|
I seldom go to London and go see the primary tourist sights. My son and his family live there and a few old friends that I like to see, and as I am an English furniture dealer, I like to visit with my colleagues, so my time is limited. I have to say, however, there are few better places to be a tourist than London and I often find myself wandering off to see something or other--usually something I have seen before such as the British Museum or the Victoria and Albert in South Kensington. I also have to say that the variety of what is on offer in Greater London could keep one busy for months on end. When I was in London this July, I was with my daughter, Alice, and we got to a few places I haven't been to for a while. Alice knows London, in general, pretty well, but not my London, which includes a lot of historic places with ample decorative arts scenery.
Our first visit was to go see Kensington Palace as I love the Etruscan ceiling that Kent painted, as well as his self portrait in the mural that is in the stair well. We arrived at the entrance only to find that you purchase tickets in a separate area, which we did. As an old person, my ticket was only nineteen pounds, my daughter's twenty-four. Back to the line which was filled with non-English speaking foreigners whose bags all needed checking. The wait was long and drawn out as people were only allowed in three to five member groups. If I could have gotten a refund on my money at this point, I would have. Through no fault of their own, the foreigners were having a hard time with English and the bag checkers were enunciating with exaggerated care. Finally, the tour of the house, which used to lead through a long gallery, has been re-arranged and there are now two routes that you can take. Frankly, it is aggravating, and as much as I enjoyed seeing the things I went to see, I will never re-visit the house.
Osterley Park in West London, which I visited with both my son, Henry and his wife, Sacha and Alice, was, however, a completely different experience. Osterley is within the city limits of London and yet you feel as if you are in deep country. Everything about the house was pleasant with knowledgeable staff and some extraordinary furniture and works of art. It, too, has an Etruscan painted room, only this one is by Robert Adam, forty years on from Kent's at Kensington Palace, and there is furniture to match the room. The house was built in Tudor times and Adam was called upon to make it more stylish and classical so he elevated the front, created a portico and a pedimented entry way giving it a very stylish circa 1770's look. I will visit Osterly again and again.
Alice and I also went to the Soane, for which there is no charge and it is always a first class visit. It is located in Lincoln's Inn Fields (where the lawyers are) and is a ten minute walk from the British Museum. Soane was an architect and a first class pack rat who made things fit into his narrow abode with great style, always finding ways, if possible, to give natural light to his collection of classical fragments, drawings and paintings. The Soane is just a hoot, particularly for those people who have a hard time throwing things out. Lastly, my two children and I did a quick tour of Greenwich, fitting in the Observatory, Queen Anne's House and the Banqueting Hall, painted by Hogarth's father-in-law, James Thornhill. From there we took a taxi to where my brother and I had a workshop on Narrow St., in the Limehouse district of East London to see the building which housed our workshop. My son, who has run the London marathon a couple of times, realized that the course included Narrow St. Dare I say that in fifty years, the changes to the area, now residential, but warehouses back then, are gentrified almost beyond recognition? Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!
|
