Drawing to a Close

On Thursday, Tiffany returned from Denmark and Sweden for a day in London before flying back to the US. I knew that she wouldn't arrive until early afternoon, so I went to the Leicester Square area for theatre tickets before going back to the student housing. After we met up, we went to the school to check email and pick up her laptop (which I had offered to store in my locker while she was traveling). Unfortunately, my key wasn't working, but someone was able to let us in; since they couldn't fix the key, I just turned in my building and locker keys and took my laptop to my room (which means I have no wireless connection... though I have gotten net access in my room). With that sorted out, we went to the National Gallery, where I got to take a look at many of the paintings I missed, the bulk of which came from the 18th century (these included Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode series and a couple of Chardins which gave me a new appreciation for the artist [I've seen photocopies, but they didn't do justice to the originals]). After dinner in Leicester Square, we went to a Sainsbury's supermarket and got some cake and other treats for a 'belated birthday party', which was celebrated across the river from Big Ben.

The next day, Tiffany and I met for coffee before she left for the airport. I then left for King's Cross train station, where I caught the train to Cambridge. There were a few mixed-up-ticket woes which made me a bit later, not to mention more frustrated, than I had hoped, but I eventually did make it, and that's the important thing. Once I got to Cambridge, I went to the city's tourist office and caught a tour through the city, including visits to the Trinity College library (which has writings and other 'relics' from Newton, writings by Byron and Winnie the Pooh author Milne, and other rare manuscripts) and King's College chapel. After paying for the tour (I had just made it in time for the tour and didn't have the opportunity to pay beforehand), I had lunch at the Eagle pub, where Watson and Crick celebrated after they had unraveled the structure of the DNA molecule. Finally, I went punting on the river Cam; punting entails navigating a boat with a stick (pushing against the river bottom for speed and tilting it to steer) and is pretty similar to sailing a gondola. Despite a somewhat clumsy start and the fact that I got trapped underneath weeping willows a few times, I had a good time (though I don't know if my muscles did). I caught the next train back to London, where I had just enough time to freshen up before going to the opening night of the Proms (an annual summertime classical music festival) at Royal Albert Hall. The night's program featured music by Russian composers (Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no. 1 in B flat minor, and an arrangement of Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible [for the Eisenstein film]), and it was a great experience to listen to this music in a concert hall, especially one as grand as Royal Albert Hall.

I started out today by going to the Portobello Road antiques market in Notting Hill. Though I wish I had gone a bit earlier, as the crowds can get pretty big, I had a good time, and even got a ceramic jar from the 1890's. I later took the tube over to the Tate Modern, which was an enjoyable and manageable museum (my favortes included the 'primitivism' room, with its familiar Kirchner, and a filmed 'still life' where you see a 'painting' of ripe fruits slowly rot). Once I had perused the galleries, I made my way over to Westminster, where I stood outside Downing Street (#10 is the Prime Minister's residence) and went through the Cabinet War Rooms. I finally walked over to the Leicester area, where I had time to take another look at the National Gallery before going to two shows in a row: the satirical The Madness of George Dubya and the stage production of Chicago.

I've only got one more full day in London (my flight is at 3:00 on Monday), but I feel that I've gotten to just about everything that I've wanted to do. I'll miss wandering around England, but it will be good to see everyone back home and catch up with them.