Connections

The Fourth Plinth

With our Royal Academy all access pass

Jane showing the painting she brought last year

Patiently waiting for our tea

After the Christmas shop

Autumn decorations are really unusual

Popular shoeshine man in Burlington Arcade

I tried on so much, in the end, I
could not decide what to buy!

Banqueting House

Banqueting House

Its Monday morning, while everyone else on the train looks depressed, we are ready for a fun tourist day. First stop is a detour to check out a venue for future work events. The venue is perfect for our needs, and as a bonus, the event manager gives us an all-access pass to the Royal Academy. Second stop is the Royal Academy to check out the exhibitions for Matisse and Jasper Johns and exit through the gift shop. After all that excitement it's time for a sit down at Fortnum and Masons.

Then it's on to Warren’s old haunt, Burlington Arcade. There is a line for the shoeshine man, he must be good. A beadle (arcade police) is helping a Spanish lady translate and she is ever so grateful. A quick pit stop at Sotherbys however, there is no action today. Lots of the shops are decorated for autumn. I have my one conker that I found on Sunday but will need to find more if I am going to make an autumn creation. Or maybe I could go to a school yard and challenge a kid to a game.

We keep walking up to Wallace Collection as we missed the armour section last time and wanted to see The Dagger of a Mughal Prince and yes it is as impressive as the photos. Over 200 jewels encrusted into one piece that is exactly 400 years old this month.

More walking, shopping, eating, where does the time go. It's time to hop on the tube and go two stops down towards to our last stop for the day, Banqueting House. This was once part of the Palace of Whitehall and the scene of many parties, masques (performances) and even a beheading. The ceiling was created by Rubens. The best bit is that there are bean bags so you can lay down and marvel at the ceiling. Quite an ingenious idea.