Day 3: London

Day 3:  London

QOTD: What is that round yellow ball in the sky?

Pictorial Pop Quiz: What does this sign mean?

Weather:  In the mid 40s, seems colder with wind chill and zero sun until around noon.

Up early, decaf French press espresso and toast. Back to bed, up the second time at 8am.  Grape Nuts and fruit for THB and granola and banana for DB.

Then we chug our way a couple of miles in the cold, cold, grey, grey London morning to Liberty Department Store for twin shopping followed by stops in several nearby galleries. 

Elevator paneling inside Liberty Dept Store

Fornasetti appears to never go out of style

DB has found a gallery, Lazinc Sackville, specializing in JR’s work; go see Faces/Places to get a feel for his aesthetic. DA and THB saw several of his major works in Rio, up just for the 2016 Olympics (you remember the summer games, those are not the ones where they discuss wind chill factors). What a treat: inside and outside JR’s gallery are real portions of his scaffolding work; inside the store are ink transfers on wood and limited edition photographs. Prices are high, he’s in demand!

Scaffolding outside the building

Scaffolding inside the gallery

Limited edition photos and one-of-a-kind ink transfer onto wood, ranging from very expensive to very very expensive:

The original, in Rio 2106 with DA:

From the galleries, we head back towards 18 Cadogan to visit Harrod’s. We’re tired and hangry, so first we eat ½ roast chicken and leg of lamb at the Rotisserie counter. Each come with a “gravy” on top and roast veggies underneath. With a side of roasted potatoes and 2 lemonades, $105 (it’s Harrods). Leftover chicken is bagged up.

Truth in advertising

1 pound 10 pence per potato "chunk"

Then we do a bit of shopping in the bakery: traditional sourdough loaf and six big cookies, $40 (it’s Harrods). From there, it’s a short hop to our hood, straight down Sloane Street. 

We're having a taste-off

You can tell which loaf is from Harrods! It's a day fresher, nice sour taste

The cookie at top is a smore from Ottolenghi, the rest are from Harrods

Good thing we know where we’re going: the 1FS phone has run out of juice. Dinner items from Ottolenghi’s to-go and more fruit from Waitrose and we’re back to relax before MB and DB arrive.

Around the corner from 18 Cadogan

MB and DB arrive mid-afternoon, right on time. Settle in for tea and a catch-up.

Hours go by, so now we move over to the dining table for dinner and more catch-up.

Another hour goes by and we move back to the couch and dessert, coffee and tea and more catch-up.

Shots from around town:

4 of these carriages, all driven by women with two men at the shoulder, getting a police escore

Note the white sky behind the Wellington Park statue

Clay sculpture Shozo Michikawa ($20K)  at Erskine, Hall & Coe Gallery, around 2 ft tall

Large floor light with canister body at Carpenter  Gallery, might look good in loft