Sir John Soane by candlelight

The first Tuesday of the month the Sir John Soane Museum is open late and is the interior is lit using candlelight. I thought it would an interesting chance to see what it would have been like way back when.

I went straight from work and arrived about 6:30pm. Well, Helene and Nick, the line we waited in was super short compared to the one last night. I waited almost an hour and a half for my turn. I must say I was glad I had seen it in daylight. While there was electric lights on through out and the candlelight was indeed beautiful, it was definitely hard to take in all the pieces and colours and architecture without the daylight.

I'm definitely glad I went. The breakfast room in #13 with the mirrors in the starfish ceiling and the mirrors in the wall panels was lovely by candlelight. I think they may have been the only room that was just candles. The front room of #14 with the red walls was also very lovely.

Helene and Nick you'll be glad to hear I found it straight-away. I took the Underground to Holborn and when I got up to street level I went to the right. Then following my instructions to always turn around and go the opposite way from my instinct, I headed in the other direction. I saw the alley way next to the tube stop which looked vaguely familiar. There was the Shipyard's pub and I knew I was headed in the right direction. Brilliant!

I, of course, stopped at the Shipyard's Pub on my way back to the tube. It is Best of England Ale month at the Shipyard's. I had an Old Century ale. It was tasty.

Lovely and Brilliant

British people use lovely and brilliant quite a bit.

Lovely is used when something tastes good or if you agree with something. Also similar to how we use "nice" in the United States.

Brilliant is used if something goes well. Sometimes brilliant and lovely can be used interchangeably.

Bap

If you order a sandwich on a roll, it is called a bap. Don't have a clue why.

You can also get thick-sliced bread which is called doorstop or doorstep depending on who you talk to. And you are always asked if you want butter on it.

Tate Britain

First Friday of the month the Tate Britain is open late and has live entertainment. Rather like the first Thursdays at The Walker Museum in Minneapolis.

Attracted a good-sized crowd even though it was raining pretty good. The Tate Britain contains art from the 1500's to present day Britain.

Just to be clear to those that have been here, the Tate Britain is the old museum. The Tate Modern is the new one which is a separate museum and has become the most visited site in London.

The portraiture paintings including some really beautiful Gainesboroughs and Van Dycks are my favourites. There were some clever everyday life paintings from the 1800's that I liked. There's an entire JMW Turner wing that I did care for. His paintings are very romantic with washed colours and imagery of myths.

Some of the entertainment was fun. There was this big black guy dressed in Victorian woman's attire singing old show tunes.

Gum

I can't believe it took me as long as it did to realize this and it is going to make me look like an idiot but here goes.

I've noticed all these...little discs...on the sidewalks and places. I thought maybe it was a lichen because you see moss on everything. Or maybe bird droppings but way too many. Or some repair thing.

Well, I finally figured it out. It is gum. There is gum everywhere! It gets squished and squashed and is never sticky so there are these white and grey discs everywhere. Especially around the rare rubbish bin.

More on the Sir John Soane Museum

Sir John Soane was a London architect in the 1700's and 1800's. He combined three town homes along Lincoln's Inn Fields to make one home. Lincoln's Inn Fields is right at the edge of what is the actual city of London - referred to as The City.

Sir John's famous work was the Bank of England. He designed the whole structure inside and out. From what I can tell the exterior remains pretty much what was built but the interior has all been re-done.

He was also a collector of amazing proportion. He converted his home to a museum while he was still alive and intended for it to be kept that way. I guess through the years since mid-1800's it was altered because now they have posted that following a restoration that was completed in 1995, the home is back to it's original state.

They only let a limited amount of people in at time so a queue forms outside. Luckily it was not raining the day we went. The reason to limit the number of guests becomes apparent when you go in. Whilst the three homes combined make for a decent sized building, there is just so much stuff that at time you have to turn sideways just to get through.

There are antiquities from Italy and Greece and reproductions of antiquities. Paintings of all kinds. Sir John's architectural drawings. Models of Sir John's work. And just plain ole' nick-nacks.

One room that was the stable in the original building Sir John converted to a gallery. And in order to display as many pictures as possible, he kept the stable doors and put paintings on both sides. All the walls open to display painting on the other side of the panels and then on the walls again. It is fabulous and we were very lucky to have it displayed.

He repeated the idea in his upstairs study. This time displaying paintings made of his architectural ideas that never got built. Again we were lucky to have a cooperative docent to show us how it worked.

The home is completely furnished also. The three houses were cleverly combined to make one home. And there are windows everywhere with grates and strategic openings to let the natural light pass all the way to the basement.

Can't recommend this museum enough. And like all the national museums it is free!

Belts and Braces

Had a phone meeting with an Ernst & Young representative to help fill out some tax forms. He used the phrase "belts and braces" which I guess is like "dotting the i's and crossing the t's."