Above Ground on the London Underground-Day 62: From the Tate to the Tate



Westminster Reflections by Sarah Fosse  

 SarahFosse.com

If it's Friday we must be back in London. Every Friday I take a virtual walking tour ‘above ground’ on the London Underground. Using my Tube guide & my fitbit® device, my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day roughly following along the Underground route, reporting back here on Fridays with my findings We've just finished following the Central Line, took a detour to the Tate Britain. Next we'll hop on the District Line. Here are the previous days. This is Day 62.

Before we leave the Tate Britain, where we visited the Hockney exhibit last week, make sure you spend some time with the Turners. The museum is known for its large collection and for me, having seen Timothy Spall in the film Mr. Turner, I really would love to see some original pieces up close.


 Tate Boat via Sea Fever Blog

Next, we’re going for a boat ride. I’ve always wanted to go for a ride on the Thames, the Tate Boat makes it simple. We catch a boat from the Tate Britain where we’ve enjoyed a morning with Mssrs Hockney and Turner and now we hop aboard the boat for a trip that takes us past iconic London destinations—Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye delivering us to the door of the Tate Modern. £8 each way. That is what I call a deal.

 There’s a fair amount of advice suggesting one does the Tate Britain in the morning, the Tate Modern in the afternoon but for me, that's one museum too many for one day. If, like me, you’ve had your fill of paintings, you can still take the boat which will drop you off right near Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

While pains have been taken to make it look lovely and antique-y, this Globe theatre is the new Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's original having been burned in 1613, rebuilt and then closed again in 1642. This theatre dates to 1997, a riverside reconstruction about 750 sq feet from the Globe’s original location.

 Tours of the Globe leave every half hour although your ticket includes a free audio guide—my favorite kind of tour as you get to move at your own pace and hear everything you need to hear without having to keep up with a crowd of people just to hear what the guide is saying. On the other hand, a good guide—in person, with a lively mind and a good personality can make an A experience into an A+.
The Globe is more than a museum, it’s a living breathing tribute to the Bard with an active spate of productions. This month they’re putting on The Taming of the Shrew and in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, beginning in May, both Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night.

Next time, we may take a look next door at the Tate Modern where Elton John—sorry, Sir Elton John—has shared his private collection of modernist photography. Then we’ll cross the Millennium Bridge. I’ve been wanting to do that for ages so I’m happy to save the crossing for next week, when we’ll pick up the path of the District Line. Come along?

The Tate Britain
Milbank, London SW1P 4JU
+44 20 7887 8825

 The Tate Modern
Bankside, London SE1 9TG
+44 20 7887 8888

 The Globe Theater
21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT
+44 20 7902 1400

 Sarah Fosse

Popular posts from this blog

5 Ways to feel like you’re in France when you don’t have the francs

Image
Are you Dreaming of France but finding yourself short of the francs you need to take you there? Ladies and Gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs, step right up and j oin my travel club and take a journey that won’t cost you a red hot centime. Because this is a trip you take in your mind. Okay, it ’ s not exactly there -there but if you can ’ t actually get to Paris or the Cote d ’ azur, it ’ s the next best thing.  Here ’ s five things to pack in your virtual valise to put you in a French  state of mind.  Substituting French words for English is a great starting point... Un: French Ambience Pretend you live on a charming street near the Eiffel Tower with the simple application of this artistically incorrect mural. How do you say cheesy in french? Or better yet, decorate your home with every  Eiffel tower you can find — never mind most self-respecting French citizens would likely prefer to leave the tour  Eiffel on the Champ de Mars  where  it belongs.  Deux: La mus
Continue Reading »

Baker Street Station—Sherlock Holmes was there

Image
Baker Street Station The main thing my husband wanted to see in London was London ... as Sherlock Holmes saw it. So our first move, like any fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation was to take a double decker bus to Baker Street. As it turns out I read the map upside down or sideways or maybe it was backwards but we found ourselves in Putney at the bridge. Very much in the wrong direction. Over half an hour by car, which we didn't have. We wound up taking the tube back in the right direction which delivered us to the Baker Street Station. The station is one of the original stations opened when the Metropolitan Railway—the world's first underground railway—was built in 1863.  While we don't immediately think of Sherlock dashing out on the tube, he very well could have and in fact the rail, train etc is alluded to in several dozen Sherlock stories. The Baker Street station is situated on the very block where Sherlock lived at 221B Baker Street. Or should I say th
Continue Reading »

Above Ground on the London Underground—Day 46: White City

Image
If it's Friday we must be back in London.   Every Friday I take a virtual walking tour ‘above ground’ on the London Underground. Using  my Tube guide & my fitbit® device, my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day roughly following along the Underground route, reporting back here on Fridays with my findings.  Here are the previous days . This is Day 46. Today we’re walking from the Ealing Broadway underground station to White City. The trek is 4.2 miles which should clock in at just about 10,000 steps.  Back in 1908, the area was transformed from Shepherd’s Bush farm land into the location for the Franco-British exhibition and the 1908 Summer Olympics. Called the white city because of the white cladding of the ornate exhibition buildings, the area was used for the Japan-British exhibition in 1910, the Latin-British exhibition in 1912, and finally the Anglo-American exhibition in 1914 when WWI put an end to it. After that the White City was left to fall into disrepair and ult
Continue Reading »