Thursday.....

I went to the National Portrait Gallery today. So many stories from so many painted portraits. I saw the portrait of Sir Hans Sloane who founded the Chelsea Physic Garden. His collection and library formed the heart of the British Museum. Or there was Robert Blakewell (1725-95) who was the "Father of Animal Husbandry". He worked on better breeding techniques for better livestock. It was quoted he said,"A sheep was a machine for turning grass into mutton." Interesting...... Sandy, you would have loved it here, it reminded me of all the stories in the archives...
Another day, another park..... This is St. James Park looking towards where they hold the Horse Guards parade. There are the Primula again..........




I spy the London Eye with Jimmy in St. James Park ..................... hehehe.
This is a Royal Park because it is bordered on it's sides by the Parliament buildings, the Wellington Barracks, and Buckingham Palace. It was originally a swamp that was flooded by the Tyburn stream which flows through a lake in the park. Charles the 2nd had a long canal built into the waterlogged land. He introduced geese, pelicans, and waterfowl which still exist in the park. In 1828 it was re-designed by John Nash in the English landscape style. It has naturalized bulbs everywhere and Platanus trees all throughout the park. These are the dominant trees in the city too. I asked if they were all Platanus x acerifolia (common name is London plane tree.)but there is some debate that it is another species possibly. There habit is much different and more graceful here. These are just some simple gates that enter into the neighboring park called Green Park. It is not planted as heavily but is equally beautiful.This is the Queen Victoria Memorial situated right next to Buckingham Palace in a round-a-bout.
The beautiful coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The crowned lion represents England, the unicorn represents Scotland. The free unicorn used to be considered a dangerous beast. The Guards Museum which is in front of the Wellington Barracks.
Here on the way home I thought I stumbled into a Dr. Seuss story but unfortunately that wasn't true. More severely pruned trees.... It does have a sculptural quality to it though doesn't it?

Wednesday.......

The Tate Modern was the goal of the day today. Alot of the Narcissus are still coming up but one thing that i notice here is the use of Primula. I have seen them in park plantings such as this one, containers and in herbaceous beds too.

The Tate Modern is right on the Thames River, as are alot of other sights too. I have been along the Thames river a few days now. We went to go see a show of Man Ray, Duchamp, and Picabia. The three artists were great friends who inspired and pushed each other for a number of years. This was a special exhibit so there was an entrance fee. I did not know alot about Francis Picabia but know have a better understanding of who he was. The view below is from the cafe on the top floor. That is the Thames (pronounced Temz here, but i kept saying Thaymes and they would just smile at me.......) river with the Millenium Bridge (for pedestrians only) and St. Paul's Church in the background.

Me and Sho-Sho on the Millenium Bridge at sunset..... Thanks for everything you have done for me. Siobhan, friend forever, I love you. The trees here are severely pruned to prevent from touching the sides of the buildings (I think, and please correct me if i am wrong.....) The pigeons took up perching in them and it looked very strange to me.
You can see that this is what the tree will look like later on......