August 21 and 22, 2006 End of the trip

A visit to the Courtauld Gallery

We left at 10 this morning for a visit to the Courtauld Gallery. We had meant to go a couple of days ago, but then discovered that Monday mornings it’s free. Of course, everyone knows that there’s nothing I like more than a freebie.

It’s quite a wonderful gallery as it turns out, and has quite a large collection, all of it collected between 1923 and 29. They have a big collection of Impressionists as well as representations of every other era of art back to medieval times. It even includes a small collection of modern art and a huge tryptich by Kokoschka from 1950 and some Kandinskis. The original collector became quite a proponent of Pisarro when most other people didn’t.

This museum also had a harpsichord described as “either Austrian or southern German inside, an Italian outer case and Flemish painted design.” It also said the harpsichord was probably made for a member of the Hapsburg court because it was very large. It had only 60 keys, F-f five octaves, with no low F#. Although, perhaps in the 17th century that was considered large.

The museum also had a spinet made by Arnold Dolmetsch and decorated by Fry.

The rest of the day we simply wandered around like dumb tourists, gawked at the buildings, watched other tourists trying to make guards laugh (I thought this one soldier looked like such a child, but in fact he was a woman. But still a child, I’d say. Maybe 18).

As we walked past Westminster Catherdral, we noticed a sign that said Sung Evensong was every night at 5 p.m. It was 5 to 5, so we hurried to the entrance and made it just in time. It was quite beautiful. At the end, they announced that because their choir was on vacation, the evensong was being sung this night by the choir of St. James church in Los Angeles. What a hoot! They are really good, though. Then they mentioned that today is the 160th anniversary of Mexico ceding California to the United States as a result of the Mexican American war – or was it that today was the day that war started? Anyway, they also mentioned California’s problems with immigration in the prayers and prayed for the Senate and Assembly of California, but not for the Governor, if I heard them right. No point in that?

We topped off our day by taking a walk along the new river walk on the south side of the Thames The London skyline really looks different from the last time we were here. Imagine that. I would have liked to have gone on the London Eye, but that’s one of those things John would not have any fun on at all. You’re basically in a glass bubble for 30 minutes and 420 feet off the ground.

We have walked over the Blackfriars bridge, the Waterloo bridge, the Golden Jubilee Bridge, the Millenium footbridge and the Westminster bridge.

Tuesday was a kickback day. Just wandered wherever we wanted, except for a wonderful noontime pedalharp concert at St. Martins in the Fields. All contemporary music. All fabulous.