We didn't have any real plan about what we would do but had a rough idea about seeing the War Cabinet Rooms near Whitehall and looking in one of the museums/galleries. What we actually did was rather different.....
First stop was the Tate Modern which Janice has previously seen but I hadn't. I knew it was going to be filled with a load of questionable artistic tosh and pretentious claptrap and I wasn't disappointed. I suppose Andy Warhols, Marilyn Munroe picture is at least recognisable and shows the existentialism and futility of celebrity culture and the fragility of human beauty in its capitalist social construct (I'm trying to learn the modern art lingo).
I can't quite remember the name of the German (alleged) artist who has sponged these yellow marks on a large canvas that loosely look a bit like upside down chickens that could have been painted by children in Castle Park Nursery! They were nearly as good as the Mirror installation, which was just a mirror and a canvas that was painted totally black!
However, it wasn't all rubbish. Here is a statue that looked remarkably like Janice!
We walked around to Westminster and on to Churchill's War Cabinet Rooms but saw the entry price as £18 each and decided that a free entry museum/gallery would be better and set off towards Trafalgar Square. Two young men stopped us and asked the way to Buckingham Palace, I pointed toward Pall Mall and when they responded realised they were Australian, so quickly I said that if they were Australian it was in the opposite direction. It was my way of getting my own back for the Aussies beating England in the Rugby World Cup.
Lunch involved eating a sneaky homemade sandwich in a Wetherspoons pub whilst we had a coffee and then we went to the National Gallery. After the Tate Modern experience we thought that something involving real artists, with real talent, would be the tonic we needed. Lots of good stuff in here, Rubens, Turner, Canaletto, Monet, Pissaro, Rembrant and Van Gogh were all well represented. For the first time I saw Constables 'Hay Wain' in the flesh, so to speak! It was so good I thought he would have been promoted by now to at least Superintendant! Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' were radiant, far better that his 'potato eater' period, when he painted dull looking peasants in drab brown colours.
After saving all the money from not going into the War Cabinet Rooms I had a rather rash idea for a rainy afternoon......afternoon tea! We thought that Fortnum & Masons would be a good bet. Janice had been before and said it was good because they brought out extra food and tea.
So, we had a civilised and very fattening afternoon in pleasant comfortable surroundings.
Of course I made sure we had second helpings of sandwiches, scones, cakes and an extra piece of chocolate ganache cake (mostly ganache and very little cake) with several pots of tea (but not as good as Yorkshire tea). We had a bit of a sugar high and tried a bit of food art using the dirty chocolate cake plate. I know it's not good taste to quote Rolf Harris but "can you tell what it is yet"? I see it as the shape of Australia!! The Tate Modern will be in touch very soon, I'm sure.
After Fortnum & Mason we bimbled around in the light rain past Picadilly Circus, through Soho and back to catch a train at St Pancras Station, walking past the old station building that was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott who we previously mentioned had lived near Buckingham. Back on the train to St Albans and we cycled back the camper van to dry off.
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