Day 2 - The National Gallery and a wander around Camberwell
Our feet might have been wrecked after so much walking yesterday, but we've got a pretty good sense of direction now, and the connections on the Tube make a lot more sense. We generally like to have some down time when we travel. Breathlessly moving from attraction to attraction doesn't really excite us, but finding our way around in a new place and using the local modes of transport makes for an interesting experience. The underground line we're close to is the Bakerloo line, which connects to most other Tube lines in the network (I don't want to say all, because I haven't run the figures!). The
Tube is really cool. The tunnels are curved, including the pedestrian tunnels, and even the trains are rounded, like little tubes whooshing through their cylindrical containers. Someone had fun designing it, I reckon. Even the detail in the complexity of how to navigate the platforms is an adventure. You need to keep your wits about you to make sure you end up on the right platform, on the right line, moving in the right direction. So far so good. For anyone familiar with the city circle line in Sydney, think Wynyard station with a heap more platforms and a series of rabbit warren like passage ways. I could explore public transport for days. I guess I'm THAT guy at a party... trains and
ABBA. Speaking of which... two more sleeps... YAY!
We're still in wind-down mode, so waking up with the sparrows (or maybe the squirrels) which isn't a bad thing. We join Londoners on their morning commute and don't have quite so many throngs to deal with in the early part of our days. Today we decided to head off to the National Gallery and check out the art works. We hopped on the bus up to Elephant and Castle station then onto the Tube, exiting at Charing Cross for Trafalgar Square. We picked a good day for a wander in the gallery. Grey skies for most of today but only a couple of spots of rain from the sky and a little bit cooler than yesterday. We reached the gallery at around 10am and the queue was long, like an oversized lazy caterpillar lining the street. We resigned ourselves to a long wait, but within ten minutes we were heading through the security gate inside. The National Gallery building is majestic, sitting a the back of Trafalgar Square with its fountains and statues surrounding Nelson's Column. The signs caution not to feed the ducks. As pretty as they are, it seems they have a pigeon like attitude when it comes to free food, and there's plenty for them to eat in the natural environment of nearby parks.
Entering the gallery, steps rise from the portico entrance into a spacious foyer with a mosaic floor and domed glass ceiling.
The space is dripping with opulence. Heavy wood-framed glass doors lead into the gallery spaces, large enough to accommodate the thousands of visitors it receives every day, everyone from art aficionados to interested sticky beaks like us. Other doorways are lined with marble. More than a few shillings went into building this place and this is the gallery's bicentennial year, so foot traffic is expected to increase.
There's something awe-inspiring as you realise the art pieces you are viewing are between four and five hundred years old, and it's humbling to see works, first hand, by the likes of DaVinci and The Virgin of the Rocks and an unfinished piece by Michelangelo, The Entombment (of Christ being carried to his tomb). We saw Rubens on display - The Birth of Venus and The Apotheosis of the Duke of Buckingham amongst many other depictions of life from centuries ago.
The great halls do these pieces justice, with some canvases metres in height, depicting everything from Kings and religious imagery to landscapes and still life paintings. Speaking of which, still life drawing always seemed like a bore when I was in high school, but I formed a new respect for the art form today. The title "Pewter and Silver Vessels and a Crab" doesn't sound especially thrilling, but Heda's work is incredible, the painting taking on an almost photographic quality up close, the pewter and silver strikingly realistic in appearance.
Some other favourites that were great to see irl were Picasso's Fruit Dish Bottle and Violin, Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and Van Gogh's Chair as well as Monet's Water Lilies and works by Rembrandt, Degas and Henri Rousseau. That Tiger really does look Surprised! with maybe a hint of anxious regret in the untrained artist's piece, and Wright's An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump beautifully captures a moment in time I'm sure the bird was somewhat unimpressed by.
On the way out, we viewed
The Last Caravaggio, the frail works protected by dim lighting, a bit like walking through the nocturnal display at the zoo. Caravaggio led a pretty interesting life, and when I say interesting, I mean in an on-the-run-from-police-for-murder kind of way. His paintings are dramatic with theatrical lighting, and I wonder how he managed to create such elaborate works as a fugitive. How do you stow your canvas and paints. And what of the easel?
After our wander through the gallery, we headed back to Camberwell. Down time is important for us between scooting about, and a little wander through the locality uncovered a market on Camberwell Green and a bustling suburban shopping centre with a multicultural swathe of eateries and shopfronts. A bit like Newtown in Sydney on steroids.
A couple of Italian meatballs, Amalfi style, from a local vendor, some home made Rum Cake bites for "Ron" and a few essentials later filled in the afternoon before relaxing back at our temporary London home. I met our host, Adam, who was tending the garden and learned the name of our little sunflower feline friend. Her name is Stella, and the sunflower is a temporary measure to stop her from exacerbating an injury: a scratch she acquired on the side of her head. Was is a squirrel or another cat? Only Stella knows.
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