London Aug 21-23

Thurs.  Aug. 21.  

Our Hotel, the Sumner, is close to Marble Arch.   We took  a taxi to the Zoo.

It is a pretty old zoo and is small by US standards.  Also, at 23 GBPs each, we miss the National Zoo.   Bruce thought we were the oldest patrons there; Leslie thought we were merely the oldest customers without grandchildren in tow.  It was blustery and quite cool.  

Pictures of a few things that were new to us:

The Jamaican Boa has a blue iridescence:

Caiman Lizard:

Fiji Iguana:

Sacred Ibis (with chick):

The aquarium is one of the London Zoo’s strengths.  The facility was installed in 1923.

Importation of live corals is illegal here.  The customs inspectors confiscate contraband corals.  The Zoo propagates them and gives the progeny away to try to dry up the market:

Dinner was at an Arabic restaurant, a welcome break from Italian.  The decor was extraordinary.  The floors were paved with copper, steel, and brass tiles.  The furniture and ceiling has Syrian-style wood inlay work.  The walls were covered with colorful lights.  We had a few mezzes.  We are enjoying take-out baclava with coffee and tea brought up to our small room.

Friday, Aug 22

 

We are learning to use buses.  The tube is not reliably accessible.  The buses are much better fior the short, central journeys anyway.

We spent the day at Westminister Abbey. The architecture is advanced gothic, designed around 1250.   It remains a beautiful church.  No photos inside the church, but OK in the  chapterhouse:

Leslie completed her pilgrimage to the Cosmati pavement. Two past trips have found the floor closed to the public. This is said to be the only Cosmati floor outside Italy:

From the cloister toward Big Ben:

The London Black taxis aren’t always black now:

Window boxes at the abbey school:

 

We stayed for Evensong

Dinner at the Portman Restaurant over the pub next door. Steak, pork roast.

Saturday, Aug 23

Bus problems.  The bus stops are far apart and separated according to route.  We ended up with a taxi to see the Courtauld Gallery.  It is now part of an Art Institute affiliated with the University of London.  We had never been there before.  A few favotites:

An early Monet from the Riviera:

Manet’s iconic  Barmaid at the Folies Bergiere:

Virgin & Child with Angels.  Massys.  Astonishing:

It turns out that the Courtauld collection is housed in Somerset House, a restored 18th century complex mostly turned over to art galleries.  We saw an exhibit of work by Joseph and Annie Albers.  A lovely piece that is not an Homage to the Square.

A rug of Annie, who taught textiles at the Bauhaus.

The exhibit was actually about modern weavings based on their work.  Those were interesting, but the originals were better.

We also saw Time: Tatoo Art Today, a collection of paintngs of some of the most popular contemporary tatoo artists.  E.g, this vanitas by Jeff Gogue:

We had a light lunch, raclette, at one of the restaurants that line the courtyard at the Somerset House.   The courtyard itself is filled mostly with a fountain, with frolicking children oblivious to cold:

Later, we shopped at Fortnum and Mason.  Leslie’s favorite tea was in stock.

We had dinner at an Indian restaurant, Zayna, near our hotel.  Lamb curry, dal, eggplant. Excellent

We had post-diner tea and coffee served in our room.   A major perk.