Today there is a definite chill in the air. While the Met Office rates the temperature at 7°C it also gives it a “feels-like” value of 4° and it certainly felt at least as cold as that.

We sat outside

As usual, we started with coffee at the deli and sat outside to drink it which is either brave or foolish, depending on your point of view.

Our bus approaches

Afterwards, we walked down to Rosebury Avenue and the bus stop outside the old town hall.

Aboard the 341

We caught a number 341 bus whose interior was pleasantly warm after the cold outside.

The Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus-

We left the bus at Cambridge Circus, opposite the Palace Theatre where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues to draw audiences. (No, not including us!)

Earlham Street

We walked up Earlham Street, which is closed to traffic by a couple of market stalls set upon the roadway.

Seven Dials Column

This leads to a junction of seven roads marked by a column. The junction is known as Seven Dials because the column holds six sun dials and itself acts as a sundial, making seven dials in all

Looking back up Monmouth Street

We next walked down Monmouth Street. These two streets are part of the Covent Garden district and were therefore very crowded.

St Martin’s Lane

We continued down St Martin’s Lane, another famous street, home of the English National Opera.

National Portrait Gallery – closed

As it was not a day for wandering the streets, we thought to visit the National Portrait Gallery but found it closed.

St Martin-in-the-Fields

We walked on down to Trafalgar Square, passing in front of the handsome Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Built in the 18th century, the church was indeed then set in fields but they disappeared long ago and no trace of them remains.

Trafalgar Square and Christmas Market

We entered Trafalgar Square at the north end and found a Christmas Market in progress.

Inside the National Gallery

We entered the National Gallery which is itself interesting to view because of its fine architecture. We rested for a while sitting on a bench. At least it was warm in here!

One of the galleries

Afterwards we visited some of the rooms or galleries and viewed the paintings.

Bathers at Asnières (1884)
Georges Seurat

I will include just a couple of the famous paintings we saw. Above is the well known picture of bathers by the post-impressionist Georges Seurat (1859-91).

Surprised! (1891)
Henri Rouseau
Photo by Tigger

The second is Surprised! by Henri Rousseau (1844-1910). I chose it partly because its subject is a tiger and partly because of the slight mystery about the meaning of the title. Different commentators give different explanations. My view is that the most plausible interpretation is that the tiger, stalking his prey, is suddenly surprised by a flash of lightning during the tropical storm. (If you look closely, you can see that rain is falling.) When it first appeared, some critics called the painting “childish” but we would now rather see it as an example of Naive Art.

Breadline Cafe
Photo by Tigger

From the National Gallery, we went to a cafe we knew beside St Martin-in-the-Fields called Breadline Cafe, where we had lunch.

Charing Cross Station

We had some idea of walking to the Thames and set off down the road to the left of Charing Cross Station, called Villiers Street.

Walking down Villiers Street

Having walked the length of this street, we decided, as it was so cold, not to proceed but return to the station and catch a bus for home.

Aboard the 6

We returned to Charing Cross Station and caught a number 6 bus to start with.

Aldwych

The 6 brought us to Aldwych where we waited for the bus we really wanted which was the 341.

Aboard the 341

We did not have long to wait as a 341 arrived in two minutes. It carried us safely back to the Angel where we made tea and relaxed in the warm.