No pigeons at Trafalga... Just a big blue Cock!
I had a jigsaw puzzle when I was a kid of Trafalga Square, London. The image was true to form and included a river of red double decker buses, black taxis, crowds of people and pigeons. @ 21, I moved to London and did the whole 70's backpacker, Earls Court, nanny thing. 32 years on, and here I am back again meeting up with an old mate Lia who did a similar thing. We do that a lot.... Meet up in obscure places! Now.......Back at Trafalga!
Feed the birds... Tuppence a bag...
.....wasting no no time at all, we dropped our bags and went to the Thames, walked Tower Bridge and cruised through the Tower of London.
Lia and I pole dancing.
Tower Bridge
At the Tower of London, ceramic artist Paul Cummings is there with a huge crew of people installing thousands and thousands of red ceramic poppies in the Moët surrounding the Tower. The art installation commemorates 100 years since the First World War. Awesome to see this in action. It will be finished on the 5th August. Check out 'Blood swept lands and seas of red' www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon
Tower of London and the installing of 'Blood swept lands and seas of red'
We stayed out at Camden, the TRUE GRIT of London, complete with punks, drunks and
...an amazing canal system where they hold a very popular and massive market. We spent hours there trolling the maze of laneways and unique art stalls and enjoying feasts of food, bars and plenty of people watching.
Deb joined us the following day and we went down memory lane revisiting old haunts like Earls Court, Fullam Broadway, Kings Road and ended up at the Tate Britain.
Earls Court..... Stepping back in time... To a place.....
Jo finally found his car.....
Just couldn't find the key!
We did find the Tate Britain!
Originally Henry Moore was commissioned to record Britains war-time experiences which secured his public reputation. His drawings were mainly of Londoners sheltering underground. Moore is 'more' known for his monumental semi abstract sculptures.
Moore
And then there was Turner!! Galleries on Galleries filled with works, finished and unfinished. How prolific!! The Tate has over 37,000 works on paper and some 400 odd unfinished oils... "Unfinished in whose eyes!! Maybe only Turner himself.
A Fire at The Tower of London, watercolour on paper
To me his work really loosened up... With his lifestyle .......by all accounts!
The Decline of the Carthagian Empire, 1817
Reclining Venus, 1828.... Unfinished?
Waves Breaking on a Shore, 1835.... Unfinished?
Well after all that it was time for a Pint! We found Covent Garden and then a fab pub in the name of Garrick!! Tomorrow we are on the buses!!
