Return to England - London, Saturday 2010 September 11

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After egg and bacon and tomato for breakfast in the very busy dining room, I set off for the National Gallery. Although the direction felt right and I had map in had, I walked about five blocks in the wrong direction. Reversed and mentally stumbled my way there, checking the map frequently, hampered by the relative lack of street signs and the neglect of Google to print all the streets on the map.

My first stop was actually the National Portrait Gallery to see the Jane Austen portrait by her sister Cassandra. As warned, finding it does take some searching. Even after I found Room 18, the portrait was almost invisible because it is very small – maybe 5 inches square – and buried in its own special case. The face is very small on a half-body drawing, but since the face is coloured the rest is pencil, there is an attractiveness to the drawing. According to the sign, her niece said it is not much like Jane.

On the way out, I was tempted by a 2010 portrait competition show. The variety of styles was as interesting as the portraits. One was a marvel - young woman looking down, sized about 5 feet square. Every hair of her head and eyelashes was individually painted, and the colouring, as a pale red-head, was excellent. The almost photographic quality was enhanced by the Ipod wires coming from her unseen ears. Another portrait of an Asian-mix woman was chosen to represent the show in the advertising. The knowing, slightly resentful yet compliant look on her face drew me into an imagined story behind the scenes.

By the time I reached the National Gallery, I desperately needed a cup of tea, so stopped at their café. Once seated, I spotted a self-serve section; nevertheless, I considered the three cups of green tea in the pot a fine value for £2.50. Next to me, as I read my guidebook for the National Gallery, a one-person drama unfolded. A young woman talked very seriously about North Korea and China for a long time to an older woman, her mother probably, who inserted very few comments. With an unnoticeable transition, the daughter was close to sobbing about not wanting let her mother down and how she couldn’t find fulfillment except sometimes in painting, when she was actually studying law, even though she had been warned off law as a life-style – or something of this nature. I left to go to the Gallery.

Thanks to my DVD course, counter-intuitively I knew to go into the newest wing, which houses the oldest art (1200 – 1500), including the Byzantine-influenced religious crucifixes and triptychs. With great success I followed the book to the significant works it covered. A thoroughly enjoyable process.

I had moved through three galleries when it was time to attend a gallery lecture that focused on Gainsborough. Getting to the gallery was funny, because I had to walk through innumerable, exactly aligned doorways that seemed form one of those drawings that infinitely contain themselves. The series of lectures was called “Doctors”; Gainsborough was included because he had painted the doctor he most respected, even though the doctor incorrectly diagnosed Gainsborough’s daughter, and he was a dodgy character. In the a wide-ranging, interesting, dynamic talk, the presenter talked in detail about Gainsborough’s early work and his paintings of his beloved daughters.

Starving by now, I went to the National Gallery’s dining room, but the high prices (£4.00 for tea!) and the huge size of the meat pies put me off. I walked outside into the sun and the crowds and returned to the Portrait Gallery to eat in the self-serve café, except I mistook the entrance and ended up in a very small, busy cafeteria with a reasonably priced ham sandwich and an orange.

Two hours remained to see more National Gallery rooms. While eating I reviewed the contents of my guidebook and decided to start again at the end, where were hung the Impressionists and especially “Surprised! ”, the famous tiger picture by Henri Rousseau, which I love. This plan worked perfectly, although I only lasted about an hour. Many famous and beautiful paintings - I appreciated seeing the brush work and juxtaposition of colours up close, then being able to step back to see the overall effect. I was also glad to have gone to the Van Gogh Gallery in Amsterdam, to understand the periods of his life and the development of his technique. This enabled me to realize that the National Gallery pictures are from his “sunnier” productive period.

After a short drift through the gift shop, I started back strictly following Charing Cross Road, which turned into Tottenham Court Road at a huge construction site bringing a new tube station and the Cross Rail. (I have just discovered on the Sunday morning news that this is a new rail line crossing London east to west). I stopped in a Sainsbury’s for a bottle of wine to take to Julie – there seem to be no real wine stores on the main roads. Oddly, I lost confidence in my route again as I got closer to the hotel, but this time my instincts served me right.

A bit of rest, then to Russell Square tube station, continuing to be lacking in confidence about directions but arriving OK. The underground trip took only 35 minutes, about half of what I expected. Still it was a great opportunity to read my National Gallery guidebook and decide what to see when I go again on Tuesday. Waited about 20 minutes for Julie, who was looking so elegant I almost didn’t recognize her. At her home Phillip welcomed me warmly and Georgia said hello – almost unrecognizable because she is taller and thinned out in a lovely mature way. They had only recently discovered a leak in their dishwasher hose that flooded below the kitchen floor for a month (!), so they all took me out to dinner.

And not “round the corner”. We drove for close to an hour to Greenwich! Fortunately we also drove by the Olympic “build site”, catching glimpses of some pavilions and a good look at the main stadium. Julie and Phillip are very excited about the Olympics, and we talked about how 1988 changed Calgary. The restaurant was Chinese. Delicious food served in three courses with multiple starters and mains, plus Peking duck as the second course. Not my usual pub food!

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Photos

Pub
Walking on the streets of London is an entertainment on its own.

National Gallery
The National Gallery dominates Trafalgar Square.

National Gallery interior
Of course, no photos are permitted in the galleries, but the foyer is beautiful, too.