London!

Ritchie and I took the train to London for a day of culture. Last year, we visited the Tower of London, Borough Market (spelling?), the British Museum, Leicester Square, Hyde Park and other stuff. Lots of other stuff. This year, we were far less driven. On the train ride into the city, our conversation went something like this:

Ritchie: What do you want to see?

Ailey: I want to go to the Tower of London again.

Ritchie: The portrait gallery is free.

Ailey: I want to go to the Tower of London again.

Ritchie: The British Musem is free.

Ailey: I want to go to the Tower of London again.

Ritchie: The Tate Modern is free.

Ailey: Fine, lets go to the Tate Modern (but I really wanted to say was, "I want to go to the Tower of London again").

So, we went to the Tate Modern. While impressed by the large crack that is running through the ground floor - it's a meaningful crack, of course - after two hours, I was ready to move on. My artist friends may shun me for saying this, but as far as modern art goes, I'm a cretin. I like the pieces with bright, bold colors and interesting designs, but large slabs of concrete hanging from the ceiling hold very little interest for me. Our walk through the museum was filled with "hmmms . . ." and "ummms . . ." and, the most hated comment of all, "I could do that."

After meeting Ritchie's friend for lunch, we did something a little more to my interest - the British Museum! Thousands of ancient artifacts collected (stolen?) by The Empire on view for me at no cost! With exhibits ranging from Viking Europe to ancient Egypt, the British Museum is definitely the best that I have ever seen. We arrived just an hour before closing, so we wandered my favorite exhibit, the ancient Levant.

Ritchie reads about an artifact while a bust of Rameses II holds.

We ended the day by meeting Ritchie's university friends for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Piccadilly Circus. Good (expensive) times!