She Said:
Ah, London. My favorite city.
We had a nice, luxurious, late start to our day today - late waking, late breakfast, late out the door. Wonderful.
Our goal was the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, where I have been many times, but where R has never been. The special exhibit there that we were keen to see was The Rolling Stones - Exhibitionism. And, it didn't disappoint.
But first, getting there.
We opted to walk as the day was warm and sunny and, well, we like to walk. We wound our way through the quiet side streets of Kensington and Chelsea, and though R was just mostly on a mission to get there, he had to wait now and again for me. As the countryside is R's domain, the city is all mine. I could stroll city streets forever.
And, we did.
We passed the offices of the auction house, Christie's, and in their window, up for auction in August, was the ceremonial Parliamentary robe of Yeah-I-don't-who, but... it was pretty magnificent. 1934. Red velvet, silk and ermine.
Those crazy Parliamentarians.
As we headed into the Chelsea district, the shop windows and storefronts became so enticingly beautiful. Goods gorgeously and oh so tastefully arranged, huge floral arrangements adorning the entryways.
Cities can be brutal - traffic, too many people, smoke/smog. But, if you look beyond that, and seek out the lovely, it is definitely there.
A bridal shop window displayed the most beautiful gown - traditional white but with bright spring flowers scattered in embroidery down the front and edging the trailing veil. Unexpected and wonderful.
We passed the original home of the Temperance Society, now the home of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Fitting.
Another side street, and Saint Luke's Church. Since we were quite used to popping into all the churches that we came across on our walks, this city church was no different.
Saint Luke's was built in 1824, and is considered the first neo-Gothic church built in London. Its bell tower has a height of 142' - not too shabby. It has a magnificent, huge (500 sq. ft.) stained glass window behind the alter, installed in 1959. The original, supposedly equally magnificent, was blown out in the raids on London during WWII. Another reminder. Right here, in the middle of the city, everything suffered mightily.
Charles Dickens was married here.
The opening sequence of Empire of the Sun was filmed here.
And, oddly enough, the portrait of Saint Luke looks weirdly like Robin Williams. Honest.
The Marks and Spencer windows had terrific displays built from flowers in honor of the Chelsea Flower Show, now in full swing here.
In the plaza adjacent to the Saatchi Gallery, are some great Rolling Stone Tongue sculptures/benches. And, yarn bombs covering two big, tall trees. Fun.
The Rolling Stones exhibit was a real, happy, blast from our past. Of course, we all loved the Beatles. But, really, the Stones were the bad boys of rock and roll that we all secretly lusted after.
They started so serendipitously. In 1961, Mick Jagger was waiting on the Dartford train station platform for his train. Keith Richards (a school time friend of Mick's, that he hadn't seen for ages) was on the same platform. They said "hey" and noticed that they were both carrying blues albums. And, from that chance meeting, sprung, arguably, the greatest rock and roll band, ever.
One of the exhibits is a world map, showing the year and location of all their concerts, tallying up the audience numbers as it goes.
46,383,259 fans have been lucky enough to see the Stones live.
I haven't, yet. But I certainly plan to, after this exhibit.
Album covers, videos of artists who have performed with them, stage costumes (crazy), handwritten lyrics, a letter from a school board asking them to stop singing "Some Girls", etc, etc.
The final room was awesome. Dark. 3D glasses. And the Stones singing I Can't Get No Satisfaction at a live concert. The film was rocking and all of us in the room were rocking, too. What struck me most, was, that at the end of the concert, the band looked totally energized and happy and smiling. No weird, sweaty, exhaustion. They seemed genuinely thrilled to have put on such a great show. Everyone on stage linked arms and gave a deep bow to the audience. They seemed so thankful for the opportunity.
We all left smiling,too.
More meandering through the side streets. A Cupcake Sale by a small church school, for the benefit of Syrian refugees. The kids were so earnest. I bought a lot. R and I munched our way through the Chelsea streets.
We made it to a bench along a stretch of road next to the Thames. We plunked down and watched the slow, slow traffic try to leave town for the Bank Holiday weekend.
Up again, and off to the Victoria and Albert Museum, one of my favorites, that always has something on.
There was an exhibit on: Underwear - A Brief History of Undergarments. That could be interesting.
Unfortunately, we arrived semi-late, and that exhibit had an entrance fee, and since I think I have a pretty good idea of the history of undergarments from all the history and historical novels that I've read, I passed.
Still, one is never at a loss at the V&A.
I popped into a Photography exhibit that was wonderful. From the V&A archives, the history of Photography. This particular exhibit followed the history of Photography using photos of nudes through the ages. Always interesting, nudes.
We sat outside in the V&A courtyard for a while and watched all the people watching all the people.
Then, back down the street to our perfectly located hotel.
Happy Hour in our room.
Take-away Fettuccine Bolognese from the Italian restaurant across the street.
And, a tentative plan for tomorrow - Oxford, by train.
A very full, very happy day
Total Mileage:
5.95 miles (London)
Total Flights Climbed:
5
He said:
We slept in, relaxed, and eventually walked over to see an exhibit about the Rolling Stones.... interesting. There was no photography allowed inside, but then not much to photograph either, the experience is sounds and stories mostly. Then, after having our late lunch snack, we walked around some more through the throngs going in every direction, many out of town for the bank holiday weekend starting today. There is every kind of person to see in London, as far as I know the entire population of the world is here now. The main smell on a London street is tobacco smoke, with a car exhaust chaser.
Our last stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum, it's free to go to, and it is chock full of antiquities.
The queen will be 90 in June, some shops show their celebrations early.
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