Today was a truly special day in the calendar. Following a documentary on TV in September which previewed a forthcoming Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at The National Gallery in London to run from late November until February 2012 I decided to book two tickets for today December 6th at 2pm.
I travelled by train from Rugby and met Lucy at Euston at midday, we travelled to Trafalgar Square and enjoyed a nice Italian lunch at Prezzo’s in Northumberland Avenue. As our ‘time slot’ approached we crossed Trafalgar Square with it’s street entertainers (and a bag-piper – not entertainment) and a ship in a bottle on the spare plinth before going in.
We spent a very pleasant time strolling around the many galleries enjoying works from the many famous artists to be found there, amongst them were van Dyck, Rubens, Turner, Rembrandt and so many more but then it was time to descend to the basement gallery and as excitement mounted we were ushered through to the first room and the first of the many da Vinci works on display, these ranged from anatomical sketches and engineering devices to paintings large and small, many of which are very well known, as entry was by ticket only and numbers were limited it was possible to examine each work at close quarters without being hurried.
In the second upstairs room were other paintings and sketches as well as the magnificent Last Supper which must be 6 or 7 metres in length, truly breathtaking. The event was advertised as a ‘once in a lifetime’ exhibition and this was surely the case as the labels showed items from Milan, Paris, New York as well as many from the Queens’ collection almost certain never to be seen together again.
After this cultural feast we walked to Covent Garden in the early evening air and enjoyed a hot drink together before pausing briefly at the Apple store and Tin Tin shop on our way to the underground station where we said our farewells and to make our respective journeys home.
A wonderful day spent in the company of my very special daughter and over far too quickly.
Just one of the many images we saw today!
