OT: Birthday, London, Friday
- From: "Rik Shepherd" <RikShepherd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:54:29 -0000
So the alarms go off again and we get up almost immediately. We've got a
cunning plan of sorts, and we set off towards Embankment tube. Outside the
hotel we discover two things - one, the canopy over the doorway isn't
actually a canopy it's a framework which merely displays the name of the
hotel and provides absolutely no cover at all, and two, it's raining fairly
heavily. You can see how the two discoveries were sort of simultaneous.
Anyway, soon we're getting off the train at South Kensington where we walk
damply along to Valerie's. I have a brioche and an almond croissant, Carol
has scrambled eggs on toast and grilled bacon. When we're done we scamper
along to the V&A.
Our intention is to see a smallish (ie, it's free) exhibition called Mapping
the Imagination. The first two people we ask at the information desk deny
its existence until the third points it out in their 'guide to small
temporary displays'. Inspired, one of the first two takes us through the
museum to the exhibition (this sounds good, but it means we're potentially
going to be left in the labyrinthine depths of the V&A without the chance of
leaving a trail of bread-crumbs. There's a good chance we'd never be seen
again).
Mapping the Imagination is better than the website made it sound. It's
nominally about maps, but they're mostly artisticish, not merely
cartographic. So there's a tiny copy of Harry Becks' very first London
underground map, and one of the allegedly realist ones it replaced; there's
Shephard's original map of the 100 acre wood; there's a map of London with
all the lines indicating streets removed, and only the names left in; and
there's more artistic things like a map of the world made from tea bags
(obviously, this addresses the Empire in some way) or a map of Waco that's
been hit with a tiny (but large in comparison with the map) artist-made
meteorite.
After we're done we wander about a bit, finding some small watercolours of
showing the 1851 Exhibition and ending up in a large exhibition called
Collaborations or Collaborators or something. Anyway, it's really about
theatre set and costume design, and features an awful lot of models of
theatre sets.
After a short pause in which we find that there's nothing we want to buy in
either of the V&A's shops, we decide to go and snack. We scamper back to
South Ken tube, then set off along Pelham Street. Half way along we're
intrigued by a very narrow building which turns out to only be narrow at one
end; it's an odd shape because the street its front is on runs at an angle
to the District/Circle line which at this point is open air but in a deep
hole. For some reason the narrow end is painted bright white to attract
attention. While we're gawping at this we look round and wonder what the
towers at the other end of the street are. Obviously they're part of the V&A
and we've just walked about twice as far as we needed to. Luckily, it isn't
raining any more. or we'd have been mildly peeved.
A few minutes later we arrive at the point where Pelham Street going east
meets Draycott and Sloane Avenues coming west; across the road from us is a
restaurant called Bibendum. We've checked the menu and the prices online and
we know we're there for the building and a coffee only. The building is
pretty wonderful though. It was built in 1909-11 as the UK head office of
the Michelin Tyre Company in a sort of art deco/nouveau tyre and car
obsessed style. It's also an early example of what you can do with
reinforced concrete. The restaurant and oyster bar (and little cafe)
currently occupying the building are called Bibendum because Bibendum is
written in big letters across the front; 'bibendum', something a bit like
'let's drink' in Latin, was the motto of Michelin and is the nickname of the
Michelin Man, at least in places like France where he's not called the
Michelin Man. The building has three large stained glass panels depicting
Bibendum as seen in Michelin adverts, and a whole lot of tiled pictures of
cars with Michelin tyres winning famous races. Luckily for our finances they
have a sort of open area at the front, which gives the impression that you
used to be able to drive a car partway into the building, with a coffee bar.
Carol has a salt beef & mustard sandwich which mostly tastes of fennel
(seeds in the bread) and I have a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich.
Then we go back to South Ken tube and take the train to the St James Park
station. We leave the station by what turns out to be the wrong exit, not
that we're given a choice, and spend some time walking around Wellington
Barracks which is an extremely ugly concrete block guarded by two bloke with
only one rifle between them.
Eventually we find Bird Cage Walk, intending to visit the Guard's Chapel,
only it's shut, so we decide to cross the road and wander to Trafalgar
Square via St James Park. On the way across the park it becomes apparent
that the squirrels are used to being fed; if you stand still for more than
30 seconds a squirrel is likely to bound across the grass towards you, leap
up onto the low fence separating grass from path, and wait for you to hand
over a tidbit or two. We have to repeatedly explain that we've got nothing
for them, until a genuine Londoner sidles up to us, mutters something
incomprehensible out of the side of his mouth, gives us a few peanuts in
their shells, and sidles off again. So we feed three squirrels and progress
to Trafalgar Square, stopping only to look at the Duke of York's column
which is just down the road from the slightly more famous one with Nelson on
top.
We scurry into the National Gallery and, when we've worked out that there
are fewer floors in the building than we'd thought, saunter around an
exhibition of German painted glass from the Renaissance. All very pleasant,
except that each piece of a glass has a usually much larger painting next
which, except for the Durer drawings, bears very little resemblance to the
glass artwork and makes us wonder what it's there for. Marvel as the angel
wings painted on glass are similar but not the same as angel wings painted
on canvas.
We scamper back to the hotel to lounge about for a while before going out to
Pizza Paradiso on Store Street. Carol has tomato soup & doughballs, then
gnocchi, with profiteroles to finish, and I have doughballs, gnocchi, and
panna cotta.
And then we walk back to the hotel and fall asleep.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: swOT: floating, buoyed by bon chance
- Next by Date: Re: OT: Spiked Article/Atheists and EcoChristians
- Previous by thread: Hmm... a RAM book? Best seller? Academic importance!
- Next by thread: OT - Baldy Hughes.
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
