The forecast is for showers, but they space themselves pretty conveniently. we do a bit of outdoor exploration. Bentinck Street, parallel to OxfordStreet, has been home to quite a few notable people, though it`s a very short street. Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess lived at number 5 at one point. It`s still there but shrouded as the renovation works are in progress. Gibbon wrote Decline and Fall at number 7 (unlike the spies`abode it`s marked with a blue plaque). chopin lived briefly at number 10, and Dickens for a time at number 18. The interior of number 18 is gone - totally demolished - but the facade is still standing, awaiting a new building to face.
A few blocks away, on Wimpole Street we spot the building where the young Paul McCartney lived above his then girlfriend`s family. We`ve read that Lennon wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand in the basement. Wimpole street is more famous, of course, as the place where Elizabeth Barrett lived before being rescued by, and married to, robert Browning the house is no longer there, but a plaque marks the place where it stood.
we`re very close to the Wallace Collection, so, after a quick look inside St James`s Catholic Church, Spanish Place, we go to visit it. It`s in a remarkable place. The house, originally a private home, holds the collection of five generations of the same family. It rivals many national galleries in both the quantity and the quality of the paintings, an amazing classical collection. It`s known for Hals`painting of The Laughing Cavalier. It`s an intriguing portrait, and the subject has a very modern face, apart from the period moustache. He`s not actually laughing, though. It`s a knowing smile - one of shared irony or even assignation.
Our last stop in the area is number 34 Montague Square. It`s supposed to be where Ringo Starr had a flat. We`re surprised to see a blue plaque, as they`re not awarded to the living - but when we get closer we see that John Lennon lived there as well for a time in the sixties.
We`re tired and getting hungry, so get a bus on Baker Street that`s headed to Waterloo. It`s slow moving, but that does give us time to focus where we might not otherwise. we`re parked in a jam on Regent Street when we see a round green plaque marking Lord Stanley`s purchase from a silversmith on this site, of a silver cup "for the people of Canada to commemorate amateur and professional hockey." It`s been a while since amateurs had a crack at it. J thinks the last may have been the Kenora Thistles.
From Waterloo by tube and Docklands Light Railway and to Greenwich, where we stop at our second Oxfam charity shop of the day. The first was on Marylebone Lane - a huge one dedicated to books and music. this one is all books as well, and there are some we'd really like to have, including a signed one by Roy Hattersley. but they're too big and heavy, and reluctantly we leave them.
What we've really come for is our second visit to Goddard's pie shop. this time we have the crumble - J apple and I rhubarb. Still the best, with the custard filling the bowl and the soup plaate in which the bowl sits. It's been six years since they closed in Greenwich but the crumble hasn't changed. This is it. We can barely finish it - and the girl had said to come back if we wanted more custard. Two pounds seventy (three euros six, $4.32), tax included. Amazing.
Stop at Crossharbour, thinking as usual of Conrad Black - Lord Black of Crossharbour. will he ever come back? Buy a top up for the UK mobile. Then home.
A few blocks away, on Wimpole Street we spot the building where the young Paul McCartney lived above his then girlfriend`s family. We`ve read that Lennon wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand in the basement. Wimpole street is more famous, of course, as the place where Elizabeth Barrett lived before being rescued by, and married to, robert Browning the house is no longer there, but a plaque marks the place where it stood.
we`re very close to the Wallace Collection, so, after a quick look inside St James`s Catholic Church, Spanish Place, we go to visit it. It`s in a remarkable place. The house, originally a private home, holds the collection of five generations of the same family. It rivals many national galleries in both the quantity and the quality of the paintings, an amazing classical collection. It`s known for Hals`painting of The Laughing Cavalier. It`s an intriguing portrait, and the subject has a very modern face, apart from the period moustache. He`s not actually laughing, though. It`s a knowing smile - one of shared irony or even assignation.
Our last stop in the area is number 34 Montague Square. It`s supposed to be where Ringo Starr had a flat. We`re surprised to see a blue plaque, as they`re not awarded to the living - but when we get closer we see that John Lennon lived there as well for a time in the sixties.
We`re tired and getting hungry, so get a bus on Baker Street that`s headed to Waterloo. It`s slow moving, but that does give us time to focus where we might not otherwise. we`re parked in a jam on Regent Street when we see a round green plaque marking Lord Stanley`s purchase from a silversmith on this site, of a silver cup "for the people of Canada to commemorate amateur and professional hockey." It`s been a while since amateurs had a crack at it. J thinks the last may have been the Kenora Thistles.
From Waterloo by tube and Docklands Light Railway and to Greenwich, where we stop at our second Oxfam charity shop of the day. The first was on Marylebone Lane - a huge one dedicated to books and music. this one is all books as well, and there are some we'd really like to have, including a signed one by Roy Hattersley. but they're too big and heavy, and reluctantly we leave them.
What we've really come for is our second visit to Goddard's pie shop. this time we have the crumble - J apple and I rhubarb. Still the best, with the custard filling the bowl and the soup plaate in which the bowl sits. It's been six years since they closed in Greenwich but the crumble hasn't changed. This is it. We can barely finish it - and the girl had said to come back if we wanted more custard. Two pounds seventy (three euros six, $4.32), tax included. Amazing.
Stop at Crossharbour, thinking as usual of Conrad Black - Lord Black of Crossharbour. will he ever come back? Buy a top up for the UK mobile. Then home.
Posts
