Friday, 23 May 2014

Salisbury, May 2014


To spend some time with Tony and Paula, we stayed for a few days at the Old Mill in Harnham on the outskirts of Salisbury.  Our room was the third window up on the left so we had a lovely view of the river.  It was interesting to see the tide marks on the trees from the floods earlier in the year, level with the top of the arches over the mill race.  there's an awful lot of water around Salisbury even at this time of the year.

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Salisbury.  Well worth a visit to see the Doom painting, the Angel roof
 and lots else.

The tomb of Jane Eyre

One of three medieval paintings of the life of the Virgin Mary

View of the Cathedral from the Town Path, our daily route from the hotel to the city centre

The town end of the Town Path

View from the bridge on the Town Path


A man in a strange hat outside the Cathedral



Ralph Brideoak's symbolic pew.  He was Dean of the Cathedral in 1718

Memorial to Rex Whistler.  The carved prism rotates to show different images of the Cathedral and of their family home in the Cathedral Close.

Traces of the original paint are still visible



Ceiling of the Audley Chapel (1524)

The Mompesson Tomb

The tomb of William Longespee (1226).  He was the first person to be buried in the existing Cathedral.  He was half-brother to King John and was present at the 1215 Magna Carta negotiations.



There is a huge font situated in the centre of the nave, reflecting the arches and roof in the surface of the water.  It is quite spectacular and not a little spooky!


Recently-shorn sheep grazing in the meadows, but where is the boy who looks after the sheep?

The Old Mill

View from our window

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

The Vikings

On Monday we went to the Vikings Exhibition at the British Museum.  The longboat on display only has 20% of its original timbers but the matal frame gives a good impression of the real thing - you have to go to Oslo to see that!

The photos were taken on my mobile so sorry about the quality

Spot the Viking on the right at the top of the stairs.

Meet Petal

Petal

And now for something completely different...

Friday, 28 February 2014

Cambridge

Crocuses on the Backs behind Trinity and St John's 


Make of these what you will!

Friday, 7 February 2014

Visits to London

In October we went to the British Museum to see the Shunga exhibition.  No photography allowed there of course but lots of lovely things in the other galleries.




This room is crammed from top to toe with a huge variety of stuff

In November we went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery for the Whistler exhibition - sorry, no photos!
On the way back to King's Cross we stopped at the British Library to see a small but excellent exhibition of children's book illustrations.  In the grounds was this strangely effective display.

This cherub was suspended from the top of the loggia, under the George I obelisk

December saw us at the Victoria & Albert Museum for the wonderful exhibition of Chinese painting.  To mark the event, the pool in the courtyard was suitably decorated.




Later in December we went to the Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln Fields.  It had been closed for some time for restoration work to be done on the collection and is well worth a visit.  On the way, we passed this statue but I'm afraid I don't know who it is.

The museum is housed in Sir John's house, the handsome white building with the statues, a very enviable spot!

The Christmas skating rink at Somerset House