Italy and London: October 2003

I had first gone to London the year before and enjoyed the city so much I returned on my own the next year. I decided that when I went to visit Peggy that year, I would stop off in London on the way home. To fly on the very affordable Ryanair, you have to fly between Pisa and London's Stansted Airport, but international flights from the US always fly into London's Heathrow. And local flights between cities in Europe also fly through London's Gatwick Airport. So I ended up booking my flight from Boston to Heathrow, then Gatwick to Pisa on British Airways, then for the return from Pisa to Stansted On Ryanair and then a few days later from Heathrow to Boston on British Airways. I was amazed at how easy it all was to do on the internet.

This was the first time I flew British Airways and I was very happy with the experience, particularly in comparison to my experience the year before on Air France. I flew British Airways again in 2007 and again it went well. In 2003, I flew on a jumbo jet, the 747. It's a big plane, with four engines, with the upper deck for First Class. Economy is configured 3-4-3, and each seat had it's own TV for entertainment. When I'm not watching a movie, I watch the screen that tells you the status of the plane – how long it's been flying, time to destination, altitude, speed. I was pretty amazed to see that as the 747 is coming in for a landing and is still a few thousand feet up in the air, it is only going something like 150mph. I thought a plane would stall going that slow, or a plane that big would fall out of the sky, but I guess not. I had a movie, dinner, a nap, breakfast, and then you're pretty much there. The flight from Boston to London is only about five and ¾ hours so it doesn't seem that long.

After landing at Heathrow, I went through Passport Control, got my bag, went through the exit, cross one street and there was Bus Stop 13. Next to it was the ticket office for the National Express Bus Service, just like the info on the internet said. I bought a ticket for Gatwick Airport for 17 pounds. The bus arrived in 15 minutes. My plane had landed at Heathrow at 5:00 a.m. and I was boarding the bus at 6:15. The bus ride was actually a little boring because it was still dark out so I couldn't look at the countryside for the ride. But as we approached Gatwick, it started to get light and I could see sheep grazing in the fields.The bus arrived at Gatwick at about 7:05 a.m. There were plenty of shops to check out during the layover, and I also bought a cup of hot chocolate. I checked my bag through to Pisa and then headed for the Gate. We took off about 8:50 a.m. and the flight is only about 1.5 hours; it arrived in Pisa at 11:30 a.m. local time (London is an hour earlier than Italy). I had been sitting in the front in Row 5 and only had my backpack, coat and magazine so I was able to get off the plane pretty much the minute they opened the door.

After I got my luggage, I headed down the hallway to go out into the airport and I could see Peggy and Al waving to me through the door. I knew Gianluca had something going on at church so he wasn't going to be there to meet me but, much to my surprise, when Peggy came around from behind some people, I could see that she was carrying little Sammy! They brought him to the airport to meet me! Sammy was the new puppy they got just the month before. I was surprised they could bring a dog inside the airport. He was so adorable, immediately licking my hands and face. I thought he had the cutest face, a perfect beagle face, with his black and white and brown coloring. He was so little, a little baby still. We walked a little in the airport and outside, then headed to the car for the ride to Peggy's. Sammy rides in the back of the car but he whines a bit at first, because he always likes to be with people and I think he was lonely back there. But then he went to sleep.

I had arrived on Sunday, 10/19/03. This was a quiet visit this year, hanging around the house, shopping, bonding with Sammy, going to see Gianluca in swimming class, having fun with cooking. But on Wednesday, we did let Gianluca, who is very interested in WWII, take a day off from school so we could go and visit the Florence American Cemetery. There are 4,402 American WWII soldiers buried here. The existence of this place was a surprise to me. I thought the only cemetery in Europe with a lot of Americans buried in it was the one in Normandy, France. I was impressed with how well kept it was. The grounds and trees are very well tended and the grass all green. There are all different kinds of trees, and I wondered if there were so many different ones because they were trees from away, from the homes of all the soldiers, because these soldiers were buried on foreign soil rather than being sent home. There are lots of wooden benches for visitors to sit on and reflect. The memorial at the top of the cemetery has a big mosaic map of Europe showing the Allied advance, and a wall with all the names of the men buried here, rows and rows of white crosses, just so many of them. It is sad to see. But it is a very peaceful place. From the memorial, you look down on the cemetery and have a beautiful view of the mountains. I thought that when these poor men died, it must have been noisy and scary and crazy, but now they have a nice quiet and peaceful place to rest forever.


Gianlu, at the Florence American Cemetery

After the cemetery, we went to the top of the mountain at Old Montecatini, again a gorgeous view. Then we visited the Montecatini Spa where they have the supposed healthful mineral waters, which taste awful, but it is a pretty place.

On Friday, Peg and I went into Florence to visit the Laurentian Library, most of which was designed by Michelangelo. The vestibule is strange – the stairs are nice, curving, but it is very dark intentionally. Maybe he wanted darkness before entering the library and becoming enlightened by knowledge. Up on the wall there are false windows and partial columns that don't go all the way to the floor. It's a strange room.


Vestibule at Laurentian Library

The Library

Inside the library is row after row of desks that are large because this is where you would read large manuscripts. What was unusual in the room was the walnut ceiling. If you have been to Italy, then you have seen many beautiful painted or frescoed ceilings, but in Italy, it is strange to see a wooden ceiling. Having said that, I just saw another one this past August when we visited the Museum of Palazzo Davanzati, a medieval home in Florence. Anyway, maybe after the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo might have thought "been there, done that" and wanted to do something different, like make a ceiling of wood. Actually, someone else made it, but the design was Michelangelo's. After lunch, we went over to Palazzo Pitti and visited an exhibit about the Medici jewels. I never tire of gazing at real jewels.

On Saturday, I left for London. Got up at 8:00 a.m., and Sammy had a little nap in my lap. We got some pastry at Papillon, and then went off to the airport at Pisa. Sammy gave me some kisses goodbye. While there had been some notice of a strike, I got lucky and the Ryanair flight left for London at 3:15 p.m. and landed at Stansted about 4:10 p.m. I gained an extra hour from Italy to London. After again going through Passport Control and getting my luggage, a sandwich and water, I headed to a counter to buy a ticket for the Stansted Express train into London and found that it wasn't running because they were working on the tracks or something. But they did have a replacement bus to take us to Liverpool St. Station. It took almost an hour, leaving Stansted at about 5:15 p.m. and arriving at Liverpool St. about 6:10 p.m. As we had seen the year before in London, the city traffic is quite bad and it got very slow at the end, with the shortest distance in the city taking the longest time to travel.

Liverpool St. Station is very big and there were a ton of the black London cabs out front. With my suitcase and it being 6:30 p.m. and starting to get dark, I thought I would take a cab to the hotel but the cabbie told me it would cost 20 pounds! At that time, that was about $35 and I didn't want to spend that much, just didn't seem justified. So I opted to take the train for 1.60 pounds, even though I'd have to schlep my luggage. Just like the year before when I was impressed by how nice the people working for the Tube were, I went to a ticket window in the station and asked the woman there what was the best way for me to get to my hotel. She was very friendly and gave me the best route she thought I should take since I had luggage – what stations are easiest when handling a bag and less crowded. So she sent me on my way and I took the Central Line (yellow) to Oxford Circus, changed to the Bakerloo (brown) and then on to Paddington.

Paddington Station was only a block from my hotel, and I arrived there a little bit after 7:00 p.m. My hotel, the Norfolk Plaza Hotel, wasn't the greatest but it wasn't that bad. It was on a street that was lined up and down on both sides with small hotels and buildings that are all connected to each other like rowhouses. The hallways were narrow and the elevators tiny. This has been my experience with most hotels I have stayed in in Europe. Course, I don't stay in expensive 5-star hotels. But the hotels in Europe are just not like in the US. Everything in the US is bigger and roomier and even a lot of average hotels have pools. Anyway, even on a budget, the most important thing to me in a European hotel is having my own bathroom. While the room was basically only a little bigger than the bed – a double-bed with a little room on each side to fit little nightstands and a small TV and counter at the foot of the bed, it did have it's own bathroom including a tub and shower. What more could you want, right? And it came with the free breakfast.

On Sunday, 10/26/03, I woke up a bit tired because my neighbors had been noisy, running up and down the halls till 1:30 in the morning. They had started Daylight Savings Time in England though, so I got another hour to work with. I decided to visit the Hampton Court Palace on this day and stayed there for five hours, all day. After breakfast, I headed back to Paddington Station. Paddington is one of the stations that connects to other train services including the National Rail, which is like the commuter rail to the suburbs, and also the Heathrow Express train direct to the airport. This is why I opted for a hotel a block away, just a real timesaver no matter where I wanted to go. I bought a ticket for the National Rail Southwest out to Hampton Court Palace, which was about a half hour ride and then a very short walk from the station.

Hampton Court Palace is huge and has a mixture of architectural styles which tell the story of who was living there and when. Upon arriving, you enter through the old Tudor part of the palace, from the days of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey (first half of the 1500's). Then there is the newer Christopher Wren designed sections for William and Mary, who began ruling England in 1689. Wren also designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London. There are many Wren buildings in London because much of it burned in the Great Fire of 1666, and this was the same time that he was working as an architect. Hampton Court Palace has several courtyards and my favorites were the Clock Court and the Fountain court. The Clock Court has a great beautiful clock made in 1540 for Henry VIII. This is called an Astonomical Clock and it shows the hour, month, day, and number of days since the beginning of the year, as well as the phases of the moon. On it, the sun revolves around the Earth, since the clock was designed before they knew any better. This courtyard is the Tudor style. The Fountain Court was designed by Christopher Wren for King William. There are so many windows which would have brought a lot of light into the rooms, with very green and well tended grass and a fountain. A walk around here would be very pleasant on a nice day, and I imagined Tudor courtiers strolling in front of me. A vestibule leads out to the East Front and the gardens.


Clock Court

Fountain Court

I opted for the audio tour and started with the Tudor Kitchens. These are set up as if the servants are in the process of preparing food for a big feast. The kitchens had to cater to a household of about 600 people when Cardinal Wolsey lived there, and then about 1,200 when King Henry VIII brought the Court there. This was Wolsey's home first, which he spent a lot of time and money turning into the most lavish palace in the Court at the time. But when he began to fall from favor, Henry VIII took it over for himself. A King can do whatever he wants. The Tudor Kitchens were fascinating to me because I wanted to know how they prepared such large amounts and varieties of foods back in the days before the technology and tools that we have today. It took large fireplaces and a lot of staff, and menus changed depending on the seasons because a lot of the food came from the lands around the palace, which also belonged to the King, and also was bought from local farmers. There was the Boiling House which included a butchery to prepare meats and poultry for boiling into stews. There was a Fish Court where saltwater fish was delivered and stored. Fresh fish was kept alive in the palace ponds until they wanted to eat them. There was a Spicery for storing spices, a Pastry House which made the pastry crusts and cases for the meat pies and things like that. The Great Kitchen was run by the Master Cook who had about 12 other cooks and 12 assistants. The kitchens have great fireplaces where all the foods were cooked. They then went out to the Dressers which are the rooms where the plates would be dressed and garnished. This is where, for example, they would put the skin and feathers of a peacock back over the cooked bird (sounds appetizing, eh?) They also made marzipan desserts in the shape of St. Paul's Cathedral or a fort with turrets and cannons. The Tudor Court drank about 300 barrels of ale and almost that much wine so there were three cellars where it was all stored. What did they eat? Meat – a lot of meat, fruits and vegetables in summer, a lot of fish for religious reasons, but meat made up about 75% of the Tudor diet. They ate oxen, sheep, deer, calves, pigs and wild boar. They also ate poultry and ate many different kinds – larks, swans, peacocks, chickens, sparrows and quails. A lot of the meat and poultry was roasted and some was boiled or turned into pies. Most Tudor food was served with sauces flavored with herbs and spices, and also every meal included bread baked daily. Pottage was a thick broth made with meat, meat stock and thickened with herbs and cereals like oatmeal or barley. Meals on a feast day would include desserts such as fruits or custards. Tudors drank wine and ale rather than water or milk, though these were available. The members of the Court were all the people who worked for the King. Any food they did not eat was passed down to the servants and anything they didn't eat was given to the beggars at the gate. The typical Tudor courtier ate between 4,500 and 5,000 calories a day. It was fascinating to visit here and imagine the hustle and bustle that went on every single day just preparing food, all day every day.

I visited Henry VIII's State Apartments and the Wolsey Rooms and it was neat to think these are the very places that these real historical figures lived out the dramas we only read about in history books. I was really walking in their footsteps. There is the Haunted Gallery, where Katherine Howard supposedly ran through trying to get to Henry in the chapel to beg to be saved, but she was dragged away by guards. Katherine was Henry's fifth wife, the second one he executed. They say her ghost runs the corridor now. There is the Great Hall, which is the biggest room in the palace. This is where the meals would be served and it could fit 600 people for dinner at a time. The Great Hall has a wooden ceiling of beams and trusses, tapestries on the walls, with stained glass windows over the entrance. There are many rooms for courtiers to pass through, which get more and more exclusive as you got nearer to the King. For example, there was a Great Watching Chamber where there was a Yeoman and Guard to control access to the King. There was a Page's Chamber for the pages waiting on the nobles in the Great Watching Chamber, and also this was a sort of waiting room where the pages would help nobles into their ceremonial robes before they were presented to the King. I also visited actual living areas which are less formal and more comfortable and private. There was actually a commode for the King, with a padded red velvet seat for him to sit on. There is still a Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace which still has services on Sunday.

The Wolsey Rooms are thought to have been the Cardinal's private rooms. What I thought was most interesting about them were two of them have wood paneling, very dark.

The King's and Queen's Apartments are from the William and Mary period. The King's Staircase is quite glorious, marble walls and stairs, wrought iron railing, paintings on the walls and ceiling, just overwhelming. The Guard Chamber was the room that the Yeoman of the Guard kept watch over the safety of the King. It has mounted on the walls all kinds of armaments – muskets, guns, bayonets, swords, spears. There is a Great Bedchamber, where the King was dressed each morning, but he didn't really sleep here. He slept in the Little Bedchamber next door. The room called the King's Closet was actually his private study. There is also an Orangery, where the orange trees were kept during the winter months. It is a long hallway with the trees and sculptures, with wooden paneling on one side and the windows with shutters on the other.

The Queen's Apartments are similar and the way they are seen today is as they appeared when used by Queen Caroline between 1716 and 1737.

The Georgian Rooms were used by King George II and Queen Caroline during their last visit with the full court in 1737, and these lead to the Queen's Private Apartments. These included her Private Bedchamber, her Dressing Room and Bathroom. She could actually have a bath in a tub, but hot water had to be brought up in buckets. The tub was lined with linen bath liners and the tub placed on a painted canvas floor cloth. She had a private Dining Room. She also had a private Oratory, a room where she could have services and sermons read to her by a Chaplain.

I watched and listened to a costume presentation about Elizabethan dress, which was actually quite a production. There were many layers to the court outfit at that time. It began with the sort of slip underneath, stockings, a corset, then a hoop skirt that attached to the corset, a bumroll which was the extra padding around the hips to make the skirt spring out more, then skirts which can be one part or more than one part, decorative shirt, then the gown part which goes over the skirt and torso and then you must add the sleeves also. Very complicated. Then there are shoes, headgear, jewelry. This is why you would need a dresser to help you.

Looking out the windows from the various rooms, you can see all the beautiful gardens. There are topiaries and shrubberies and trees that look like upside down ice cream cones, perfectly symmetical, and some that look like umbrellas, flowers and ponds and fountains. I walked through the gardens to a large pond where there were giant geese, white swans and black swans. Also at Hampton Court is its famous hedge maze, originally planted in 1702. The gardens are gorgeous and make for a truly relaxing, enjoyable and beautiful walk on the grounds.

I spent the entire day at Hampton Court and ran out of time, even with the extra hour I gained that day from Daylight Savings. The place closes at 4:00 p.m. and I caught a 4:09 train to Waterloo Station, then to Paddington. It was getting dark by 5:00 and being on my own and pretty tired at this point, I just bought a sandwich at the station and some water and a candy bar and headed back to the hotel to eat in my room and fall asleep early.

On Monday, I heard on the news in the morning that what had actually happened to the Stansted Express train was that there was a derailment on the Northern Line the week before and the Stansted Express runs on the same tracks. It was still under repair but good to know as I decided to avoid the Northern Line in my travels. I got up around 7:30 a.m. and had breakfast, then headed for the trains at 9:30 which is when off-peak hours begin and the fares are lower. I got an all day travel pass for 4.10 pounds. This lets the tourist get on and off the trains all day so if you get confused or lost, you can reverse yourself or try another route without having to pay again and again, or stand in any more lines.

I started Monday with a walk-by of Buckingham Palace so I could take some photos and see the guards outside. At this time of year, I could not have a tour of Buckingham Palace but could visit the Queen's Gallery in the palace, which is a small museum of royal treasures. I saw paintings by Monet and Rembrandt . I especially liked the one by Rembrandt because he had painted a frame around it and the subject had a fan that was coming outside the frame. And the lighting in the painting is nice. This impresses someone like me who knows nothing much about art, because all the light in it is not really light but paint. Here is a picture of it.



The Cabinet Rooms in the Queen's Gallery are for smaller pieces such as books or jewels. Here I saw the Diamond Diadem, a crown that the Queen still wears at public occasions. It is a small crown, but very very beautiful because of the sparkle of all the diamonds.


Diadem

Here I also saw the miniature portrait of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, the portrait that you always see of her in history books. I learned that now experts are not so sure it is her at all. That wouldn't surprise me. Katherine Howard was young, flirtatious, supposedly very attractive, chasing and being chased by men. It eventually led to her having her head lopped off for cheating on the King. Is this the portrait of such a woman? I hardly think so.


Katherine Howard, maybe

There were many impressive jewels here from India, when it was part of the empire, including a necklace of very large rubies and a belt made of emeralds. Here I saw two more pieces of the Cullinan Diamond. I have seen two others in the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London (in the Imperial State Crown and the Sovreign's sceptre), and these two are together as a brooch which used to be worn often by Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth's grandmother.


Cullinan Brooch

You can see many of the jewels at the Queen's Gallery website at http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery.

When I visited, there was a special exhibition of drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci. Many looked like they were done as studies towards figures in paintings, or as practice, or just whatever he was focusing on at the time, often the human form.

After the Queen's Gallery, I decided to walk down the street and visit the Royal Mews, where all the royal horses and coaches are kept. The horses are really nice looking animals and obviously very well cared for, rather majestic looking. There were displays of all the various harnesses they wear and other equipment, and also the uniforms of the livery. I saw the famous gold State Coach used for the coronations of the new monarch and other very special events. It is covered in gold leaf and weighs four tons. The back wheels were taller than me. I also saw the Glass Coach which Princess Diana and also the Queen Mother rode in on both of their wedding days. There was also the Queen's Rolls Royce, really gorgeous. The Queen loves horses and knows all of the horses by name. When I visited in 2003, there were 34 horses. Horses called the Windsor Greys pull all the royal carriages. Eight of their predecessors pulled the Gold Coach at the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth. The horses begin training and work at the Mews at age four and stay for about 15 years.


Royal Mews

By the time I had finished at the Mews, it was 1:00 p.m. so I decided to eat on the run. I had a bagel with peanut butter at a kiosk called "Bagel Factory" with the slogan "American Way" run by two Indian guys. I decided then to go and visit Westminster Abbey. It's right across the street from Parliament and Big Ben, so a perfect photo op. From here you can also see the London Eye, the very large ferris wheel owned by British Airways. This area, naturally, is chock full of tourists and that day I heard mostly German and French and also saw a lot of Japanese tourists.

Westminster is really big overall, seeming to have all kinds of little separate areas to visit. What impressed me most was being in the place where so many English monarchs are interred, particularly so many of those I have spent much time reading about. Elizabeth I and Mary I are both here, sisters and the daughters of Henry VIII. Henry VII is here and his chapel has a beautiful ceiling that they call fan vaulting. It makes me think of a wedding cake. It's hard to describe it so here is a picture:


Henry VII Chapel Ceiling

There is a plaque marking the former burial place of Oliver Cromwell, who led the English Republic after the execution of Charles I. However, as these things often go, he wasn't on top for long and eventually the monarchy returned. Cromwell died from illness in 1658. So why is Westminster the former burial place of Cromwell? Because after having been buried there for two years, he was exhumed in 1661, posthumously executed and his body hung in chains from Tyburn Gallows. So even if you're dead already, if you're bad enough, it'll not save you from being dug up and executed anyway!

Mary Queen of Scots has a tomb here. There is an area called the Poet's Corner where Chaucer is buried, as is Charles Dickens, and Shakespeare has a monument also. I also went into the area where the royal coronations, weddings, funerals and masses are held. It is called the Quire and Sanctuary. It is smaller than it appears on TV or in pictures. There is the wide aisle down the middle and the pews are on each side, facing the aisle rather than facing the altar, and there are little lamps to provide light for reading your hymnal, I assume. I thought it was small and so if you are invited to sit in the pews, you must be a pretty privileged individual. Anne of Cleeves, the 4th of Henry VIII's wives, is buried in the Sanctuary. There is a beautiful stained glass window, and the Nave in Westminster has the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, who is from WWI. I also saw the Coronation Chair, which was made by Edward I who was crowned in 1272, so it's pretty old. Every monarch since 1308 has been crowned in this chair, except for two Edwards, coincidentally (Edward V, who is thought to have been murdered in the Tower of London, and Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936). Another interesting tidbit about Westminster – there is a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. there. Why? On the west front of the abbey above the door are ten statues of ten Martyrs of the 20th Century and he is one of the martyrs.

I visited the Abbey's museum downstairs and it has displays of the various funeral effigies of different kings and queens and consorts. These are the effigies created to be put on top of the coffin for the procession. The old ones were wood and the newer ones wax. Henry VII's was from his actual death mask. They had many of them in their coronation costumes, as the effigy would have been dressed for the procession. The museum also has a display of the crown jewels used for practice. These look like exact replicas of the real crown jewels. So I have seen both the real crown jewels and the official fake ones as well!

I wrote in my journal that I picked up a USA Today newspaper to check on the World Series and that was the year that the Florida Marlins beat the Yankees. But I was still stung and not quite over the fact that the Red Sox had not made it into the Series that year. 2003 had been a tough defeat to swallow. Of course, I didn't know then that the very next year, they would end the 86 year wait for a championship.

On Tuesday, 10/28/03, I arrived at the Victoria and Albert Museum at 9:30 a.m. I didn't leave until 3:30 p.m. As soon as I walked into the lobby, I was dazzled by the glass chandelier overhead. It is awe-inspiring. It is very large and looks like it is made of flowers and ribbons, but it is all glass.



The V&A is huge and, even spending the entire day there, I could not see everything. I just got too tired and crippled. I started with an exhibition on Gothic Art for England 1400-1547. This was exactly the period of time I was reading about then because I was reading books about Henry VIII and his children. Henry's reign ended in 1547. This exhibit was about life in gothic times. There were sections on royalty, art, war, patronage, city and town, home life, church, and death. The period began with the battles between the Lancasters, Yorks and Tudors to rule England. This was the medieval period and kings could be overthrown. Henry IV was the first Lancaster king and he had usurped the throne in 1399. Henry V came after him but died young, leaving infant king Henry VI. Edward IV of York finally came to the throne, but his son Edward V was killed in the Tower of London (the "murdered Princes") and his uncle, Richard III, became king. After his defeat in battle, Henry VII became the first Tudor king, followed by Henry VIII. The exhibition said that the power of the kings of this time was based not just on the inherited right to rule but also the ability to rule well, which is why bad kings could be replaced. The role of the English king at that time was to keep peace at home and wage war to protect the realm. English kings actually led armies. The kings provided patronage for art, plate, jewels, tapestries, and buildings, as did nobles.

The V&A is just huge and I ran out of stamina after 5-1/2 hours. But I did manage to see the Raphael Gallery with his giant "cartoons". I learned that in Renaissance art, a "cartoon" is a full size design for an artwork to be done in another medium, such as for frescoes, paintings or tapestries. The Raphael Cartoons were for tapestries. I also visited the galleries on Japan, China, Medieval times, Islamic, India, Europe and Italy including the Renaissance, Photography, Silver, Jewelry, Church Plate, Textiles, Lord Leighton's Frescoes, Japanese Prints, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Gallery. What did I miss – Stained and Engraved Glass, Ironwork, Musical Instruments.

What did I enjoy most? The Dress Gallery, or course. I always like to see clothes from the past; guess I'm just fascinated with historical clothing. There was a special exhibition on Ossie Clark, a British fashion designer from the 60s-70s, with lots of his dresses for viewing. These were sort of the "swinging 60's" type designs. Also, I always enjoy the Asian things so the Japanese and Chinese galleries, as well as the Indian and Islamic all sort of seem to flow. You can appreciate the similarities and the differences. I also liked the Frank Lloyd Wright office. I would like to work in an office like that. I like Frank Lloyd Wright. I just visited an exhibition on him in Portland a few months ago.

After the V&A, I rode to King's Cross-St. Pancras Station (which Laura calls "St. Pancreas") to check out the station where the Harry Potter films were shot. This is the Hogwart's Express train station. King's Cross Station is very busy, and I think they filmed in the area where the National Rail trains come and go, not the Tube trains. As it was around 4:00 p.m., I think it was rush hour and it was very busy. It's also not as nice as it looks in the films. It's quite dirty, and it looked like they were doing some renovations. A couple of the bombs that hit London on 7/7/05 were on trains that had just left King's Cross.

I headed back to the hotel, completely exhausted. Next day, I checked out of the hotel at 7:00 a.m. and took the Heathrow Express from Paddington at 7:09. It really was just a 15 minute ride to the airport so super quick and convenient. The ticket cost 13 pounds. My return flight was on a Boeing 777 which is also a nice plane. The return is a daytime flight so harder to sleep, and it takes longer going back usually, due to head winds. Due to the time difference, it was 1:15 p.m. when I landed in Boston, and I was home in Portland by 5:15 on the bus.

Little did I know, I would return to London yet again, for a third time in 2007. I do love London. The downside is only that it is an expensive city, made even more so by the bad exchange rate for the dollar. But the good points outweigh that. It is full of history, very easy to get around in, and the people are great. I do hope I return again some day.