Back in the U.K.

Rather than go into a long expository on how the journey over the ocean transpired, I'm just going to jump right into what's going on now!

James and I have been walking pretty much non-stop for the past four days. We've visited many places about London. Today we participated in a group tour of the city, the highlight of which (for James) included the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. I say "for James" because I had the opportunity to see this event on my last trip to London. After the tour we walked through Hyde Park. Actually, I sort of limped. I'm doing that a lot lately. I think of myself as pretty heart, a real trooper. But we have been walking for several hours at a time these past four days, and I'm beginning to worry that my right achilles heel might rupture. Well--we didn't purchase travel insurance--so let's hope this doesn't happen!

Back to Hyde Park. I was able to share with James the memorial fountain to Princess Diana and the lovely statue of Peter Pan. Oh the memories; it feels like just yesterday I was photographing Peter. To be honest, Hyde Park is not my favorite. But it was nice to re-visit. Upon exiting the park, we discovered a street vendor selling magnetic pub signs. I don't know that I've ever been so excited to buy a souvenir. What a nifty idea. (And yes, the names on the magnets represent real pubs in England.)

We wandered to the tube next, planning on heading down to Liecester Square. How disppointed we became when we discovered that Spamalot wasn't on tonight. It's a real shame because now we've missed out on the opportunity. The play ends on the 12th, and we won't be returning to London until the 18th. Ah well. We are now hoping to see Agatha Christie's Mousetrap when we return. Cutting down on the details because I've got to get to sleep for an early start tomorrow. Our final stop today was the National Portrait Gallery. What a joy! What a surprise! I hadn't expected to like this gallery and was shocked by how wrong I was. I was delighted to see paintings of the Tudors (Henry VII, Thomas More, that ever-so-famous portrait of Elizabeth I that literature students see on the cover of their English Norton Anthology). Then I found the real treasure (for me) which was the Victorian room. How lovely to see portrait of some of my favorite authors: the Bronte Sisters, Charles Dickens, etc. We did not get to see half of the collection, but I'm satisfied.

One of the best features of London is its free museums. We have also visited the Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the Serpentine Gallery (Hyde Park), and the Natural History Museum. All in just four days! We also walked through Regents Park (my favorite) and viewed the play Jeeves & Wooster.

I should talk about the beautiful flowers, delightful Brits, how glad I am to be back in the U.K., etc., but it's an early morning tomorrow and the time is getting late! Tomorrow I am looking forward to re-visiting two places that are very dear to me in memory: Stonehendge and Bath. I am crossing my fingers that we will have more than an hour to look at the stone circle (which was not the case last time). Then it's off to Cardiff!