London - one week here.

Since Thursday of last week I have spent time going to the movies, the Tate Britain again, the Victoria and Albert, the Museum of London, the Tate Modern and today, the Whitechapel Gallery.
I have become pretty used to using the Tube, it's well patronised and reliable.

 This area is south of the river near London Bridge. It has a busy High Street and this great food market that is beside many narrow lanes with heaps of pubs and food places. I found it by chance as it is another way of getting to the TATE Modern.

 It's great to find this food mecca after many days walking past the local fish and chip shop.

Even a place to indulge a craving for real sausages.

The area in South Kensington near the V + A is full of upmarket French style shops, yummy pastries and cheese shops.
The area of the Barbicon 2 minutes east of St Pauls that includes the Museum of London is fully late C20th, super ugly, brut concrete modernism. I found out the reason for this homogenous concrete style ca 1980 is because this area was so completely wiped out by Nazi bombing it remained derelict until the City of London planned and then gifted the Barbicon Centre for the Performing Arts to Londoners in the early 1980's. The huge Barbicon Housing Estate is there as well. Still, it makes the blonde brick Albury Performing Arts Centre look positively dainty by comparison.
As I am on the District Line, for the present London is measured in distance from tube stations on the green line.
The underground tube system really is fantastic. Both London and Paris excel in public transport and it makes the public transport systems at home look amateur.
Of course London is not pretty or beautiful like many other places say Paris (history has been kind in preserving the old city) or Sydney (natural assets), but it is alive and working and full of people who, on the whole, are fine, just getting on with it.

Winter brings its own charms of fairy lights everywhere. The early darkness means many people are around at 'night-time' which is really only late afternoon. This is an image of the Museum of Natural History in South Kensington.

 Those wierd incredible pollarded trees again - same place, Pimlico.

It's so bizarre to see these severely curtailed Susan Rotherberg type branches on very mature trees - I have no idea if they are crepe Myrtles or not. But I know that they will be the shadiest most beautiful green trees come spring. Imagine these trees in autumn as well.

When you walk through the atmospheric wharf area around the London Bridge tube station you come out at the Thames. With the tide coming in, this river is full on.

 Ironic that 'the City' which is just one square mile has the most modern architecture on the oldest part of London.

 Didn't realise how any contrasts were in this shot.

Closer view - have to find out about this building.

 More river frontage

I was panning towards St Paul's

 The Globe complex

 The Tate Modern with the huge construction cranes behind - there is a huge development going up on the south side of the gallery. It will be fantastic.

 I went to a great show on Paul Klee - no photos but there weren't any works in this retrospective that were not treasures. Another retrospective was the work or Mira Schendal, a German artist who migrated to Chile in 1949 - two fabulous shows.

 The walking bridge

The lovely birch trees which in 2010 were still very small.

 Well by 4:15pm everything looks gorgeous with the light on. - this is looking westwards

 St Paul's is very grand and gracious

 Very speccy

 Looking further east

 Looking east towards the city which is close to Tower Bridge - really east

The Globe Theatre

 Looking east

 Looking directing across to the north side and London Bridge

 One of the narrow street in this local old wharf area

The reconstruction of the ship sailed by Sir Francis Drake, The Golden Hind.
I haven't scratched the surface in one week.
Today I visited Whitechapel Gallery in East Aldergate established in 1901.
Unfortunately I missed a show by Sarah Lucas and will miss the next show of work by Hannah Hoch. But there was a great installation by French Algerian Kader Attia : Continuum of Repair : The Light of Jacob's Ladder, based on a similar idea of Yayoi Kusama's endless ladder in the NGV but far heavier.
Finally the best was the story of two art graduates who in 1972 took over two derelict shops in East London and negotiated money from the local Council to renovate and stay for a set time on pepper corn rent. This system of getting derelict properties for willing and able artists to fix up and use as home and studio grew over time.  Meanwhile the Acme Gallery in Covent Garden was set up by the same group of artists and operated from 1976-1981. Acme now offers affordable working and living spaces to thousands of artists all over London. It's a terrific example of a good idea and good industry at a time when things like this were happening in many countries.
The days seem to go quickly - something to do with them being so short? This is obviously the perception of someone on holidays...