London, baby!

This past weekend Naomi and I were in London, and without the girls (they remained in Brussels with Jenee). Naomi had a conference in London Friday and Saturday, which was the impetus for the weekend getaway. I rolled into London mid-day Saturday, and we connected in time for dinner. I had the afternoon to myself, during which I put on a lot of miles on foot, and also went to the Victoria & Albert Museum, with its stupefyingly large art collections. Naomi and I stayed at a hotel just off of Trafalgar Square; a panel I read in the architecture exhibit in the V&A mentioned that Trafalgar Square (nowhere near the V&A) was the heart of London, which made me feel like we had gotten a great location, even if quite by accident.

Actually it was not so accidental. Naomi's conference was near Trafalgar Square, and we also wanted to be close to the nearby theatre district, where we saw the final production of Avenue Q at the Noël Coward Theatre. It was a cynical, humorous play with human and puppet characters, and the interactions between puppet and puppeteer were quite interesting.

Sunday morning Naomi gave me a whirlwind tour of Kings College, also nearby, and where she spent her junior year of college. The connected buildings of the "campus" were pretty wacky and labyrinthine, although there were some nice spaces. Then we met up for breakfast with Marion and Jonathan, cousins of Naomi that I hadn't previously met. The four of us next proceeded to the Picasso exhibit at the nearby (isn't everything nearby Trafalgar Square? it's the heart of London, you know) National Gallery, an exhibit that highlighted Picasso's artistic relationships to earlier artists.

We parted ways after we finished the exhibit. Naomi and I then walked east along the River Thames to the Tate Modern Art Museum, getting good views of the London Eye and partial views of 30 St Mary Axe ("The Gherkin") along the way. The Tate was large—but not large like the V&A—and the exterior clearly showed the original purpose of the building: power plant. There was a very nice exhibit of cubism, futurism, surrealism, and vorticism (whatever that is). The Picasso and Tate exhibits were actually quite complementary, which added a dimension to our appreciation.

Walking around London, I continually had the feeling that if I stayed in London long enough, I would ineluctably get flattened by a driver who didn't know that the world drives on the right side of the road, for crying out loud. Our final journey within London was from the hotel to the train station, and we made the journey on a double-decker bus. We sat at the front of the top deck, which gave us an outstanding view wherever the bus went.

What did the little girls do back in Brussels while Mommy and Daddy were away? I know that each girl had her respective birthday party to attend over the weekend, but frankly I haven't gotten caught up myself yet!