More Churches, Music, Landmarks and Museums Plus the London Marathon!

There is so much to see and do in London, that it is difficult for me to find time to post. I will catch up now. This is a lazy day of hanging on the boat and around the dock.

On Friday,  April 24, I cleaned the saloon and did other chores around the boat in the morning and then went to St. James Piccadilly on the the No. 15 bus to attend a concert but a young trio of artists playing violin, cello and piano. Some of the music they played included pieces they had commissioned for their own performance. The music was avant-garde but not edgy or discordant.  

Trio at St. James Piccadilly

Afterwards, I walked down the block to Hatchard's bookshop to purchase another book I must read, this time for the family book club. As I was walking through Piccadilly Circus, there were people handing out Magnum chocolate and hazelnut coronets for free. Since I had only had some crackers and cheese around noon before I left the boat, this was wonderfully serendipitous. 

Piccadilly Circus

Then I spent three and a half hours at the National Gallery, roaming through the rooms while listening to about half of the five-hour audio tour of more than sixty masterpieces on display. Peter met me at 6 p.m. so that we could attend a musical presentation at 6:30 in one of the rotundas featuring two women performing their own music, one on harp and the other playing field recordings and singing. The half-hour performance was haunting and lovely and drew a large audience. After that, we went to another part of the museum where a curator and four poets were doing a tour and readings. The poets had written works inspired by the particular paintings we were viewing. 

Performers in front of a Claude painting at the National Gallery

After that, we explored the museum some more, particularly interested in the Van Gogh's and other European paintings from same era. Shortly before the museum's closing, we left and walked through Trafalgar Square and towards the river, where the tower of Big Ben and the Houses or Parliament were brilliantly illuminated. Hungry, we walked along the Embankment until we came to a restaurant on the edge of the Embankment Gardens where we enjoyed pizza and sandwiches.

Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament

On Saturday, April 25, Peter and I walked to Watney Market in Shadwell, a densely populated area of East London with a large Muslim population, many originating from Bengal and Bangladash. Clothing and jewelry were on sale in the stalls in addition to fresh produce. Most of the women were dressed in hijabs and some were in burqas. 

Watney Market

After purchasing some fruit and vegetables, we separated, with Peter going to the boat and me wondering around Shadwell and Spitalfields. There is a lot of graffiti and occasional murals, some of which are stunning, including "The Land is Calling, which depicts rural life in Bangladesh, situated by the entrance to Banglatown on Brick Lane. 

Entrance to Banglatown

Walking to Banglatown, I passed by Brick Lane Jamme Masjid. The building was first constructed in 1743 as a Protestant chapel by the Huguenot community in East London. In 1891, it became the Machzike Hadath, the Spitalfields Great Synagogue; the area was populated by Jewish refugees from Russia and Central Europe. In 1976, it opened as a mosque serving the growing Bangladashi community. 

Jamme Masjid

As I was returning to the boat, I passed "Goodman's Field Horses," comprised of six larger-than-life horse sculptures and water features. The plaque reads"Having escaped from their livery stables, six horses gallop through the streets of London. Careering through crowds of pedestrians until they are brought to a halt by the traffic flow on Leman street." 

Two of the six horse sculptures by Leman Street

I stopped at Waitrose, my second trip there, and once again, I found the packages of cheese and dried goods to be really small, which will be particularly frustrating when I provision for the summer. For example, the largest packages of shaved parmesan cheese are smaller than the smallest ones in the U.S. 

The rest of the day was spent on boat chores. The interior cleaning is now finished. From various positions, I cleaned all the ceiling, walls and cabinets. 

Sherri cleaning the galley

Today the big event--for thousands of people--has been the London Marathon. The halfway mark of the route was only two blocks from our boat and we arrived early enough for me to get a place right along the barrier fence, so I had great up-close views of the participants. First came the wheelchair racers and then the runners. It was so exciting! And the new men's world record in the the marathon was set at 1 hour,  59 minutes and 30 seconds by Sebastian Sawe of Kenya. We saw him run by (but I did not get a photo).

I spent a couple of hours there. At first, there were small groups of four to six racers and some lone individuals. After about a hour, the course became packed with an endless stream of runners joyfully or exhaustedly going by. A few were in costume; we spotted a number of Spidermen, a few Harry Potters and even a couple of flamencos. 

Even now, at 6 p.m., the marathon excitement continues as various groups of runners meet up with their supporters at pubs and bars. The nearby dockside Dicken's Inn erupts with cheering every time another finisher arrives.

Peter--after days and days of painstaking and mentally painful research, drawing and calculations--has finally just ordered the supplies he needs to make the bimini cover from PVC, aluminum and vinyl. The frame was installed a few weeks ago. It is, indeed, a daunting task, one that almost anyone else would have sourced out. 

As we spent time on the boat this afternoon, we heard the harmonies an a cappella singing group. We we went out on the aft deck, we found that a group of men were serenading patrons of the dockside cafes with a few songs. This type of unexpected and delightful and not infrequent occurrence of entertainment is such a part of London. 

Men's a cappella group in blue