London! part III

After eating our Thai food we found a route headed towards Charing Cross Road... a good place to find bookstores. And there were plenty, both used and new, & I found one specifically carrying rare first editions!


Here are a few street photos I took along the way...

En route to Charing Cross Road we happened upon Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. The name of the square is in remembrance of The Battle of Trafalgar (1805) which was a British Naval victory during the Napoleonic Wars. The square is used for community gatherings, political demonstrations and for the New Year's Eve celebration in London. 
At the National Gallery we were excited to see a few of Jan van Eyck's paintings including the Arnolfini portrait (1434):

seeing the painting this time around I couldn't help but notice the largeness of Giovanni's hat,
the peculiar looking shoes, and notice how long his wife's fingers look...Fascinating!

and van Eyck's Portrait of a Man (1433), which might be a self portrait. Among others we saw Paolo Uccello's The Battle of San Romano (1438-40), a few pieces by Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens, and Rembrandt. If I had time I'd go back and check out the Vermeer and the van Gogh! The portrait work done in those days is astounding, makes me really appreciate the ones that are painted today as well. 

in this little side street were many book shops and stores with old prints

believe it or not, I can't tell you what any of these taste like... only looking!

stopping for a coffee break amid our bookstore visits.

Here is Ray posing with some street art we found on the way back to the flat... Space Invaders... we had just watched Banksy's movie, Exit through the Gift Shop, which made mention of him!

The following morning we got a good start and went for breakfast at a little French bakery and coffee shop called, Paul. We headed back to the Tate, then gave ourselves time to meander our way to the train station stopping at a few shops of interest along the way before heading home.

YUM