3 May - Back to an Old Friend

It’s predictable, I suppose, that my first day back in London would be spent at an old favorite, the V&A museum. Today I spent some time in the paintings gallery after viewing a series of etchings by Lucian Freud. Perhaps I’m just not adequately educated in the art of etching or maybe it’s just lack of appreciation for Freud, but I was not terribly impressed. It made me think that his grandfather's name may have helped him get established.

I moved on to an exhibit of paintings by John Constable, an artist who painted in the early 19th century.  Yes, the scenes of the English countryside were very traditional, but there was such an elegance to them. Examining the intricacy of the brushstrokes, one sees an incredible attention to detail. Constable and J. M. W. urner were contemporaries and both were influential exponents of romanticism. Turner travelled and painted all over the world; Constable worked solely in England, painting mostly in his native Sussex. 

Boat Building near Flatford Mill

Watermeadows near Salisbury

Deadham Lock and Mill

Trees at Hampstead: the Path to Church

Hampstead Heath: Branch Hill Pond

Passing through the silver gallery I stopped to take some photos of a rather fabulous silver leopard.

The silver gallery contains so many incredible pieces including items enrobed in gold or featuring mother of pearl and wood, but the room itself is worth noticing along with the adjoining stairwell.

This portrait is a mosaic.

I stopped for a quick bite at a place called Urban Greens for a healthy lunch. I ordered a "Cheeky Hummus Bowl" that contained 5 ingredients: beet hummus, pickled beets, broccoli, red cabbage and black rice. Sounds good, right? Nope. The tiny bit of beet hummus was good, but the beets were like leather, the huge 'strings' of red cabbage weren't marinated or dressed with anything and the black rice, something I normally love, was unrecognizable and inedible. Blah. Won't opt for a healthy lunch there again.

On the way back to the flat, I stopped at the Gloucester Road tube stop to take some photos of an art installation there called "Pond Life: Albertopolis and the Lily" by Monster Chetwynd. The explanation of the installation is in the first photo, if you care to enlarge it on your screen and read it.

The evening featured a trip to Lyanesse, a trendy cocktail bar on the South Bank in the Sea Containers building. To get there, you have to walk across Blackfriars Bridge which affords a wonderful view of the Thames. The cocktails were very good, the descriptions of them in their lovely menu booklet were even better.  I started with a Vampire Fizz.

Since one of the ingredients, chicha, was described as a savory rich combination of corn and nuts, I guess I expected to taste some of that in the cocktail. It was fine, but a bit non-descript and lacked balance. Bruce had a Context Club, which delivered on the cherry blossom flavor.

We had some lovely snacks to go with them. The Seabass Ceviche Tacos were wonderful little bites. The fish was silky and the tiny tacitos provided a lovely crunch. The Four -Cheese Croquettes were rich and decadent and the accompanying jalepeno mayo helped to cut the richness a bit and add a nice bit of spice.

We had a second round; a Kentakki Fried cocktail for me and a Golden Guide for Bruce. Again, because the description mentioned the KFC-type herbs and spices, I expected to taste them in the drink. I didn't, but it was a lovely scotch-based cocktail with a quirky little garnish of a slice of corn, which I enjoyed.

Bruce's Golden Guide was very good, and the vanilla and figs shone through.

We tried another little dish, a Fish Hot Dog on Brioche Bun. Nice looking, but not a fan.

We walked to the tube along the south bank of the Thames, stopping for a nice cone of gelato at the OXO center and made it home in time for some telly.