Looking back on my three+ months in London, I did not see everything I had hoped to see, but I certainly did an amazing amount and I feel very fortunate. It was truly an incredible experience. I read ten books, saw fourteen plays, visited over fifty museums (some more than once) and at least as many restaurants (embarrassing as that is!), went on nine “official” walks and countless unofficial ones, and the list follows. I found it difficult to categorize the various museums and other attractions. I’m not completely satisfied with it but decided to give up. Besides, I have to pack up my laptop now because we leave for the airport at 6AM tomorrow morning.

PLAYS

• Elling
• The Emperor Jones
• The Enchantment
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Country Wife
• Macbeth
• A Disappearing Number
• Rhinoceros
• All About My Mother
• Chicago
• Cloud Nine
• Boeing Boeing
• Billy Elliott
• Bye Bye Reflection

BOOKS

• Shroud for a Nightingale, P.D. James
• Looking for Maya, Atima Srivastava
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence
• Gabriel’s Gift, Hanif Kureishi
• Oranges are not the only Fruit, Jeannette Winterson
• Middlemarch, George Eliot
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
• The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
• The Radiant Way, Margaret Drabble
• Vanity Fair, William Thackeray

ART-SPECIFIC SITES

• National Gallery (x2)
• Camden Arts Center
• Wallace Collection
• Tate Modern (x4 at least)
• Royal Academy
• Queen’s Gallery
• Tate Britain (x3)
• Victoria Miro Gallery
• National Portrait Gallery (x3)
• Dulwich Picture Gallery
• Courtauld Gallery
• Dali Universe
• Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
• Tate Liverpool
• Musee des Beaux Arts de Lyon

HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUMS/PALACES

• Sir John Soane’s Museum (x2)
• Leighton House Museum
• Buckingham Palace state rooms (x2)
• Kenwood House
• Windsor Castle
• Kensington Palace
• Handel House Museum
• Dickens House
• Benjamin Franklin House
• Down House, home of Charles Darwin
• Queen’s House, Greenwich
• Apsley House

OTHER MUSEUMS AND HISTORICAL SITES

• British Museum (x6)
• Jewish Museum
• Palace of Westminster/Houses of Parliament
• Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace
• Victoria & Albert (x2)
• Banqueting House
• Clink Prison Museum
• Imperial War Museum
• Natural History Museum
• Exeter College, Oxford
• Christ Church College, Oxford
• Canada House
• Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
• Wellcome Collection
• Gilbert Collection
• Sorrell Foundation Young Design Centre
• Tower Bridge Exhibition
• Design Museum
• City Hall
• Wigmore Hall (x2)
• Tower of London
• London Eye (x2)
• Shakespeare’s Globe
• Foundling Museum
• Geffrye Museum
• Wellington Arch
• London Transport Museum
• Musee Gallo Romain, Lyon

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Thames River cruise (x3)
• Regent’s Canal boat cruise
• Groucho Club
• Jane Austen Centre
• London Silver Vaults (x2)
• Harrod’s (x2)
• Oxford Street (Primark)
• Magical Mystery Tour, Liverpool
• The Beatles Story, Liverpool
• Princess Diana Memorial Fountain
• Trafalgar Square
• Horse Guards Parade
• Covent Garden
• British Library (x2)

WALKS

• Marylebone walk (Walking London book)
• Westminster and St. James’s walk ( Walking London)
• Chelsea walking tour with Richard
• Kensington Walk (in Walking London book)
• Islington Spur walk (Walking London)
• City Walk (Rick Steves’s book)
• Abbey Road/Soho (Gord)
• Central Parks (Walking London)
• Old Kensington Walk (guided)

PARKS

• St. James’s Park
• Green Park
• Hyde Park
• Kensington Gardens
• Battersea Park
• Hampstead Heath/Parliament Hill
• Regent’s Park/Primrose Hill
• Rooftop Garden

CHURCHES/CATHEDRALS

• St. Paul’s Cathedral (x2)
• Southwark Cathedral
• St. Mary Abbots Church lunch concert (x4)
• St. Alfege Church, Greenwich
• St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church (x2)
• St. Bride’s Church
• Westminster Abbey (x2)
• Temple Church (outside only)
• Cathedrale Notre Dame, Paris
• Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourviere, Lyon

TRIPS

• Avebury and Stonehenge
• Bath
• Oxford
• Liverpool
• Greenwich
• Windsor
• Kew Gardens/Henry Moore
• France (Lyon and Paris)

MARKETS

• Portobello Market (x4)
• Petticoat Lane (x3)
• Spitalfields Market (x3
• Sunday Upmarket (x2)
• Brick Lane (x3)
• Borough Market (x2)

EVENTS

• Regent Street Festival
• Changing of the Guards (x2)
• BBC Proms
• Football game a Fulham Football Club (against the Blackburn Rovers)
• Origins (Somerset House design show and sale)
• Fireworks on the Thames
• Kensington Town Hall Christmas Fair

RESTAURANTS

• Bombay Spice
• Porter’s English Restaurant and Bar
• Cipolla di Hanna
• The Apollo
• Original Tangines*
• Belgo* (x2)
• Patisserie Valerie (several times)
• Ravi Shankar restaurant
• Chinese Experience
• Giraffe (x2)
• Ooze*
• Wagamama* (several times)
• Dino’s
• Milburne
• The Red Lion, Avebury
• Top of the Town
• Papaya Tree
• Al Tanoor
• Geales
• National Gallery
• Café Rouge
• Tate Britain Café
• Greenwich market
• Tequila
• Est Est Est, Liverpool*
• Spice Lounge, Liverpool
• La Crepe Rit, Liverpool
• Ranoush
• Churchill Arms/Churchill Thai Kitchen* (x3)
• Hobgoblin, New Cross
• Budgens
• The Anchor and The Hope*
• Maggie Jones* (x3)
• Borough Market
• Ayoush
• Tamarind
• Romano’s
• Sticky Fingers
• Meza
• Veeraswamy*
• Zaika* (x2)
• Pizza Express
• Balans (x2)
• Sugo Tre (x2)
• Elephant & Castle* (several times)
• Timo*
• The Chauncery*
• Carluccios
• Villandry
• Costa’s Fish Restaurant
• The Orangery at Kensington Palace*
• Verdi’s
• Le Sud (Paul Bocuse), Lyon*
• Le Gourmand de Saint Jean, Lyon*
• La Closerie des Lilas, Paris*
• Angelina’s, Paris*
• La Belle Ronde, Paris

*indicates a particular favorite

Thank you everyone for your support. I really couldn't have done this alone. See you all soon!

Yesterday we basically stayed home. I have accumulated a lot of brochures and flyers on places I had visited, and I had to go through all of it to see what I wanted to keep. Fortunately I was able to recycle most of it. We went to nearby Zaika for lunch. I continued going through our "stuff" and packing what I could. I did a load of laundry but when I went to use the dryer it wouldn't turn on. After reading the instruction booklet and trouble-shooting to no avail, Gord sent off an email to our landlords while I hung the clothes to air dry. Thank goodness this wasn't the night before we were leaving. The problem isn't our clothes so much as our sheets and towels. We have paid for the flat to be cleaned the day we leave and this includes washing the aforesaid items. While we were eating the simple dinner I prepared, the landlords called. They wanted us to call the repair place listed in our instructions. It was now almost eight so it would have to wait until the next day (Friday).

* * *

Today I spent the morning finishing up The Radiant Way while Gord continued to mark papers. Gord and I went downstairs to have one last brunch at the patisserie (eggs this time, no pastries). Then a student stopped by to finish up a project. I packed some more and then we headed over to St. Mary Abbots Church for one final Lunchtime Concert. We heard a pianist tackle Claude Debussy's Images, Deuxieme Serie, followed by Chopin's Ballade in F minor. op 52. She played the Debussy very softly and I found I was quite distracted by the children playing in the nearby schoolyard and the occasional blaring of police sirens. It was better when the violinist and another pianist played Tchaikovsky's Scherzo and Melody, and Fritz Kreisler's Rondo, based on Mozart's Haffner serenade.

I then walked over to return my books to the library. Sadly, I relinquished my card and am a member no more. I stopped at the Boots drug store and at Marks & Spencer where I bought some socks. I suppose I could have waited until I got home to make the purchase.

We then met the students and institute administrators at the London Eye. It was a beautiful clear night (albeit windy and cold), and the views were spectacular. From there we walked to Balans, a restaurant in Soho for a very nice farewell dinner given by the institute. Some of the adults later walked over to a place on Charlotte Street for some more wine. Actually I think our goal was to visit some more, but the place was quite noisy, making it difficult to carry on much of a conversation. We were home fairly early.

Reading: Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

Yesterday I did some shopping and worked on packing, and that was about it.

Today I headed over to the institute where Gord teaches to hear Phyllis give a brown bag presentation on Jane Austen. I most definitely have to reread Austen's works and will work on that when I get back home. I think I'll read them in the order they were written this time. Gord had to meet a couple of students and so I wandered over to a small shopping street nearby to wait for him. There I found an eyeglass store and I left with a new pair of frames! I just need to get the lenses when I get home. (I hope I still like them when I get back.)

Tom and Jill and Jess came over for some wine and nibbles and then the five of us went out to an Italian restaurant down the street. Tom and Gord wanted to take Jess (the RA) out to thank her for all that she had done this semester. We had a nice time. Jess headed back to the residence hall for Wednesday night study break--tonight they were going to make gingerbread houses. The rest of us went to our pub, the Elephant and Castle, for a last drink.

The rest of the week is supposed to be rainy. Good packing weather.

I was at King's Cross Station at 8 AM only to discover that a round trip ticket to York would be 185 pounds. If I waited until 9:30 it would be 75 pounds. My book said it was 9.50 each way so I was not expecting that news. I was told that if I had booked it three weeks in advance it would have been much less. Well, I just couldn't justify that kind of money. So I will go to York on another trip to the UK. A little disappointing, but I got over it. :)

I looked in the WH Smith bookstore at the train station and then walked around Islington for much of the morning, looking in stores, making some small purchases. I talked to this old tailor for quite a while, while looking at the scarves he sold in the shop that he has had for 36 years. We talked about retirement. He doesn't know what he would do if he retired (and I'm sure he was eligible about 15 years ago!)--he works seven days a week. He thinks people are very lazy nowadays and rude to boot. Not like the old days.

I then went to the British Museum to try to get down to their basement rooms but they were closed again. I talked to some guards who said they would be closed until February. A little disappointing, but I got over it. Took some final photos of the Great Court.

I then went to the Portrait Gallery to see the Photographic Portrait Prize 2007 exhibition. This annual exhibition presents sixty photographs by amateurs, professionals, and photojournalists whose works were selected from 7,000 entries in an open competition. It was quite good and definitely worth a visit (and the price was right, too--only one pound).

I stopped at the Gloucester Road Waitrose for some supplements to the dinner I had planned, because I thought Debbie was coming over, but then she had to cancel at the last minute. I don't know how we're going to eat all the food we have accumulated. I wonder if the landlords, who arrive two days after we leave, like oatmeal and rice and tea?

Man, I've done a number on my feet and joints this trip. I wonder if orthotics and glucosamine are in order. . . .

Today Gord and I went to the "Sunday Morning Coffee Concert at Wigmore Hall" where we heard the Arcanto Quartet. They played Puccini's Crisantemi, Beethoven's String Quartet in F minor Op. 95 "Serioso", and Bartok's String Quartet No. 6. And they played beautifully. The Bartok was particularly difficult, but the performance was wonderful (perhaps because they recently released a recording of it?). I was not familiar with this, his last, string quartet, but it was very recognizable as Bartok. And what an interesting ending--so quiet, not your typical, obvious ending. For the after-concert refreshments, we opted for the sherry instead of the coffee or juice. After all it was past noon!

We spent the afternoon quietly at home, Gord marking papers and me back working on the inventory list which I had put aside weeks ago. See? I'm taking my new approach to my last week very seriously. I don't have to see everything. I'll be back someday. Relax, enjoy, reflect.

Then Jo, down from Manchester for a seminar, came over for dinner. We had a very nice visit. I am regretting that I never got up to Manchester. But, I WILL get back someday.

As I sit writing this, I can hear the wind picking up outside. It's actually quite loud. But tomorrow is supposed to be the nicest day this week, cold but partly sunny. Cold, I suppose, is a relative term to those of you in the northeast. You would probably enjoy some weather in the low 40s about now.

My plan for tomorrow is to take an early fast train up to York. It's 195 miles north of London, about the same distance as Saratoga to NYC, but you can get up there in two hours--an easy day trip. And it is still consistent with my plan to relax a little (although Gord isn't quite convinced!). I will have four hours of reading time on the train and another four to six hours exploring this medieval walled city and its Minster. It sounds perfect to me.

This morning, Phyllis, Gord and I took a train to Orpington, then a bus to Down House, the home of Charles Darwin. He and his wife Emma lived in the expansive home for forty years, and they raised their family there, eight of the ten surviving to adulthood. This is where he wrote On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, as well as his other books. The rooms have been nicely restored and, with the help of the audio guide narrated by Sir David Attenborough, one got a good sense of who Darwin was, including as a father. (I can't imagine his children running throughout the house and interrupting him while he was trying to write and do research.) The grounds were beautifully maintained and I only wish I could see it again when the flowers are in bloom and when it wasn't so cold. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

We returned back to London and parted company with Phyllis at Victoria Station. Then Gord and I went out to Hammersmith to meet up with Jen et al. at the Riverside Studios to see a Butoh piece called Bye Bye Reflection by one of Japan's leading physical theatre companies. I'm not sure what to say about it other than it was very powerful and violent. I was unfamiliar with Butoh as a form. This piece was billed as a critical portrait of war, violence and prejudice, inspired by 9/11. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I heard rumours of rock music and strobe lights, none of which happened in the 70-minute piece. In fact, it was quiet for most of the performance and the performers moved very slowly and precisely. Occasionally a performer would emit these powerful cries of anguish from their very depths that were quite disturbing. I went with it, not truly understanding it, but it helped to hear the discussions afterward by Jen, Josh and some other theatre aficionados who were in attendance.

I'm going to be perfectly honest. I had a lovely day, a wonderful meal, drank a little too much wine, and I'd love nothing better than to go to bed right now because it's 12:40AM and I'm tired and I have a full day tomorrow. But there's this darn blog. . . ! So instead I'm going to spend at least an hour cranking out an entry. (Do you sense that I'll be happy to be done with it?!)

Anyway, today I took a train out to West Dulwich and then walked to the Dulwich Picture Gallery, which has been on my list from the beginning. I was excited to see it because The Hyde loaned a Winslow Homer painting for an exhibition here a couple of years ago (I mistakenly thought it was Hassam's Geraniums when I mentioned it in an earlier blog entry), and also because Sir John Soane designed the building, and also because they have some Rubens and Rembrandts and van Dycks and Gainsboroughs and many, many more artists' paintings in their permanent collection. They also had a special exhibition, The Age of Enchantment: Beardsley, Dulac and their Contemporaries 1890-1930 about the Golden Age of illustration. Did you know that Aubrey Beardsley died at the age of 25? Just think of how much more he could have produced had he lived longer. This exhibition had 145 pieces by artists with whom I was familiar as well as new artists, and it was much more interesting than I was expecting. The works were displayed in such a way that you could get up very close to most of them, many of them very detailed pen and ink drawings, or watercolours. In addition to Beardsley, the artists who were represented here included Kay Nielsen, Laurence Housman, Charles Ricketts, Edmund Dulac, Sidney Sime, Harry Clarke, Jessie King, Annie French, Arthur Rackham, Charles Robinson, Willy Pogany, Alastair, Daisy Makeig-Jones, and the twins Charles Maurice Detmold and Edward Julius Detmold.

I met my friend Jen in their nice little cafe where we had a leisurely lunch. Among other things, we talked through my need to complete my list, my fears that I won't have the opportunity to get back here very soon, and Jen convinced me that of course I'll get back and that I should just enjoy my last week here, and do fun things. I suddenly got what she was saying! With the visit to Dulwich, I've basically covered all of the most important items on my list. I'm not going to finish and IT'S OKAY. It was very liberating. Thank you, Jen, for that. I needed someone to point the obvious out to me.

When I went to get my coat to leave, I discovered a little chapel attached to the museum that hadn't been open earlier. It was called Christ's Chapel and I just had to go in and have a look. We then walked to the North Dulwich train station, stopping in some little shops along the way, and parted company. What a nice little village...so different from London and yet so close. Jen also mentioned how nice York is, and I think I may just do a day trip there next week.

Home at 5:30. Phyllis, visiting from Skidmore, came over for wine and cheese and the three of us went to dinner at a wonderful little Italian restaurant, Timo, down 3/4 of a mile on the High Street. I only wish we had discovered it sooner. (I think we might even have closed the place!)

Tomorrow we had planned to go to Hampton Court Palace, but after talking to Jen I decided it could wait. Then at dinner we found out that Phyllis was headed out of town in the morning to visit Darwin's house and decided she needed company. We made plans to meet her at King's Cross station. And so it goes.

It's after 1:30, and I'm off to bed. 'Night all. Sweet dreams.

And wedding congratulations to Thomas and Annie!