Post-by
Copy-pasting from my iPAQ (the handheld computer, the pocket pc, the light of my life and fire of my loins):
Aw, London. Sprawling and crowded, overpriced everywhere but in fresh produce markets & Desi restaurants in Brick Lane, but also familiar, welcoming, and warm in the literal and metaphorical sense, with lovely friends old & new, and could this any more sound like a mix between a travel report and a Hallmark card?
So, the day, what I did, during:
1. Met up with a dear friend working at the BBC. Mostly, we had lunch, but I also took a photo of the Dalek in the front lobby and a look at the studios. Speaking of, am I the only one who thinks calling a show "Golden Balls" conjures up the next Austin Powers movie?
2. Headed over to Marylebone and The Wallace Collection, an old London townhouse chock-full of paintings, furniture, and assorted art. Nice re-arrangement and display, opulent but diverse, perhaps with a bit too much attention to the individual exhibition piece and not the whole (I didn't have time for the audio tour, though; may have been more comprehensive). My mother would have loved the Large Dining Room with its walls of dark green and golden silk, so I wanted to snap a picture, but unfortunately, one of the wardens caught me in flagrante delicto.
Also, my affection for classical paintings from could be less than 100% about aesthetics, involve a certain Greek youth too too fond of his reflection on the water's surface: The nude girls and women depicted look a lot like me -- not short but not tall either, in possession of slim waists and defined hips, not to mention those luscious locks and thighs and pale skin. Sure, mine isn´t quite so luminous, and I neither lounge around with 1+ of my pointed little breasts uncovered nor wear fig leaves in lieu of underwear, but hey. And they obviously don´t work out and have no stomach or arm musculature. Guess it pleased me to see yet again that there were other beauty standards, gorgeous women through the centuries who didn´t all look like Gwyneth Paltrow. (Yes, watched Iron Man with the girls yesterday, why do you ask? More on that later, if you want.)
3. Tried to reach the Serpentine Gallery in a) Hyde Park & b) time; no such luck with the latter. Going straight to the next Tube during rush hour wasn´t a good idea, though. So, I took the long way home -- the route of the least interchanges, all the way through Hyde Park & Green Park. First, I was pleased to note it took me only 40 minutes. Second, it occurred to me that that making a stroll through the park an extreme sport had probably not been in the brochure.
On my way home again, actually: ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
kangeiko will be cookin´ a nice red Thai curry for us. I´m bringing the chicken. Already feeling all manly, rowr.
