The plan was to visit the Royal Academy, then do one of the Islington walks, before meeting up with Gord at 4:00 (or I should say 16:00). But . . . there was this outdoor flea market on the way to the Academy and . . . well, you can probably guess the rest. I spent a long time looking but made no purchases. It turned out to be Press Day at the Academy for an exhibition that is due to open tomorrow, but I think most of the press were up in the exhibition I was in, Impressionists by the Sea, because it was VERY crowded. (I thought that if they were up there I should be allowed into the other one, but the guy guarding the entrance to that exhibition had the nerve to tell me otherwise!) I don't blame the press for being there, as it was a very nice "hang" (a word a docent later kept using, as in "when they put up the new hang"). There were five rooms devoted to exploring the painting of the northern French coast between the 1850s and the 1890s, including works by Boudin, Courbet, Monet, Manet, Whistler, Gauguin, Renoir, and Cassatt. I looked at it for about 45 minutes and then went back later for a very nice docent tour. In between I took a tour of the newly restored John Madejski Fine Rooms, filled with portraits, and learned about the history of the Academy and about Palladian architecture.

The Academy is located in Burlington House and next door is the Burlington Arcade which just happens to be where Laduree is. Well I have so far been able to pass up the pastries at the patisserie below our flat but, I have to confess, I could not pass up buying macaroons at Laduree this afternoon (but at $2 a pop it will be my last time . . . at least until I get to Paris!--and to be honest when I tasted them at home several hours later they weren't as good as I remembered them).

I was meeting Gord at the British Library and there was no time to fit in the Islington Walk. I got on the subway (the Underground as it is affectionately called here) at Picadilly Circus and as we were approaching the Holborn stop they announced that they wouldn't be stopping there because of a security alert. That's fine except that they also said the station had been evacuated. SO WHY WERE WE PASSING THROUGH THERE? I wondered. Well, obviously we made it through just fine but it seemed to take a very long time, with the train slowing down to a crawl.

But do you want to know the really interesting thing? With my life about to end, did I think about my family--my kids, my husband, parents, siblings--and my friends? No . . . I thought about this damn blog and how I could start out today's entry! (Now before you start wondering about my priorities, I want you to know that I really wasn't thinking that my life was about to end . . . only a very small glimmer of a thought in the very back of my mind was entertaining the possibility of that happening. But it did get me thinking. This blog is taking over my life. Am I doing all of these things here in London because I have to for the blog? Because I've now set a pace that I have to live up to? But no, I did the same thing when we were here in 1996 and I didn't have a blog then. I really am doing all of these things because I want to, not because I have to. So I'm glad we got that straightened out. I feel much better now.)

I met Gord at the British Library, got a quick tour, and bought some books in their shop (so much for my library card and not buying books!). I'll have to get back there to visit their Sir John Ritblat Gallery to see the manuscripts and documents they have on display. (I remember when it was part of the British Museum, Gord and I thought we could whiz through that section before we got to the other parts, and we ended up in there for three hours!). We then walked to Drummond Street for some Indian food. When we got back home, Gord thought it would be nice to visit our pub, but when we walked down there it was so crowded we couldn't stay. We'll have to make sure we get there early tomorrow . . .