Finery and Fine Art--Day 64

A week from today, I will be leaving the IES Student Residence Hall and getting on the Tube to Heathrow. Needless to say, today begins a pretty busy last week, as I'll be trying to squeeze in all kinds of last-minute stuff. We did end up finding Lauren's key...in her copy of Cosmopolitan. I guess it wanted fashion advice. Don't we all.

I spent about an hour this morning wandering the floors of Harrods with Lauren, Amanda, and Kayla. I was awestruck upon first entering the store at its absolute vastness and glittery quality. The first items we passed were fine pieces of jewelry and watches as well as a collection of Dolce and Gabbana handbags and tights that cost almost 70 pounds. However, my main reason for going to Harrods was to see the puppies! They reside in a little enclosure in Pet Kingdom on the 4th floor. Harrods only sells chihuahua puppies, but they were still pretty cute. Actually, they didn't seem to care about us too much. They only wanted to run around their cages and play with each other and with the little toys and scraps of paper that littered their living spaces. Harrods also sells rats, hamsters, gerbils, and rabbits, which were also adorable. Pet Kingdom also has lots of dog and cat toys, pet clothing, and delicious treats for four-legged family members. I didn't really see anything that I thought would be appropriate for Emmie, but something tells me she won't mind if I come home without a souvenir. Harrods even has a Pet Spa, where dogs and cats can get trimmed and have a relaxing time. The Pet Spa is equipped with a little treadmill with a TV in front of it, so dogs can have something to watch while they exercise (today was Beethoven). While we were looking at the grooming tables in the Pet Spa, we saw a cute English Cocker spaniel, two chihuahuas, and a Westie come out from another room. They didn't seem to interested in us at first, but eventually, they climbed onto a cushioned bench by the window to watch the world pass them by. I especially liked the fish tanks in Pet Kingdom, which had all kinds of interesting species, including some coral and anemones as well as clown fish, bottom-feeders (those fish with the suckers), and a strange species with a really thin body that seemed to like swimming in place.

After the pet section, we went down to the third floor to see the Moroccan exhibit, a display of Middle Eastern home furnishings that look like they were taken straight from their rightful place and plopped down in a showroom in Harrods. The furnishings were beautiful and peaceful, and Lauren said it made her want to go to Morocco. I guess the travel bug is a chronic condition.

Our last stop was the food hall, which is composed of many different rooms, including a room full of bread, pastries, and meat as well as a chocolate room and a room full of fresh vegetables, biscuits and jam, and Christmas delicacies. Because the UK does not really celebrate Thanksgiving, London jumps straight from Halloween to Christmas, and it goes all out with its decorations and its merchandise. Personally, I don't want to hear a single Christmas tune or see a single piece of holly or evergreen with red bows on it until at least Black Friday. The first day of December would be even better. The leaves are still on the trees (in quite beautiful colors I might add), yet we start celebrating a time that is associated with snow and chilly weather. It's absolutely preposterous if you ask me.

After we left Harrods, I ventured to Sir John Soane's Museum. It is basically an old Victorian home filled with Greek and Roman carvings (including a statue of Apollo), 18th century paintings (like A View of St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge by Canaletto), beautiful furniture, and finely decorated china. The museum was a little more intense than I expected. A doorman made me turn my phone off, stow it in my bag, and put my bag in a bigger plastic bag so that it didn't scrape against any of the pieces. Another staff member ushered me into the foyer, asked me to sign a guest book, and told me to hang up my coat. He told me I could buy a house guide for two pounds, but I passed on that and made my way into the first room, which looked like an old library. I was amused to find that the old chairs in the house each have a spiky pine cone on the seat to discourage visitors from trying to sit on them! One of the coolest items in the room was an astronomical clock, which besides telling the time also charts the position of the moon at different times during the month and divides the year into months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. It also provides information about the time in other parts of the world. While this is nothing new to modern technology, it was very special during its time. It was made in France for the Prince Regent and acquired after the death of the Duke of York in 1827.

Next, I entered a room with magnificent painted glass windows set into the skylight and walked through the room to a hall full of Greek and Roman statues. I wandered down a set of stairs to view more statues as well as the burial place of Sir John Soane and his wife, who predeceased him and to whom he wrote a rather touching eulogy. I then went back upstairs to a room full of wonderful 18th and 19th century paintings, including that Italian painting I mentioned before. It is a splendid image of boats on a canal and of the daily lives of Italian people in Venice. While I was at the house, I really wanted to find the paintings by William Hogarth, but I couldn't seem to, even though I also went upstairs to see a drawing room and the gift shop. The drawing room was really cool because it had three bay windows with cushioned benches and shelves of books. I would love that set-up because I could reach for a book from the shelf, settle into the window, and read to my heart's content. It's the next best thing to one of those grand walk-in libraries where the shelves reach so high I need a ladder with wheels. My dream house would include one of those libraries (plus a gazebo situated in a big garden and a sunroom), and all of the rooms would be designed like a charming log cabin. In the drawing room, I saw a very familiar object--a decorated oval-shaped piece of canvas stuck on a long pole with legs. There was a similar object at the Royal Pavilion, and it was placed in front of the fireplace. These screens would be placed right next to the faces of people talking in front of the fire so that they did not get too hot (and so their makeup didn't run). I felt a little thrill of satisfaction at being able to correctly identify the object.

Back downstairs, I found another room with painted-glass windows as well as two private studies beautifully outfitted with carved wood walls and more paintings.

The museum also educates visitors about who Sir John Soane was and about his important contributions to art in London. One of the most fascinating things about him involves the Dulwich Picture Gallery. In 1790, the King of Poland decided that he wanted to start a royal collection, so he dispatched two men (Sir Francis Bourgeois and Noel Desenfans) to gather the finest pieces from Europe. However, Poland was partitioned in 1795 and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, so the two men were left with all of these artworks and no one to buy them. Bourgeois decided to bequeath the pictures to Dulwich College in England, and a collection called the Dulwich Picture Gallery (designed by Sir John Soane, who was an architect and Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy at that!) was established upon the terms in his will. The Dulwich Picture Gallery turned 200 this year!

As you can probably gather, Sir John Soane was another one of those wealthy philanthropists who wanted to share his cultural bounty with the world. He gave his house to London upon his death in 1837 with the stipulation that it remain unchanged. The result is a truly lovely, charming, and oft-forgotten gem that I think was well worth the time to see. I only feel bad that photography was not allowed because some of the pieces, especially the furniture and the paintings, were absolutely fantastic. The museum has such a calm, quaint atmosphere.

Tomorrow is our day trip to Windsor, where we will see the castle, the oldest inhabited in the world. King Henry VIII (the trip would end with him, wouldn't it?) is buried in the chapel. I'm sure it will be another charming little place with cute shops, so I'm looking forward to an enjoyable day. In other news, it is supposed to rain every day until we leave. London is making sure we don't forget it; it's paying us back for all of the nice weather we've had so far and ensuring that we get a good soaking before we go. I'm thrilled.