London

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to London two days in a row. On Friday, I met up with my former boss from Papyrus (she now lives just outside London) and we went out to Hampstead Heath. The Heath, as I have been told locals call it, is a large park in the northern section of the city. We walked up to an estate and wandered along paths that went through fields and forests. It was very pretty and relaxing, so much so that it was easy to forget that we were still technically in the city limits!

The next day I went back into London and hit a few museums during the day. I started out at the British Museum and was there when it opened. Besides revisiting the Elgin Marbles and the Egyptian collection, I made time to extensively look at the Greek pottery exhibit. The last time I was there it was closed off, so you all can imagine my delight when I saw the rope pulled back. The lady guarding it was happily reading a newspaper when I arrived and I think she was  bit grumpy that I made her work. She put her paper down and followed me around for a bit, impatiently pacing about ten feet away from me. A few other people came upstairs and annoyed me because they wanted to look at what I was looking at. Out of this entire gallery you two also want to look at this kylix with an Amazon on it? I doubt it! Herd mentality at its best! The same thing happened when I was crouched on the floor looking up to see the paintings on the side of a vessel with a symposium scene. Sure enough, I had another group right behind me doing the same thing to the same piece. Baaa! Baaa! When I was crouching down I freaked out the museum guard — she was on my case again pretty quickly before she realized that I was just taking photographs.

Next up was the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. Both were pretty crowded. I’d been to the National Gallery before, so I quickly ran through and just stopped to see the paintings that interested me, especially this one of the Execution of Lady Jane Grey. The National Portrait Gallery was new for me, but I wasn’t very impressed. There were a lot of modern photographs on the first floor, and my attention wasn’t grabbed until I stumbled upon the royal portrait galleries where I spied some iconic pieces, such as this one of Henry VIII and this one of Elizabeth I.

After a short lunch break, I wandered around streets near Piccadilly Circus before ending up in Covent Garden. The real purpose of this trip into London was to see “La Traviata” at the Royal Opera House. My “seat” was in the standing section, so I plunked down on the floor during the intermissions to give my legs a rest. The opera was sung really well and it was a treat to go.

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