A Rainy London Day

A Proper Good Morning to You,
I came back a bit early for two reasons--it's raining pretty hard, and I am catching the Eurostar to Lyon very early tomorrow so I need to mostly pack up this evening.
The temperature dropped by ten degrees Centigrade from yesterday, so I was a bit chilly this morning as I made my way down Kingsway to the Strand. It was an easy walk downhill to Somerset House, and I was there before my target opened so I strolled around.
My first target for the day was the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House.  There are a lot of things at Somerset House.  It used to hold the Admiralty Offices, and one time I sneaked in there to use the toilet and did not get caught.  Ha!  But the Courtauld is a small but very distinguished art collection which works from the Late Middle Ages right up to the Early Twentieth Century.  I find their Impressionist and Post Impressionist exhibits more impressive than the Tate Modern's.  One of the highlights is Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergere, but there are also some very nice Matisseses and a lot of intriguing Cezannes.  I always start at the top floor and work my way down.  This generally takes me in reverse chronological order, but since I know what I'm looking at, it does not matter.
Also at Somerset House I happened upon a perfume "tasting."  Well, why not?  So I went through with a group of British women about my age and we sniffed and made notes.  Some of the scents were lovely.  A couple were--real stinckers.  No, I do not want to walk around smelling like a burnt out barbecue pit.
By this time it was raining lightly.  I found my tube station, but on the way I came across the Twining's Shop--the original dating from 1731 or thereabouts.  It's long, narrow, and packed to the rafters with tea.  I stopped in to look.  Of course, I did!  Besides most of the usual Twining's offerings, there was some fancier and correspondingly more expensive blends.  I might go back to pick up something before I come home.
Then I tubed off in search of the Wallace Collection.  I miscalculated my stop, so I had to walk and consult my map a lot but I got there eventually.  The Wallace Folks are a class act.  They were offering visitors plastic sleeves for our dripping umbrellas.
The house is worth visiting for its own sake.  There are very few remaining aristocratic mansions still in existence in London, and fewer still are open to the public.  But this one also happens to be crammed with paintings, fabulous furniture, and other object d'art.  It's also free.
Inevitably there are Canalettos--the dude was prolific!  But the collection includes a lot of lovely Dutch genre paintings and a lot of landscapes I would not be ashamed to hang on the walls of my condo, since the British are so narrow minded about letting me make off with the Constables.  You can even find Rembrandt and Rubens.  Most people want to see Franz Hals's Laughing Cavalier.  I also had a good look at Fragonard's The Swing.  As I remarked to a fellow viewer, "It's a very naughty painting."  She laughed and agreed.
I picked up the Central Line at Bond Street to return to Holborn, but I did not go straight home.  Instead I made for Neal's Yard Dairy for More Cheese. Want to watch while I try some?
First a long, refreshing drink of pear cidre.  I'll be drinking wine in France.  I didn't here because I like cidre just fine, wine is expensive, and getting it from the grocery store--is involved because of anti theft devices.  Anyway.  I have a nice, mild goat cheese called Dornstone, which is slightly salty and very good.  The flavor develops in the mouth.
The next cheese is Cheddar--the famous Montgomery Cheddar--in other words the Real Thing.  My first bite of actual, as opposed to industrial Cheddar, six years ago was a revelation.  I am trying a different harder and stronger sort this time, but oooh.  So good.  It's so rich and cheesy.  That orange stuff you get in the supermarket is a faint echo.  The apple cidre is perfect with it.
Cheerio!  The next time I post it will be from Lyon, France.