England 2026

Sunday, May 10 – London

The absolute highlight of the day was The National Portrait Gallery (NPG), but before that, we had breakfast and walked to the Gallery.

To begin, we both slept for 12 hours – 9 till 9. This is how we quickly adjust to the time change – get on the local time ASAP.

London is full of places to eat. At times, it seems like every other store front is a place to eat – notice I did not say “dine.” Despite that, we ended up at a familiar spot around the corner from the hotel. The photo from our window of a small very interesting group waiting for a car shows a woman in a very unusual hat accompanied by a tall man and two young ladies in very short skirts (It is chilly out, but then they are young with hot blood.) There is speculation that the lady is none other than Lady Gaga.

I always photograph London street art; London is known for just that.

Our favorite stop was a beautiful tea shop – “TWG Teas.” Again, London is known for “tea time,” featuring fancy teas from all over the world. Karen loves mint tea and, of course, they had that.

The NPG was a very pleasant surprise. In all the 50+ years that we have visited galleries and museums, this was our first time at a portrait gallery. We loved the experience. We were drawn there to see a photography show by Catherine Opie, an artist that we collected many years ago. The very first hall we discovered was filled with portraits of every size and medium. Many were contemporary paintings, and a few were sculptures – beautiful. I took so many photographs. In fact, it took me over an hour this morning to edit my photos and mark my favorites. Tessa will select her choice of what is great to post with this blog. Karen loved the painting of Jane Goodall, and my favorite was the very large Alex Katz. On to the Opie show.

Again, the variety, scale, and time period varied for Opie’s work. I always photograph the art first, then the label describing it. We will post the labels as well as the photos. They are mostly photos of the people she knew and met in her hometown, Los Angeles. The old saying is, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” We loved her work! Photographs are typically sold in editions; it is likely that some of the images are still available for purchase. A favorite was the suntanned, nude back of swimmer Diana Nyad. Karen and I watched the terrific documentary of Nyad swimming from Cuba to the U.S. across the Florida Straits.

Tessa had made an appointment for me at the Apple Store on Regent Street for an hour session on Apple AI. It was fantastic! Now, if I can just remember what they taught. I must go to more Apple classes or as the instructor said, use the Apple “Tips” app and check out Apple lessons on YouTube.

We walked back through a favorite “Carnaby Street,” then ended our day with dinner at the hotel. I remarked to Karen that we should visit London twice a year going forward. 

Robert