All of the monopoly game place names come from London and every time we walk past another one here I get a small buzz. Silly? Perhaps – but still kinda fun 😛 Yesterday we went shopping along Oxford St, Bond St and Regent, we walked along Pall Mall and had lunch in Trafalgar Square before catching a movie in Leicester Square and taking the tube via Piccadilly to get back to our hotel.
I’ve really enjoyed London and found it to be a beautiful city to visit. One highlight for me has been visiting the art galleries. We have been to the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Tait Modern. Admission to all 3 galleries is free (a donation is still appreciated) and there is plenty there to look at for hours and hours. The Tait Modern has the more contemporary art – as its name suggests, whereas the National Gallery has a very large collection of old, traditional paintings – old landscapes, fruit bowls and biblical scenes. What I enjoyed more were some of the later paintings. It was exciting (for me at least) to see paintings by some great influential artists like Van Gogh, Cezanne, Manet, Picasso… Just like with the monopoly places, there is a little buzz in seeing the real paintings that I have previously seen in photos and studied in school.
Another highlight of London was the Portobello Market. Held every Saturday on Portobello Road this is a huge and very popular market. Primarily this is an antique market but there are also plenty of stalls selling clothes, jewellery, tourist knickknacks, baked goods and fresh produce. There were lots of interesting and obscure things for sale – old maps, fur coats, old-fashioned cameras, vintage boots and bags… We both had a great time perusing the market and though there were plenty of great bargains to be found we bought only a punnet of strawberries, coffee and some yummy almond danishes.
Comment from Mum - Wendy on 2007-04-22
Well done on the non buying front. I guess you must have run out of room. I can just picture you enjoying the galleries Kat. Today is the 23rd here so you will be off to your new home.