Tuesday, December 27

Southbank Centre

Eitan and I visit the Courtauld Art Institute in Sommerset House off the Strand.  Indeed, the Courtauld brought us to England as Sonnet received her masters degree in the history of European dress from here. The Courtauld gallery includes one of the most efficient collections of impressionist paintings in Europe or anywhere : Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, Seurat , Gauguin  ..  . many of their most famous paintings on display.  For Eitan, it is a 30-minute stroll, top speed, eyes covered at the naughty bits.

To get to Sommerset House, we cross Waterloo Bridge from Waterloo Station where I take a photo of the imposing Southbank Centre , Europe’s largest centre for the arts , attracting three million visitors a year with nearly a thousand paid performances of music, dance and literature.  Sonnet's uncle Shelton considered to run the complex when he was President and CEO of the LA Cultural Center including the Rose Bowl and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, hosting LA's opera , ballet and musical events.