Alister's England Trip: Last couple of days in England

On Friday afternoon after saying goodbye to most of the people, I went to the National Portrait Gallery and then I did some shopping.

I only had a quick look in the gallery because I was meeting my friend Nicole at Dennis Sever's House. I hadn't heard of this before but it's a museum that has been set up like a time capsule, so it's like entering a house as it would have been in the early 18th century. It's like stepping into the lives of a family of silk weavers so everything has been recreated to mimic their way of living.

And there was a cat walking around which was cute!

After we had been through the house, Nicole and I went to Brick Lane for dinner - it is known for its Indian restaurants so we ate at one of those.

This morning I slept in, then had brunch at a nearby cafe and got French toast with maple syrup.

It was raining so I decided to go to the National Gallery and Banqueting House. Banqueting House is run by Historic Royal Palaces (along with many other places I've been to). I listened to the audio guide and sat on a bean bag looking at the ceiling which was painted by Rubens, commissioned by Charles I.

The ceiling was amazing. It embodies the Divine Right of Kings and different virtues. The hall was built by James I but it burnt down a few years later in 1619 so then he commissioned architect Inigo Jones to replace it. It was used for masques and it is also the site where Charles I was executed.

In the corner there were set up a few objects which we were allowed to handle (wearing gloves). I was talking to the woman showing me the objects and telling her about the heritage tour I had done and that I work in archives.

One of the objects was a 17th century coin with Charles I on it.

Then there was a jug which was found underneath the Banqueting Hall in an excavation.

Then the most interesting was a stove tile from the bathroom of Henry VIII from his residence at Whitehall Palace which used to be on this site until it was destroyed by a fire in 1698.

Portrait of Charles 1 in the stairwell (below)

Then I headed to the National Gallery. There were a couple of interesting paintings by Michelangelo which were unfinished.

The section I found the most interesting was the Impressionist section with paintings by Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Georges Seurat. There were also the famous Van Gogh paintings which a lot of people were gathered around.