Handel's house

Another Saturday has come and gone. Since we've been to most of the major museums in London we have moved on to the slightly smaller and more obscure sights, discovering some interesting gems. Today we went to a fairly new museum (opened in 2001) that is set in the bachelor pad that George Frideric Handel lived in for the last 35 years of his life. It's a Georgian townhouse at 25 Brook Street in the Bond/Oxford area and it's a great little museum staffed by friendly volunteers. Handel lived in the house from 1723 til his death in 1759. It's an amazing place to visit as Handel composed most of his work after 1723 in the house itself (in the tiny composition room) and rehearsed with many of the top singers and performers in Europe in the rehearsal room. It's a modest space but you can imagine a workaholic bachelor living there, and the history of the place makes it well worth a visit, particularly if you are a fan of Handel's music. (An interesting aside is that in the 60's Jimi Hendrix lived in the flat next door!) The museum reminded me a lot of the Mozart house museum that I went to in Vienna this past summer (although Mozart certainly didn't live at that address nearly as long as Handel lived in this house in London). It really brings the composers alive to imagine them living and working within these spaces.

To continue on with our music-themed afternoon we went to Denmark Street in Soho, once considered the "tin pan alley of London". We had a nice time looking at all the specialist guitar shops (including the "Bass Cellar" and a store specializing in vintage guitars). So as not to walk away totally empty-handed, Keith bought some new guitar picks.