London 2015 Day 30: Art Museums

5/23/2015
London 2015 Day 30: Art Museums

Um... yeah, a late start today. Not the usual Saturday "up and at 'em" like I've been doing the rest of the trip... I got up about 11:45 after my 4pm Chinese food finish last night. Win. I did finally get to Borough Market, but kinda in the style of me-as-Pixar-intern getting to the Ferry Building on a Saturday in the early afternoon with the other interns after going to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Good times. :) So yeah, finally got to Borough Market about 1:30pm, but glad I managed to get there eventually.

I got Chocolate Cheesecake again (my absolute favourite) from the ION Patisserie booth and Herb Biltong again (YES). I grabbed some Monmouth Coffee too and crushed the cheesecake in the Monmouth shop again. DO it upppp!!! That is my favourite combo and it sure is great. I did some planning of the day in the Monmouth shop. Also grabbed some Rosemary for "The Great ILM Bake Off" on Tuesday, an event we are running where employees are baking something at home over the long weekend and bringing it in after the long weekend. Tasty.

After the excellent coffee and cheesecake, I walked over to Tate Modern to check out the art. There was a book sale there on the ground floor which was pretty cool, I almost bought a book on tea & cakes. The artwork there was a great selection... I still love the Pompidou the most, but this was a great museum too. Awesome Andy Warhols, Miro, and especially Kandinsky... the best as usual!! There was a section on Kandinsky and "Constructionism"... that is definitely one of my favourite kinds of modern art.

Unclear if this was a modern art piece or just a mirror on the wall. But, when in Rome... make some art of your own?! :)

The reality distortion field

There was a cool drawing wall with Wacom tables where you could draw a sketch on a tablet and then enter your name and where you are from, and it would then project your image on the wall. I drew a very messy-looking Wall-E and Eve and submitted it. :)

"mike from san francisco"

The museum building was also quite cool, a former power station. I walked along Southwark after a couple hours at the museum and found some fun and unexpected stuff along the way. There were some guys playing music on the beach and having a great time. And a "Snog" bus!!! Snog is a frozen yoghurt shop, and they have a Pink double-decker ice cream bus. Um... YEP. That rocked.

From here I headed towards the National Gallery. They had nice older stuff, but as expected I tend to like the Impressionists the most. The bathers, tons of Monets, and the Canoe painting were my favourites. Loved the Van Gogh sunflowers, and there was a chair painting of his as well.

Looks like Monet's Garden!

One of my favourites. Such a calm moment in time, and a bright and sunny day, people out enjoying a canoe ride on the lake with a light wind blowing the sailboat behind them. Love it.

From here I headed down to Covent Garden Market, attempting to stop at a place for Sticky Toffee Pudding! But, the place, while highly rated on Yelp, was pretty snooty and said "It's minimum of 2 courses only". Also it seemed I wasn't specifically dressed for the place. Also, meh. Walked by a cool Canada Bar in that neighbourhood though which was funny to see.

The snooty place did me a huge favour though as I managed to save room for a fun Pie at Battersea Pie in the Covent Garden Market. I hadn't really spent any time there yet, so it was great to go when I was hungry so I could try some of the great stuff they had to offer there. I was ready to eat like a madman... I got a Steak and Ale pie with mashed potatoes which was just as good as it sounds. I had walked like crazy today and had only eaten a slice of cheesecake at 2pm. :) Crazy man.

Funny umbrellas.

So after finally eating "lunch" at 6:15pm... I headed off to finally try out Gordon's Wine Bar after hearing so much from EJ and Sue about it. The outside was cool, with a patio, but inside... wow!!! Did not expect that! It was a very busy spot, tons of people in there, and they had some awesome homemade sherries in there. A cool dry sherry, Oloroso... etc. Super awesome! Even cooler was a section at the front where you could buy a loaf of bread and sides and a HUGE block of cheese of your choice. You pay per cheese type, and they take a huge block of each kind and drop it onto your big platter. You then pick up some free sides, pickles, chutney, jam, etc., take your loaf of bread and sherry, and head with all of this back outside to the patio and hang out with a barrel as your table. Fun times!

It was about 7pm now and I was chillin' with the Pre-Broadway Show crowd at Gordon's. It was packed inside, but very comfortable and friendly outside. Ahh man, what a nice place, this "Gordon's"... I sure wish my Spring was here!!! For several reasons, not only because this place is kinda named after her :) An epic recommendation by EJ... "Batman wins again!" After annihilating my cheese platter and chatting with a lovely South African lady and her Mom at my table/barrel, I headed back home via Harrod's. Obviously, gotta do more stuff!

I hadn't really spent any time in Harrod's yet, so wanted to see what the fuss was about. I check out the Men's stuff for like 2 sec (most epic pyjama pants of all time... only £400!) Cashmere pants?! And then, to the legendary Harrod's Food Hall.

And more for a London WIN: go to Harrod's 1 hr before closing: 1/2 price on most items!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea. This was so exciting to find out and the Food Hall food is incredibly well made and quite varied. A nice way to grab to-go dinner. I bought some non-half-price stuff first, a taste of Leonidas Chocolates, Elderflower Presse and some German All-Beef Salami... and then went to town in the 1/2 Price Food Hall: foccacia, a scone, Tikka chicken breast (huge and like £1.90?!!), chicken curry... what a deal!!!!!!!! I went nuts and bought it all.

I walked back via Hyde Park. I hadn't walked in Hyde Park since the 1st weekend in London, so it was nice to wander there again. Back to Lancaster Gate, I feasted on a bazillion things. This was sortof my only real meal today. So "dinner" was at 10pm paired beautifully with my new favourite British TV show, Gogglebox.