On The Move!

Our last couple of days in London was spent at the British Museum, the Tate Modern (our favorite), the National Portrait Gallery and my friends Lisa, David and Madeleine’s house. The ancient Egyptian floor of the British Museum was particularly interesting and the girls were really taken with the process of mummification. It’s one thing to learn about it in school, it’s another to stand there and stare at the shriveled, preserved remains of an actual mummy. Wait until they get to Egypt! The Tate Modern is one of the hippest museums I’ve ever been in. (For those of you who were aboard the Cuan Law with us in December, the real version of Kandinsky’s “Swingers” is hanging in this gallery and it is stunning and so vibrant in real life – but the puzzle was fun too!) The following day we Tubed over to St. James Park and walked to Buckingham Palace in hopes of seeing the 11:30 changing of the guards. During the off season, the guide books say that the changing of the guard occurs “on some even days, on some odd days, and sometimes every other day!” We couldn’t find the Queen’s cell phone number, so we took a chance – apparently we were there on one of the “off” days because there was no Pomp, and definitely, no Circumstance. Oh well, their loss. We marched ourselves over to The Palace Theatre where Matt proceeded to score us some fabulous tickets to Spamalot. The Palace is a really fun, old theatre and we had one of two viewing boxes in the entire theatre. It was the perfect spot to enjoy this type of show (we felt like royalty – well, at least like one of the Knights That Go Neeght!) and Madeline was in HEAVEN. (she’s our Monty Python fan). The next morning we headed to The National Portrait Gallery where we fully expected to see the portrait of the famed Duke who was beheaded at the Tower and then sewn back together so he could “sit” for his portrait! Guess what, American tourists - can you say urban legend? Hey, it’s not our fault - we believed everything the Yeoman tour guide told us at the Tower of London! No harm – the Portrait Gallery turned out to be an excellent compilation of contemporary photography and self-portrait paintings and we loved the Vanity Fair photography exhibit (especially Alex, our little photographer). We briskly walked through the portrait halls of English royalty and we all agreed there was one common theme – homeliness! Now and then I would spot some really handsome, interesting looking man with a chiseled face and wild, spiky hair, (like Sting!) and I would pause to read about him. Every one of these portraits was either of a composer, painter, scientist or naturalist! I guess that shows you what kind of life I would have had in the days of the Tudors. I would have been “betrothed” to some horrible Duke, had a lusty affair with a naturalist, and upon discovery of such affair, promptly beheaded! Wait, didn’t someone write a book about that?

We ended our London stay with a visit to my friend’s house where her husband, a wonderful Scot named David, made us a traditional English dinner. We walked to the local pub, talked, laughed and caught up on seventeen years! Lisa’s daughter, Madeleine is beautiful, smart and charming and the girls fell in love with her.

Today, February 25th, we’re in Brussels for a quick stop over to Amsterdam. The old part of this city is an architectural wonder. So very pretty. I’ll post more photos later from Amsterdam.
Lisa, Matt and girls