This post was made possible by another beautifully crisp day in London.
My goal here is to show you the route I take to and from my study haven at The London Library, and the surrounding areas. The London Library is located in St James's Square, which is around the corner from Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery, Chinatown, and Piccadilly Circus (all places in an area called Soho).
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| The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square |
On this particular day, I took Bus 9 to Trafalgar Square so I could finally visit my intimate friends, Picasso, Turner, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, and others at The National Gallery. While I really enjoyed my visit to the Gallery, it was very crowded. It is also quite vast, and I don't think you can realistically see the whole place in just one visit. Also, I like to see art in a quiet atmosphere, which is why the National Portrait Gallery (just behind the National Gallery) is a much nicer experience, just like my visit to the Ferens Gallery in Hull. It was very exciting, though, to see the physical renderings of the paintings that I've seen a million times in textbooks and online. A piece that I really loved was a self portrait of the French painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. The painting feels well balanced, her expression is so relaxed, and I love love LOVE her hat, especially the feather!
After a few hours at the Gallery, I wandered around the theater district, an iconic part of Soho. I apologize for not taking any pictures while I was there - I will have to do so next time because the alleys in that area are very Diagon Alley-esque: twisty and narrow walkways, lined with stores with colorful display windows. These alleys snake between the various theaters and playhouses.
Chinatown sits right next to the theater district and, if the hundreds of Chinese lanterns aren't indication enough, you'll know you're there when suddenly no one around you speaks English. Most of that area is pedestrian only, which is nice because you don't have to be as attentive as you might normally have to be in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road (though I'm pretty used to it by now).
My next stop was St James's Church, a small church just a block away from St James Square, a place I pass most days on my way to The London Library. St James was built by London's Christopher Wren, architect of numerous buildings in London and Britain, including St Paul's Cathedral, and sustained major damages during the Blitz of 1941 - a familiar story in Britain. The plaque on the church's door says that the organ and the decorative marble arch under the stained glass windows are the only original pieces left today; most everything else was destroyed by bomb blasts. While the church as since been restored, parts of the outside walls are still charred black.
These next pictures are of The London Library. I hope you take a good look at them because I spend a lot of my time here and it has a special place in my heart. From the outside it looks like a small place, but number 14, St James's Square is quite the labyrinth! If you cannot tell, it's the narrow building on the right, wedged in the corner. It kind of reminds me of number 12 Grimmauld Place in the Harry Potter books. It looks like only 3 floors, but the Library actually has eight (free coffee for members in the members lounge (so elite, I know) on floor six)! And, it is SO SO quiet inside, especially among the million or so books.
Also, many of the sections of the Library have grated walkways in order to leave as much space as possible for stacks of books - don't need to worry about how much space there is between floors. In this picture I think I am on the 4th or 5th floor, looking down. And, in case it wasn't obvious, heels are a no-no in the Library, unless you want to fall through the floor.
Instead of taking the bus home, I walked back to Kensington so I could take more pictures of the sites - 2 miles of walking just for you all!
For those of you who watch the popular BBC show Sherlock, you will recognize these pictures of Piccadilly Circus from the opening sequence.
There are 5 streets that branch off from Piccadilly Circus, each leading to a different part of London. This area is always populated because Soho is a major center of London's nightlife crowd. And unlike Boston, which shuts down at 12:30 on Saturday nights, London clubs and bars are still going strong at 2 and 3am. In fact, there are some places in London where you will see young people stumbling out of bars when you are on your way to Sunday brunch ... I kid you not!
From Piccadilly Circus I travelled down Piccadilly Road, home to the London Hard Rock Cafe and the Royal Academy. Piccadilly stretches between the Circus and Hyde Park Corner.
The last major spot on the way home is Hyde Park Corner. Literally on the Southeast corner of Hyde Park, lies a group of monuments which connects Hyde Park to the Buckingham Palace grounds. These include, but are not limited to, numerous WWI and WWII memorials, and the Wellington Arch (because this town adores all things Victoria, Horatio Nelson, and Arthur Duke of Wellington).
I hope you enjoyed a tour of my stomping grounds! Tomorrow I am back in class, but fear not, my elective is architecture of London, so there will definitely be more awesome pictures to look forward to!
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| Memorial to the Airmen of WWII |
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| Wellington Arch |
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