Whenever I’m in London for a few days I try and schedule an afternoon of just wandering around an area and taking photos of places I’ve not managed to visit before or where I’ve visited only briefly. Despite the intermittent rain after visiting Temple Church I decided to take a wander around Somerset House. There was some sort of event going on inside so I only took photos of the courtyard and exterior.
I’m not sure why I hadn’t realised you could actually go inside Wellington Arch until my most recent visit to London. It’s now an English Heritage property, built as an original entrance to Buckingham Palace but then became a victory arch celebrating the Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon. The sculpture at the top, apparently the largest bronze sculpture in Europe, represents the Angel of Peace descending on the four-horsed Chariot of War.
The Elite Building used to be a cinema but now houses many other businesses such as a nightclub and a variety of different shops. It was one of Nottingham’s “super-cinemas” designed by the London architectural firm of Adamson & Kinns and opened on 22 August 1921 with Mary Pickford in Pollyanna. The interior, which I’ve never seen myself and no doubt has changed considerably, included a restaurant, tea room and a ballroom, not to mention the cinema area having a concert organ and space for a full orchestra.
The Martins Bank building below, as of taking the picture a bar, was the first of two branches to open in Nottingham in 1931.
Tate Britain is the oldest gallery in the Tate network of galleries (Tate Modern being one of the others), dating from 1897. It houses British art from 1500 to the present day including the largest collection of works by J M W Turner, for whom the Turner Prize was named.
The Birkin Building in the Lace Market in Nottingham was designed by Thomas Chambers Hine another architect who, like Watson Fothergill, made a big impact on the city. It was, of course, a lace warehouse made for Richard Birkin, a lace manufacturer, in 1855.
On my final day in Liverpool I decided to take a walk down from my hotel towards the Albert Dock in order to visit the museums there but the first building I actually stepped inside was the Liverpool Parish Church.
Liverpool Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Britain and fifth largest in the world, built between 1904 and 1978. It was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, perhaps most famous for designing the iconic red telephone box.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is another place that was on my must visit list (also included in the I amsterdam card) and I ended up visiting it straight after the Van Gogh Museum (they are located very close together). Originally I’d planned to visit the Rijksmuseum later in the day as the museum states that lunchtime is the busiest time of day but seeing as it was very hot but raining buckets I decided to go in at lunchtime anyways so as to be out of the rain and found that I could walk straight in without having to queue after all.
The Nottingham Industrial Museum is based in part of the 17th century stable block at Wollaton Hall and as it’s only open on weekends and Bank Holidays it took quite a while before I got around to visiting. It focuses on a wide range of Nottingham industries including lace, bicycles and mining.
