The Chelsea: London's Riverside Village Walk

Here is the shale of the past, locked in the embrace of the Thames is one of the grand set-pieces of London architecture: Wren's Royal Hospital where the "pensioners" - old soldiers - are resplendent in 300-year-old scarlet uniforms, the garb of British soldiers - Redcoats - in the 17th-century. Here is Whistler's Thames - best seen in the afternoon with the sun like a blob of melted butter burnishing the luminous water. Here is Sir Laurence Olivier's house - and Carlyle's - and Mick Jagger's - and Oscar Wilde's "Tower of Ivory" - for these village streets are as clamorous with great names as rooks in a wood. Here are artists' studios and the ancient Apothecary Garden that changed the course of American history and Sir Thomas More's church and Crosby Hall. N.B., this walk is substantially different from the Old Chelsea Village Pub Walk on Sunday nights.