London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [78]
Regent’s Park Tips
Soccer, rugby, tennis, hockey, and softball are all played on the park’s many sports grounds. Head up to the area around the Hub (020/7935–2458)—a state-of-the-art sports pavilion—to watch some action. You’ll have to book in advance if you want to join in, but you’re just as likely to find an informal soccer match in progress anywhere in the park, especially on a warm Sunday afternoon. At the Garden Café (Inner Circle, Regent’s Park; 020/7935–5729), enjoy breakfast, lunch, or supper on a patio next to the rose gardens, or take away some smoked-salmon bagels and champagne (or cappuccinos) for an elegant picnic. Check the Regent’s Park Open-Air Theatre schedule—they have been mounting summer Shakespeare productions here since 1932 (0844/826–4242; www.openairtheatre.org). Don’t leave without exploring London Zoo—it’s at the very edge of the park on the northeastern side. | Marylebone Rd., Regent’s Park | NW1 4NR | 020/7486–7905 | www.royalparks.gov.uk | Free | 5 am–dusk | Baker St., Regent’s Park, Great Portland St.
Wallace Collection.
Assembled by four generations of marquesses of Hertford and given to the nation by the widow of Sir Richard Wallace, illegitimate son of the fourth, this collection of art and artifacts is important, exciting, undervisited—and free. As at the Frick Collection in New York, Hertford House itself is part of the show: the fine late-18th-century mansion, built for the Duke of Manchester, contains a basement floor with educational activities, several galleries, and a courtyard covered by a glass roof, with the upscale Wallace Restaurant.
The first marquess was a patron of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the second bought Hertford House, the third—a flamboyant socialite—favored Sèvres porcelain and 17th-century Dutch painting; but it was the eccentric fourth marquess who, from his self-imposed exile in Paris, really built the collection, snapping up Bouchers, Fragonards, Watteaus, and Lancrets for a song (the French Revolution having rendered them dangerously unfashionable), augmenting these with furniture and sculpture. Richard Wallace continued acquiring treasures after his father’s death, scouring Italy for majolica and Renaissance gold, then moving most of it to London. Look for Rembrandt’s portrait of his son, the Rubens landscape, Gainsborough and Romney portraits, the Van Dycks and Canalettos, the French rooms, and of course the porcelain. The highlight is Fragonard’s The Swing, which conjures up the 18th century’s let-them-eat-cake frivolity better than any other painting around. Don’t forget to smile back at Frans Hals’s Laughing Cavalier in the Great Gallery or pay your respects to Thomas Sully’s enchanting Queen Victoria, which resides in a rouge-pink salon (just to the right of the main entrance). | Hertford House, Manchester Sq., Marylebone | W1U 3BN | 020/7563–9500 | www.wallacecollection.org | Free | Daily 10–5 | Bond St.
QUICK BITES: The Wallace Restaurant brings the outside in, in the elegant setting of the glass-roofed courtyard of the Wallace Collection. It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, and for dinner on weekends. The brasserie menu highlights French food from pâtés and cheeses to oysters, lobster, and succulent steaks. If you don’t want to indulge your budget too much, you can just linger over coffee or afternoon tea in the gorgeous surroundings. It’s open Sunday–Thursday 10–5, Friday and Saturday 10 am–11 pm.
A TRIP TO ABBEY ROAD
For countless Beatlemaniacs and baby boomers, No. 3 Abbey Road is one of the most beloved