Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Wallace Collection (The Rainbow Landscape by Peter Paul Rubens)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Wallace Collection (The Rainbow Landscape by Peter Paul Rubens)

    I hadn’t realised how many artworks that Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) had painted, which was over 1,400, so it’s no surprise how many museums and galleries he appears in. This painting dates to around 1636 and it’s of the land outside Rubens’s country house, Het Steen, near Antwerp. It was painted towards the end of his life and the gallery say, as I hardly knew this, that it was only during this period that he worked on landscapes.

    Fortunately, the Wallace Collection have uploaded a clear version of the painting, one that doesn’t have a bronze animal in front of it. This is one of a pair of paintings, with the other being in the National Gallery in London (although it’s noted as not being on display at the moment), painted for his own enjoyment and to hang on his own walls. It must be handy being one of the greatest artists of the century if you fancy decorating your front room, it gives you some options….

    Anyway, the gallery has placed on its web-site a handy video of how to understand this painting, which is useful as I usually miss everything of note. It’s painted on wooden panels, and it is noticeable on the right-hand side where the artwork may have been extended. It was purchased by Richard Seymour-Conway in 1856 and was given to the nation in 1897 by Lady Wallace.

  • London – City of London – Museum of London (Fourteenth Century Royal Arms from Guildhall)

    London – City of London – Museum of London (Fourteenth Century Royal Arms from Guildhall)

    This rather lovely stone coat of arms is on display at the Museum of London and it dates to around the middle of the fourteenth century. The coat arms is from the Guildhall in London, which was where it was found in the roof during renovations of the building in 1864. The arms were for King Edward III after he claimed France (he claimed to be the heir as the grandson of Philip IV) and put the fleurs-de-lis into the coat of arms, alongside the English three lions. It wasn’t until 1801 that the fleurs-de-lis were finally dropped from the national coat of arms, a perhaps belated acknowledgement that the United Kingdom wasn’t going to include France.

  • Pret – Coffee Subscription

    Pret – Coffee Subscription

    Since I signed up earlier today to Pret’s new coffee subscription, I thought I should pop down to their now only outlet in Norwich. I was the only one paying using this method when I was there, although they have apparently had a few people use it so far today. It’s nice and easy, scan the QR code sent by e-mail onto their card reader and the coffee is presented free of charge. It can be used inside or outside, with a variety of drinks included as part of the deal.

    There’s a free one month’s trial and you’re allowed up to five coffees per day (spaced at least thirty minutes apart) for the £20 per month. I await to see what some of their rivals do…. But, all logical and efficient so far.

  • London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    London – Ibis Styles – Kensington (Second Visit)

    I stayed at this hotel a couple of weeks ago and thought that for the money, it was entirely reasonable. Clearly, as I booked to come back, and I have another reservation here next week and two friends have now booked the hotel as well. On my last visit, the hotel was clean, although there were elements that suggested to me that things hadn’t been checked, such as an empty shower gel dispensers.

    This time the hotel kindly upgraded me to a family room, which was room 16, the Mozart Room.

    Interesting theming on the inside of the door, Ibis Styles remains my favourite of the Accor brands.

    And the room was absolutely spotless, and I had no reservations here about the cleanliness. The bathroom was also clean, although perhaps needed a little modernisation. However, this was a lovely room, although the view was a little limited. Not that that’s a complaint, it was much better than the room I’d paid for.

    My view that more Accor hotels should offer a craft beer option is unchanged, but I was willingly given the Bud as a welcome drink. And, on this note, the staff members I encountered were friendly, engaging and really welcoming. Customer service here isn’t a problem, it’s a comfortable environment to be in.

    The breakfast bag, with coffee available in the basement as it was before. Perfectly acceptable under the current circumstances.

    And, overall, this proved to be excellent value for the money I paid. Especially since I got a bonus 500 points from Accor (worth €10) and with other discounts, this managed to take the room price to just over £20 including the breakfast. Quite marvellous.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Wallace Collection (Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School by Diego Velázquez)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Wallace Collection (Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School by Diego Velázquez)

    This painting in the Wallace Collection has its own Wikipedia page, albeit shared with another version of the artwork. It’s not known whether Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) painted this himself, or it was done by his studio. The gallery has traditionally gone for the latter, but Xavier Bray, who is the director of the collection, has featured in a video on their web-site saying that he thinks it might be the work of Velázquez himself. Apparently, the painting needs cleaning and it is that which the director thinks will show the quality of the artwork underneath. And, it would be nicer to have a painting by the artist himself and not just his studio (he didn’t add that, I did).

    The artwork was painted at the riding school in Madrid in 1636, featuring Prince Baltasar Carlos in control of his horse. It was deliberate, to show the young man and future King being able to manage horse-riding and seem competent. I liked that Bray mentioned he thinks there might be figures who have been removed on the right-hand side of the painting, with the artist doing this to direct the eye back to the Prince. There’s a plan for the painting to be X-Rayed and then they will have their answer.

    Unfortunately, this bright new hope for the Spanish Empire died at the age of 16 with smallpox, which was a problem as he was the only son of King Philip IV at the time. However, when Philip’s wife died, he remarried and at the age of 56 he had another son, King Charles II. Who became infamous for a whole host of reasons not entirely relevant here….

  • London – City of London – Monument Pub

    London – City of London – Monument Pub

    We popped to this pub after Des’s rather lovely Great Fire of London walk and it’s located right by the Monument memorial. It’s Greene King, so expectations have to be lowered accordingly.

    The real ale selection on the pump clips was limited to Greene King IPA, so I had Camden Pale Ale. It tasted as it should and all that, perfectly refreshing. But, for a pub in this location, the beer choice is in my view completely inadequate and mostly just generic lagers.

    What the pub did do rather well was customer service, as the staff were fully engaged and keen to help. Welcoming, conversational and polite, the staff had delivered a laid-back and comfortable atmosphere. I’m not entirely sure that the large group crowded around one table were entirely compliant with the current rules, but there we go, that’s Greene King’s problem. They were otherwise dealing with track and trace competently, something which the chain are doing really quite well at the moment. Perhaps they could move the Head Office person responsible for track and trace over to beer selection when this is all over.

    The reviews for the pub on TripAdvisor are pretty dire, to the point that I wonder why Greene King actually link to them on their web-site. Much of the problem appears to be about their food, with the reviews on Google being a little more positive. A few customers complained about children not being allowed in after 18:00, with one customer noting that the pub didn’t understand the law and that the 2003 licensing act removed that limitation. As the pub noted, it did no such thing….

    For those popping in for a drink, this is a clean and organised pub, but I’m not sure that it offers anything particularly exciting beyond that. Decent location though, although I doubt it will be troubling the Good Beer Guide any time soon.

  • London – City of London – Museum of London (Medieval Statue of St. Christopher)

    London – City of London – Museum of London (Medieval Statue of St. Christopher)

    This is a statue displayed at the Museum of London which was discovered in a Tudor Wall when Newgate Prison was being demolished in 1903. I feel that I have an affinity to St. Christopher since he’s the patron saint of travellers and I liked that the museum noted:

    “Medieval Londoners believed ‘whoever shall behold the image of St. Christopher shall not faint or fall on that day’”.

    What a rather lovely sentiment. It also meant that statues were placed in many locations around London, including the entrances to homes and bridges. The bridges element is important, as the legend goes that St. Christopher helped people across rivers, and then unbeknown to him, he helped Christ himself over a dangerous river.

    St. Christopher is also the patron saint of travel in general, so a fair few companies relying on this trade for survival might well be hoping that the saint can answer their prayers…

  • Evil Twin Brewing – Beautiful Advert

    Evil Twin Brewing – Beautiful Advert

    This is a full-page ad in Craft Beer & Brewing magazine, and it’s beautiful. I’m not sure how anyone can leave a 1-star rating on Untappd for anything that Evil Twin Brewing produce, but, perhaps it’s not for everyone as they say. But, Evil Twin is one of the best breweries going, so they can definitely get away with advertising like this. It is annoying me now that I haven’t had enough of their beer though, I need to get out more…

  • Add to the Wants List – Carton Brewing Regular Coffee

    Add to the Wants List – Carton Brewing Regular Coffee

    I’ve never heard of this beer mentioned in Craft Beer & Brewing, and I’ve never heard of imperial cream ales (which goes to show that I need to get out more) but I’ve decided that I need some of this in my life….. I like a bit of “everyday decadence”.

    I also haven’t been to this part of New Jersey, but the brewery do tours and tastings. That’s another place to add to my little list of places to go.

  • Pret – £20 Monthly Coffee Subscription

    Pret – £20 Monthly Coffee Subscription

    For years, I’ve wondered why Pret have such an appalling loyalty system. By appalling, I mean they didn’t have one, they simply allowed staff to give stuff to people they liked. So, the ‘beautiful people’ got stuff and others didn’t. Although I did once see a young French boy (well, he spoke French, so I made an assumption) at Heathrow T5 proudly giving the staff member a 2p coin for a bottle of water, not realising that it wasn’t the £2 coin that he needed. The boy looked crestfallen, but the staff member then told him that he could have it for free. It was all rather lovely and helped Anglo-French relations no end.

    Anyway, I digress. Pret have now launched an all you can drink coffee option, although smoothies, hot chocolate and tea are also included. It costs £20 and it allows you up to 5 coffees per day in, I think, any of their shops (bar a motorway service station outlet). This now makes them cheaper than JD Wetherspoon, who have unlimited hot drinks for between 99p and something like £1.89, depending where you go. You have to wait 30 minutes between drinks, to stop you getting rounds in for friends.

    It’s a ferociously competitive offer and I hope that other locations do something similar. I’ve signed up, primarily because the first month is free. I’m not in the UK for two of those first four weeks, but, since it’s free, I’ll go with it. From then on, the £20 per month seems very reasonable. I’ll report back about how well it actually works….