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Published: April 29th 2014
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Trafalgar Square
Without setting my goal to visit the National Gallery, I could have spent the whole day watching the natural theatre of Trafalgar Square. My second day going to the
National Gallery , and I got more lost than ever!? I stayed on
Shaftesbury Avenue when I should have been on
Charing Cross and couldn’t figure out how to correct the error. My instincts failed me again, landing me in a sleazy bit of
Soho. A fruit and veg man directed me back, and a nice woman set me free of
Pall Mall. At least I did see
Piccadilly Circus, although it was considerably out of my way.
So I needed some tea when I arrived, and through finding the wrong entrance was informed that the lovely café with pots of tea belonged to the National Gallery, not the Portrait Gallery, as I had thought. It was almost noon before I moved up to the Italian Gallery of the 1500s. My course book and the Gallery did not correspond quite as well as before, which only meant that I saw many more pictures than planned. Quite a number I recognized from the course DVD and I wandered over to look. Looking, reading my book, and reading the Gallery signs made for an intense experience over the afternoon. About 1:30 I was hungry and a bit overwhelmed, so I returned
British Library
The great library, built with the conserved bricks from St Pancras station, its neighbout. to the Portrait Gallery Café for a ham sandwich and an orange again. Then back to paintings. I enjoyed the
Caravaggio, as I have before.
Hans Holbein the Younger is a favourite of mine, although he got short shrift from the course.
Gainsborough was more interesting because of the lecture on Saturday. My appreciation of
Turner benefited from a BBC program I saw at home.
Constable was interesting because of his composition. They all made good studies for improving my photography composition.
By 3:20 I could take in no more. I had tea and a so-called cookie in the Espresso Bar to sustain me on the return walk. I favoured Mabel's Pub and its steak pie again. A bit of showering rain but nothing serious.
The next morning, I packed and checked out by 10:00 to participate in the great tradition of the
British Library as my final vacation enjoyment.
As required, I left my bag and coat in a locker, placing only my research things in their supplied transparent bag (only pencil permitted). Found my way to the Humanities 2 Room on the second floor. My books were there, but I committed the faux pas of not finding a desk
first – they are numbered to keep a check on the location of materials.
Both books were useful. Making notes pleasantly gave me memories of my two first degrees that visiting McGill last year and Leeds last week did not. I re-experienced the thrill of finding relevant passages and references to further works that might be of use. Even though it may be years before I return, I was thinking of new ways of accessing information. One book was published in 1899 and had a charming, personal style that would be scorned now – still he quoted extensively from Sir Walter Scott, who commented several times on Austen. The modern book actually contained more information and directed me to a book published by Barnes and Nobel exactly on my questions. Perhaps it is available via
The Alberta Library card.
I ran out of energy and time at the optimal moment. Books returned and belongs recovered, I stopped at the café for tea and a ham sandwich. (When I first came to London, they had more interesting sandwiches.) Picked up my suitcase from the hotel,
returned to Kings Cross. Tube to Heathrow and onto the plane following normal procedures. Finished these notes just in time for in-flight dinner.
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