The Wallace Collection, Maughan Library, Christmas by the River Market, & The Lucas Arms

Last Saturday - well hallelujah, Bucket List London finally scheduled something I wanted to go to, at a time I could make! He was off to see the Wallace Collection that morning - and so was I. I woke in OK time - made my way down there on a bright, fresh morning. We'd arranged to meet at 10, but he messaged to say he was running a bit late - as it turned out, the place only opens at 10! So we were gathered in a crowd outside. Well done to the third person in the group for correctly identifying me - we were glad to get in from the cold, and made our way to the Great Gallery, where he'd said to meet.

This is another of those incredible collections, with far too much in it - you could easily spend days going through it. As usual, I oriented myself by portraits of royals that I recognised. Here, for example, we have a young Queen Victoria, on the other side of the door, a very flattering portrait of her uncle, George IV, and over the door, his dad, George III!

We shortcut the trip through the house, and headed for the Great Gallery - which we discovered was upstairs, at the back:

And in due course, as promised, our organiser joined us. So we spent some considerable time going through the house - seriously, never mind the day, you could spend a few days here if you wanted to do it properly! And oh look - George IV again:

With such a wealth of things to look at, I restricted myself to snapping pictures of art I found interesting. For example, the beautiful blue here:

The house in general is gorgeous:

I also took pictures of paintings I'd seen before:

One room was dedicated to depictions of Venice, which took me back:

As we continued our tour of the house, we noticed some recurring themes. For example, a lot of paintings had mythical subjects (generally with naked women, which might have been the reason to paint them). This is from Inferno, with text from the poem inscribed on the frame:

Oh, and they seemed very keen on hunting - lots of pictures of dead animals:

Finally, we visited the armoury - which has the only complete set of horse armour, as I recall! Anyway, this looked impressive - seems they also consulted on the film The Lost King, about the discovery of the burial place of Richard III. There's a small exhibition about that, too.

So yes, yet another of the spectacular collections that are free to view around London! Many thanks to our organiser for bringing this to our attention - lovely to see him again too, it's been too long.

In the afternoon - London Social & Cultural Meetups planned a bevy of Christmassy stuff! They were off for afternoon tea first - we were headed to the Garden at the Lane (at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). And she discovered that she had a clash for lunch, so, mercifully, I got a bit of a break in between events to have my own lunch! and do some things that needed doing. And out I schlepped again to meet the others. Unfortunately, traffic was bad, and my bus a bit delayed.. I was slightly late, and the others were there when I arrived. It's a gorgeous venue:

Sadly - in common with so many places - they wouldn't let our organiser book in advance, and when we got there, it was full. So, we continued to the Knights Templar pub, where we'd been planning to go later anyway - passing, on the way, that interesting upside-down globe on Portugal Street:

We also took a brief detour to see some other interesting sights on the way:

..including where the lawyers get their gear! (This being the part of town for them):

The pub, sadly, was also packed - large as it was. So we gave up on that, and headed straight for King's College Maughan Library, for an exhibition of old manuscripts, which had been the next thing on our list. It's in a converted chapel, with gorgeous stained glass windows:

and a couple of elaborate tombs:

Some of the manuscripts are gorgeous, with medieval woodcut illustrations:

and there are fascinating works relating to John Snow's reform of London's water system, and Edward Jenner's development of the smallpox vaccine! This interesting exhibition runs to the 12th of March. On our way to and from the exhibition, we did notice some interesting doors to the study rooms - the mind boggles:

And finally, we hit the Christmas markets! All part of the Southbank Winter Festival. First was to be the Southbank Christmas Market, where they sell white mulled wine.. but although she confirmed the presence of that, our organiser wasn't so keen on the rest of the market, and suggested we go straight to the Christmas by the River Market. Which is what we did, stopping at Hay's Galleria on the way:

We were on the hunt for white mulled wine, but the only place serving mulled wine at all was the bar - frankly, I didn't fancy their chances of having it, and I don't do red. So I gave up.

The others went off in search of food that wasn't exorbitantly priced - me, although I was hungry, I passed, and bade them farewell - it'd been a fun afternoon.

I had to leave, because that evening - I bravely scheduled another meeting of the Rarely Seen. It was my last weekend in London before Christmas, you see. Well, Ivan and my first boss in London confirmed! while the one person who came the last two times was busy, for once. I booked The Lucas Arms - O' Neill's wasn't taking bookings for that day. Deposit payable, refundable with cancellation up to 72 hours beforehand. I just had time to shop beforehand - and wouldn't you know it, they both showed up! Excellent - and what's more, they got on like a house on fire. We were also right in the middle of the football crowd, and excellently positioned to watch the match - which suited them more than me. We were excellently fed too, of course. The night finished early for me, when the poitín I'd brought as a Christmas present for Ivan got shared around.. I can't mix, and was in need of my bed rapidly from then. The others, apparently, finished the bottle, and made a late way home. A busy day, a terrific end - looking forward to doing that again.

Of course, I was too wrecked to blog, that night.. see the next instalment for details of last Sunday and ongoing..

Exhibition: Lightopia

Tonight, I headed to Lightopia, at Crystal Palace Park. As suggested by Over 40 Living the Life, who were not actually hosting a trip themselves, but just wanted to advertise it. 15% discount if you subscribe to Lightopia's mailing list, 20% discount for purchases of 10 or more tickets. And durnit if Groupon didn't subsequently advertise cheap tickets.. 

So, off I headed, into the cold. Early, to get something to eat - in case Lightopia didn't oblige. Well, unfortunately, neither did the locality - O' Neill's was packed downstairs (people watching the football), and the upstairs was closed for a private function. And The Lucas Arms was similarly full. Nuts - I headed for Pret (in the station - the one outside was closed). And was decently fed - well, not much else I could do in a hurry. The journey was going to have to be Tube and train, to get me there in under an hour..

Oh dear God, was it cold. The station platforms are all gritted - mercifully though, it hasn't rained in ages. And how lucky is that, considering how hilly it is, down there - some reasonably steep slopes would have caused me serious problems, had they been icy. I had nothing but Google Maps, and the postcode provided on my ticket, to guide me - well, I managed. What you do is, from Crystal Palace Station, turn right on the main road and keep going until the next right turn. Unfortunately, it's a bit steep, as mentioned. Happily, once you make the turn, it's downhill to the end - which is the first place I saw a sign for Lightopia. They could have better directions. It's then quite a schlep, past the car park, to the entrance.

You start with the "funfair" - three rides: a carousel, a walzer, and dodgems. A sign just past those confirms that that's it for the rides, so if you have tokens, go back and use them! Jeez, tokens, for three rides?! Anyway, about the first thing you come to after these is a hot chocolate stall, conveniently with an alcoholic hot chocolate option. Get it! In this cold, it's just the thing. Alcoholically speaking, they have a choice of rum, amaretto, or Bailey's - I'd never had Bailey's in hot chocolate before, thought it might be a bit sickly. It was gorgeous! Do get it at this stall, though - there's a cafe at the far point of the walk, also serves hot chocolate, also with an alcohol option: but it costs more there..

The light installations are quite impressive:

And some are interactive - this one, for example, plays a different note for each disc you step on!

Some, like this dragon, have heads that turn:

and by the way, for the most part, each separate display has its own musical accompaniment. They're spaced just about far enough apart to allow that. Disney themes feature heavily.

There's a lovely forest bit where they do something I hadn't seen before - they project light into the branches of the trees, or onto the leaves of bushes. It looks just gorgeous, and there's one part that's actually really romantic! Sorry, it doesn't really come up in photos..

There's a Hallowe'en bit too!

I also found the enchanted part very good:

Keep following the path, which in due course leads to the cafe - which I examined, and skipped. You can then exit, or a path continues to the car park, which is where I started - take this path, there's some more to see on it that you haven't seen already:

Oh yes, and the drums are there to be banged!

Runs till the 2nd - recommended. Did they have food? Yes - but not much.. I preferred to eat before I came.

Coming back home - and after a very cold wait on Crystal Palace Station platform - I caught a bus at London Bridge Station, which had that festive feel:

And bless that driver for waiting when he saw me coming! Meant I had no time to spend standing in the cold.. I've been lucky, as it happens, to have been in early every night of this very cold week!

Tomorrow - well hallelujah, Bucket List London has finally scheduled something I want to go to, at a time I can make! He's off to see the Wallace Collection that morning - and so am I. Which means I need to go to bed soon..

In the afternoon - London Social & Cultural Meetups (LSCM) has a bevy of Christmassy stuff! They're off for afternoon tea first - we're headed to the Garden at the Lane (at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). And she's discovered that she's got a clash for lunch, so, mercifully, I get a bit of a break in between events to have my own lunch!

So, then we're off to King's College Maughan Library, for an exhibition of old manuscripts. Followed by a trip to the Knights Templar pub, time permitting.

And finally, we're hitting the Christmas markets! All part of the Southbank Winter Festival. First is the Southbank Christmas Market, where I hear rumours of white mulled wine.. then I'm not sure whether I'll have time, but we're off to the Christmas by the River Market.

I might have to duck out early because that evening - I've bravely scheduled another meeting of Those who Do Not Come. It's my last weekend in London before Christmas, you see. Well, so far Ivan and my first boss in London are actually coming! while the one person who came the last two times probably not, for once. We shall see - I've booked The Lucas Arms - O' Neill's isn't taking bookings for that day. Deposit payable, refundable with cancellation up to 72 hours beforehand.

On Sunday, I was vaguely thinking of heading to see Carnaby Street's Christmas lights.. but now LSCM is off to the Museum of the Home, followed by carols by candlelight at Westminster Chapel.

And for that evening, CT advertised tickets for Love Factually - a kind of rewriting of one of the relationships in that classic Christmas romcom, Love Actually. Sadly, all their tickets were gone - but I got a full-price ticket from the venue. It sounds good. Showing at 2Northdown.

On Monday, I'm thinking film. Top of the list - that I can make, and looks like I might actually enjoy - is The Sparring Partner, a Hong Kong film based on the true story of a young man who conspired with his friend to murder, and dismember, his parents. Closest showing is in the Odeon Luxe Haymarket - unfortunately, I can neither confirm the times, book a ticket, nor see how it's booking, because the website wouldn't let me in! Even when I got access on my phone, it didn't work right - I always have trouble with Odeon. Apparently, I'm not the only one - I just checked again, and they're advising people to try to use the website incognito.

On Tuesday - hellfire, if the best thing on Meetup isn't Free Stuff and Free Events, with another online singalong. Uhh.. we shall see.

On Wednesday, again, thinking of film - at least the same list does for both days! So, at the moment, it's looking like Ingmar Bergman's film, Fanny and Alexander, which is showing at the BFI. Which has a tendency to sell out - I'll have to keep an eye on it.

On Thursday, back with the Crick Crack Club, yay! for The Winner Takes It All at Rich Mix. This, the club's last performance of the year, is performed by a congregation of souls known as Pandvani 108, comprising Ben Haggarty, Emily Hennessy, and Sheema Mukherjee, among others.

And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - just worked out that way - coinciding perfectly with a train strike! So I've booked a ticket on the bus - will just have to take that evening's meeting on my phone! If it even happens.. this whole week, there hasn't been an evening meeting!