I’m writing this at my desk in our flat. We are deeply grateful that we have been able to travel during our sabbatical. It is something I’ve always wanted to do and it is a joy. I have visited all of the major museums in the cities in which we have focused our travel and have been able to see so much of what I had previously only read about in the Bible. Now when I return to Israel I have seen those things that were there.
It is in the low 60’s here. The day has been cool and wet but not disappointing. Last night in a two hour period London had 2 inches of rain. That was a record for this time of the year and equals their average for the month.
We began today at the Courtaud Gallery which is a part of the Somerset House along the Strand. Although the gallery is small their collection is significant majoring in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. They have the Van Gogh self- portrait in their collection. Their other stars are Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne and Gauguin. We spent more time than normal because we sat for several minutes with a dozen of the paintings.
Our next stop required catching the 11 bus nearly in front of the museum and riding it to St Paul’s Cathedral. We stopped at GBK ( Gourmet Burger Kitchen) for lunch. We ate there last week and it was good enough to try again.
Lunch completed we then walked down to the Thames and walked across on the Millennium Bridge (people bridge) to the Tate Modern.
Although modernism is a bit beyond me we thought it would be a good experience and it was. We treated ourselves to afternoon tea in the Tate’s cafeteria substituting coffee for tea.
We endured the rain and made our way from the Tate Modern back across the Thames and back up to St. Paul’s. We caught the 11 bus and rode it back to Victoria Station.