List of Things to do in London?
I am going to London in the first week of November! I have not been there for about 15 years. What to do? The sky is the limit…
How can I remember all of the things I have been investigating? I can’t, so I might as well write some of them here. Who knows? Maybe I will meet some readers in London, and we can have adventures together.
I, believe it or not, have never been to the Tower of London. This autumn is the perfect chance since Paul Cummins is doing a massive installation of red poppies entitled, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. Remembrance Day is not celebrated in Japan, and that fact always surprised me and made me a bit sad.
Jasper Johns: Regrets at the Courtald Gallery also caught my eye. It is a series of drawings and paintings based on a photograph of Lucian Freud posing for Francis Bacon. Talk about a name-dropping show! This gallery is also showing drawings by Egon Schiele at the same time. Love the power of drawings.
A steampunk show is at the Royal Observatory. Tea is also possible. Will that be too far for me to travel? I don’t know.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is supposedly near the hotel and they are having a show about Constable. Time to refresh my art-history lessons? Their cafe is also supposed to breathtakingly beautiful and a good place for more…tea.
I will have to try having high tea aka afternoon tea somewhere as well. The Londonist has a list of unusual suggestions that sound interesting. Can you believe that there is a search engine for this in London?
Go to London to see Canadian artists like Emily Carr? Of course! I have rarely seen her work outside of books. The Dulwich Picture Gallery here I come!
Any other suggestions?
Check out the high tea service at Fortnum and Mason. Also check out the Royal Watercolor Society along the Thames near the Tate Modern. I popped in and lucked out to join in on a workshop. So much fun.
Hmmm, maybe one week will be way too short. I am not sure about Fortnum and Mason though. Aren’t their teas a bit strong? You are the second person to suggest them though.
I don’t know about too strong. I thought they were good. I went mid-week and the salon was almost empty. All I can eat sandwiches. Lots of tea. I stayed and read a book (regency romance!). No one tried to hurry me off.
Perhaps the tea is stronger but I find the flavor better and more mellow than, say, Lipton’s yellow label tea bag.
Scones were amaaaaazing.
Also, it’s worth it to just go and see the food stuff they have on the main floor. Upstairs is super-lux stationery and perfume section.
A week is too short. 😉