Titian at the National Gallery

Our bus stop was just in front of the hotel. I kept admiring architecture whilst waiting for our No. 91 to come. Poor Mike was shivering from cold. It was a chilly day.

The ticket machine at the bus stop was in the middle of repair. Have you seen inside the ticket machine? I hadn't. There are lots of circuit boards. Interesting!

Nelson column

We enjoyed the ride. Soon, we were at Trafalgar square. Titian's paintings were wonderful. The Flight into Egypt was on loan from Hermitage at St. Petersburg, where I have always wanted to visit. So it was even more special to me.

The Flight into Egypt

Diana and Callisto is a new acquisition. It is going to be exhibited all over the country. What I like most about Titian's paintings are bright colours, the emotion and the drama. But this one is less dramatic than his other paintings. Lots of wild animals are depicted, and landscape is lovely.
Titian | Diana and Callisto | NG6616 | The National Gallery, London

We also saw some other works of 16th century and 19th century. One of my favourites is Philip IV by Velazquez. He painted the king several times. I always enjoy looking at each of them.

 

We moved on to 18-19 century. When we were looking at Gogh's Sunflower, I could see his wheatfield nearby. I told Mike that I could see some madness in the painting, so I wouldn't bother to see it. He shrugged, and said something like he likes it, and went to see the painting. After seeing it, he came to me with a surprised look, and said 'The board said it was painted during his asylum at the Institution'. I replied 'See, I felt insanity in it!'. My feeling was Sunflower was on the border line. Few people paint yellow sunflowers on the yellow background. Logically it is not a good idea, but that is a point where sanity and insanity merged and made a great work, because it worked for him.
Gogh's wheatfield

I was interested in Inside Art, a small exhibition by young offenders. I liked it. I saw some talent there. I also felt some intelligence in some of their works. To me, try to 'read' their works was like doing some psychological detective work.

The National Gallery

Trafalgar square after shower

Piccadilly Circus

We dropped by Japan Centre to buy some Nori. Then I found more things I liked to have. One was Tofu. There are various tofu there: firm, medium firm, soft etc. They are much cheaper than those of Quorn, which we usually buy at Canterbury.

Not only historical buildings, but also I enjoy modern building like this (above) in London. It reminds me of Bauhaus.

And this (below) is next to the above. I like how they put the top floor although it might be awkward to use the space under the windows.

When we got back to St Pancras, we hurried to Le Pain Quotidien and bought four almond croissants and espresso. Then we realised we had just missed the direct train.

So, we went to Yo Sushi(our first), and bought a pack of sushi to have in the train. 

     
Of course, this last photo is specially for my dear friend Mimi, who is very keen to try one, but alas she is in Japan. Mimi, you should come to try one or two soon!

Crispy organic almond croissants