way from Cheddar, England!

Approaching Christmas,  it's very cold.  It gets dark about 4:00 pm.  Mince pies and mulled wine are popular at this time of year.

 

Syon House

Syon House is set to close for winter so we decided to pay a visit.  Last autumn, when the house was closed due to the pandemic, we visited its beautiful gardens.  Today, we explored the inside of the London home that has been privately owned by the same family, that of the Duke of Northumberland, for more than 400 years.  The present house dates to about 1775.  It replaced an older house which replaced a medieval convent.  Syon House has had a long and captivating history.  King Henry VIII had his fifth wife Catherine Howard, not yet 20 years of age, imprisoned here before he had her beheaded (1542) in the Tower of London.  Lady Jane Grey was residing in the house when she was proclaimed Queen. Nine days later, only 17 years old, she was also beheaded (1553) in the Tower of London.  Today Syon House is open to the public and is full of intriguing old paintings, portraits of nobility associated with the house, as well as recent photographs of  Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland, and his family, who live most of the year at Alnwick Castle in northern England.

See blog entry for Friday, October 16, 2020, Autumn at Syon, for photos of the gardens. 

The Great Hall

Bold black & white design on a marble floor

A copy of The Dying Gaul
Commissioned by the 1st Duchess of Northumberland
The original is in Rome

Great Hall statuary

Apollo

Aphrodite

Ante Room

State Dining Room

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia
Granddaughter of Mary Queen of Scots

Charles I and his wife Henrietta

Red Drawing Room

The Long Gallery

Can you find Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother?
Hint: They are not sitting together.

The "Nine Days" Queen

Green Drawing Room

I love this painting.
I think this is King Edward III.

The Print Room

Queen Elizabeth I as a little girl

The Private Dining Room

Old depictions of Syon House

Henry VIII and his 3rd wife Jane Seymour
She became Henry's wife upon the execution of Anne Boleyn

The Conservatory

Syon House