Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery

The underground took us straight to Trafalgar Square, we ascended the subway steps gazing up at Nelson atop his column with the beautiful bronze lions guarding this monument.  The sun was shining the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and the fountains were working! It seems that they are the first fountains we have seen in action, I expect they shut them down when it’s snowing or icy.

Stepping out of the Underground, this was our first view of Nelson's Column

One of four stately Lions that guard Nelson's Column

View across Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery

Water spouts from sea creatures at each end of the fountain in Trafalgar Square

 

The central water spout in the fountain

 Up closer to the National Gallery there is a giant ship in a bottle that stands on top of a tall stone pillar. It as a sculptural interpretation of Nelson’s ship, HMS Victory, it links the formation of the British Empire with Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar and multiculturalism in Britain today, honouring Britain’s diverse cultures and acknowledging the strengths they bring to forging the country as it is today.

Up the stairs to the National Gallery, where the people are standing is now a pedestrian space but I remembered it as a road separating the Square from the Gallery

That's Michael at the base of  Yinka Shonibare's sculpture 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle'

St Martin In The Fields, from Trafalgar Square

 I had been in London in 1999 with Mum on our way to visit the Falkland Islands to see my sister Heather and I remember the road running all the way around Trafalgar Square.  I was surprised to see that where I had expected a road to be, there was now no road and pedestrians had direct access to the National Gallery across a broad paved area up some steps from the Square. There was a young man with music playing from a large boom box while he did elegant, slow movements that were a cross between Tai Chi, Interpretive Dance and magicians moves, he used a crystal ball as the focus and he balanced and moved this ball between hands and his arms moving it with such grace and apparent magic. It was quite a spectacle and he attracted a crowd of onlookers mesmerised by his movements and control over this little gem of a ball that appeared to move to his command.

This bloke had the crowd mesmerised

The National Gallery was strictly no photos, so we wandered around the galleries we had chosen to view, realising by this time that we needed to make choices as we would not fit everything in. I wanted to see the 19^th and early 20^th century galleries, I knew there was at least one Michelangelo and at least one Leonado Da Vinci in the collection but didn’t know what they were. It was lovely to see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Cézanne, Pissaro and I really was drawn to Suerat’s “Bathers” it was larger than I had expected and had a luminosity about it that draws you toward it. I think in that group of paintings I was surprised to find that it was the one that had most impact on me.

In the rooms that displayed the 16^th century paintings, we were both fascinated by Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” where a large distorted skull sits at the front of the painting and appears as a blob to view it as a skull you have to stand to the right of the painting and view across the painting and the skull seems to float in the foreground, no longer distorted. Michelangelo’s unfinished painting “The Entombment” was exciting as it clearly showed how the painting was constructed and built up, the way the colours were layered to create depth and shadows. There was a large sketch by Da Vinci, unusual because these were usually done as cartoons or patterns for paintings and were then pricked around the outline to guide the painter or his apprentices in reproducing the image on the painted surface, this one it seems was never destined for that purpose and it survives as a very beautiful rendered drawing.

In one of the 16^th century rooms there were 4 large paintings by an artist who I was unfamiliar with, Joachim Beuckelaer  I think he was Dutch. The paintings were a series called “The four Elements” and used everyday market scenes to represent the four elements there were biblical stories from the New Testament in the background of each painting and it became a challenge to find the biblical reference in each painting. http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/floorplans/level-2/room-11  for those interested this is the link, you can click on the individual paintings for added information. Michael and I spent some time with tis series of paintings.

 We had lunch in the gallery before heading to Regent Street to find the Liberty store, it is housed in beautiful old Tudor buildings and is famous for the Liberty print fabrics and home furnishings. It was very expensive but I chose three pieces of fine cotton Tana Lawn fabric that I really liked and bought just half a metre of each,(at 19.95 pound per metre this was all I could justify) this beautiful strong fine cotton was originally sourced in the Sudan in the 1920’s when it was first produced. We looked but didn’t buy anything else even though it was tempting, the furnishing fabrics are stunning, with some very traditional prints, some very beautiful William Morris prints were available there. Oh how I would have loved just half a metre of a clutch of fabrics from this department but I’m not even sure they sold metreage here I think you chose your fabric and they made it to measure. I couldn’t afford it anyway but it’s nice to dream!!

Liberty Store just off Regent Street

Liberty

The display windows and facade at Liberty

the Liberty crest

this weather vane sits atop the Liberty Store

 We wandered out and down a bit to Carnaby Street, an area rather than a single street and no longer as swinging as it had been in its heyday but still some fascinating shops, one in particular a very snazzy shoe shop and the camera was snapping away to show my girls at home and at school!

Me in Carnaby Street!!!

Shop front in Carnaby Street

Sports shoe shop, there are some racy looking running shoes in this place.

This shoe shop was just fantastic

Check out the wild boots on the right of this photo

These spotted shoes caught my eye

Mural above the Hugo Boss store on the corner of Broadwick and Carnaby Streets

Next we strolled down to Piccadilly Circus where I was finally able to snap a picture or two of the elusive Eros who stands there to tempt photo-happy tourists on the top of the double decker on The Big Bus tours as they whizz by too quickly to get a steady clear shot!! Aha you little bugger, I finally got you!! The light was fading and the light show was starting up so was able to get a photo of that too, though I had to wait, camera paused for the Piccadilly Circus Underground sign to appear among the illuminated ads. It took about 5 minutes and flashed on and off fairly quickly but I was ready!!!

Approaching Piccadilly Circus from Regent Street

At last I captured an image of the elusive Eros

and I wasn't about to let him escape easily!

Just one more shot! 

Nelson's Column and the Houses of Parliament from Piccadilly Circus

The famous advertising screen illuminations with Eros standing guard on the right

I stood with camera poised until the Piccadilly Circus underground sign flashed up on the screen, after about 5 minutes my arms were aching so much I was just about to give up, so glad I didn't!

Home on the underground two happy campers stopped off at a local restaurant/take away called Ya Halu for mixed grill Lebanese style. It was an absolute feast, lamb and chicken cubes tossed in spices and char grilled and minced spiced lamb shaped into a skinless sausage shape and grilled and grilled whole garlic cloves, served with Lebanese style couscous and a clean fresh beautifully dressed salad with yogurt based dipping sauce and another, slightly-too-spicey-for-us dipping sauce, that we tried but left all else was really good. We went home well fed and content.