More art, rambles and seeing me mates

I told myself I was going to slow down the pace, do fewer things and give my back a rest. I haven't exactly done a good job of any of that. Here's what I've been up to the past two days. 

Wednesday:

• Out the door at 8:10 am to walk up the Junction Road to take a Pilates mat class. My back did thank me for this.
• Back to me gaff to change clothes, eat, faff around and then out the door again at 11 am to head into town.
• Took the tube to Charring X and popped in to the NPG to see the BP 2019 Portrait Award exhibition. While I'm not all that keen on photographic portraits, and I avoid them like the plaque in my own photography, I do appreciate a good portrait painting. This year's exhibition did not disappoint and I thought the winners were well chosen.
• Walked over the Golden Jubilee Bridge to the Southbank and made my way towards Tate Modern.
• Stopped in Gabriel's Wharf for lunch — a Heidi pie (my favourite pie) from the Pieminister (my favourite pie maker). I even opted to eat in. I hate when people post photos of food they are about to eat, so here's my clean plate after consuming my pie.

• Popped into the Bankside Gallery to look at their print exhibition. They had a number of really nice prints at reasonable prices, but I resisted temptation.
• Pressed on to Tate Modern, taking photos along the way. 

• Saw two exhibitions at Tate Modern: Olafur Eliasson and Takis. Also wandered all over until I found Yinka Shonibare's British Library, which was what I really wanted to see. 
• Between the two big exhibitions, I went to the caff in search of a bottle of water. At first, all I saw was sparkling, not still, for £1.90. I was about to buy a bottle despite not wanting the bubbles when I saw both the tap water dispenser and the pastel de nata for £2.20. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but I can't resist a pastel de nata (something I've never seen at home). Got one, sat at a table by the window and consumed a lot of the free tap water.
• While in Tate Modern, I saw that Kara Walker has the Hyundai Commission for the Turbine Hall, opening 2 October. We had a big exhibition of her silhouette prints at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum a couple years ago. Her work is very challenging and really interesting. I could get a bit of a glimpse of what she has in store for the Turbine Hall. I'm going to have to make a point to come back to see it once it opens. 
• Went to the Bargehouse (behind the OXO Tower, nearby to the Tate) to see an exhibition about mudlarking finds from the Thames foreshore. There is an amazing array of stuff on display, including bits from Mesolithic, Roman, Georgian, Victorian and modern times. Many of the items have incredible stories.  
• Had a sit down in Bernie Spain's Garden next to the OXO, messaged my friend Kathy who lives nearby and she walked over to join me for a cuppa and a lovely catch-up before the 7 pm talk back at the Bargehouse — author Ted Sandling talking on London in Fragments, which is also the title of his book. The talk was informative and really good fun. Glad I booked it online weeks ago. 

What a full day! I crashed within an hour of getting back to my gaff.

Thursday:

• Met up with friends Malcolm and Jane at Shepherds Bush tube station for a ramble through Notting Dale to Ladbroke Grove station. Malcolm has lived in and around here his whole life, as did his dad. His grandparents lived here as well, having come to London from other parts of Britain. I'd asked him to show me around his patch, pointing out what's changed, what hasn't, what's come and gone, for better or worse. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time, zigzagging through streets that were for me uncharted territory as well a some familiar ones I'd not seen for several years. Much of it was new for Jane, too. We spent some of our time walking under the Westway in places you can't get to on Google Maps Streetview. This area is a classic example of London progress, going from abject slum (one of the worst Dickens had seen, and I reckon he'd seen a lot), to middle class housing, to decline (with one of the most notorious slumlords of the 20th century controlling much of the property), to the current gentrification. We walked around the base of Grenfell Tower and felt the impact of the tragic loss of life there and the council's woefully inadequate response to it. We ended our ramble with sandwiches at Pret. 
• Took the tube to Hammersmith and walked down to and along the river to 26 Upper Mall, former home of William Morris and now (part of it, at any rate) the home of the William Morris Society. The society maintains its exhibits in the garage and basement of the house. It's rarely open, and this was the first time I'd gotten the timing right. 
• Back on the tube to Kew Gardens to see some of the Chihuly glass installation. The weather was not cooperating at all, with minutes of sunshine alternating with brief torrential downpours throughout the day. I managed to see a lot of glass and to dodge a couple showers. And when the sun shone through the glass, it looked pretty special.

Stats for Wednesday:

£15 Pilates mat class

£5 Heidi pie

£2.20 pastel de nata

£3 wine at mudlarking talk

22,941 steps

9.8 miles

Stats for Thursday:

£3.98 sandwich and beverage for lunch

£6 veg pie for tomorrow's dinner
26,331 steps
11 miles

Art, history, more architecture and seeing me mates

Monday saw me in Westminster, Pimlico and Soho, while Tuesday took me to Bloomsbury and the City. Here's what I did and saw:

I was out the door bright and early on Monday to meet my friend Simon at Westminster Hall. I'd never seen any of the Palace of Westminster and thought the exhibition about the Peterloo Massacre (it's the 200th anniversary) would be a grand way to get into Westminster Hall for free. I'd listened to two very interesting podcasts about Peterloo in preparation and I'm looking forward to seeing the upcoming film. The exhibition, however, wasn't much of anything — four panels, one of which was blocked by a construction barrier. But I did enjoy seeing the inside of the hall, the oldest bits of which date to the 11th century. There's an incredible timber roof, constructed in the 14th century, that spans an enormous space and has some impressive carved angels attached to the beams. 

Simon and I had tea and a catch-up in the caff and then he walked me down to Tate Britain, pointing out various bits of architectural interest along the way. At Tate Britain, I met up with my friend Judy, with whom I always enjoy seeing arty things. We first looked at the installation called The Asset Strippers by Mike Nelson in the Duveen Galleries. We'd seen a previous installation by Nelson at Tate Britain — The Coral Reef, in which he had recreated the rooms of a minicab office in one of the galleries. I confess to not having done any reading on The Asset Strippers, so I wasn't sure what it was all about. What he's done is to purchase various large pieces of industrial machinery at auction and raise them (literally and figuratively) to monumental status on pedestals and plinths. Some of the machines still had dust and cobwebs on them and a couple of the ones used in the textile industry had spools of thread and bits of trim still attached. There were no labels or wall text for any of it, so it's all up to the viewer to interpret it. My take away was that these machines represented British manufacturing industries that no longer exist. Taken off the factory floor and installed in the Duveen Galleries, they do become monuments to a past glory. In addition, each machine takes on sculptural qualities. I could picture any one of them on the fourth plinth (which I'd stopped to see on my way to Westminster Hall). 

After lunch in the members' caff, we saw the Blake exhibition. I'm a bit of a philistine when it comes to Blake, never really having read any of his poetry other than the Tyger poem and Jerusalem. This exhibition, however, was 98% about his art and, again, I hardly knew it. There's an awful lot of religious imagery and I can only do so much of that. I far preferred the paintings and prints with visions and supernatural beings. My greatest appreciation was for his technique, as he pushed printmaking into new realms during his time. Glad I saw it, but the best part of the afternoon was catching up with Judy. 

Skies were looking quite iffy when I exited the museum, but I decided to see if I could fit in one more exhibition in central London before heading back to me gaff in Tufnell Park. I took the tube to Oxford Circus and popped into the Photographers' Gallery, a place I always enjoy. The exhibition there is Urban Impulses: Latin American Photography from 1959 to 2016. It was full of images of things I'd never seen — street scenes, advertising, portraits, intimate moments — from countries I've never been to. Definitely worth seeing.

I decided to take a different route back to Tufnell Park and opted for the number 88 bus, which took me up the east side of Regent's Park and through Camden Town (known territory) before heading up Kentish Town Road (as yet unexplored). The walk back to the house was a bit longer than if I'd taken the 390 as usual, but gave me an opportunity to see a bit more of Fortess Road. Exhausted, I had an early dinner, watched some Netflix and hit the sack. 

The rain was chucking down when I woke up on Tuesday, so I decided to have a lie-in, hand wash some laundry, drink a second cup of tea and head out late for my day's adventures. Also, my back is really hurting and I thought it would be good to go easy. On rainy days, my usual go-to spot is the V&A, but I decided to mix it up a bit and go to the British Museum instead. Again, inspired by a podcast (the BM now has its own podcast in which different curators or members of staff chat about objects in the museum) I knew I wanted to go to room 41 to see the Sutton Hoo burial ship. It did not disappoint, but the museum was full of school groups and I pressed on. 

I was prebooked for a free talk "Revels on the River" that's part of the Totally Thames Festival. The talk was in the Guildhall Library, so I hopped a bus heading east, got a cheap sandwich and ate it in the yard of St Lawrence Jewry, next to the Guildhall. Here's the description: "From Royal pageantry and Frost Fairs to the Tall Ships Festival, the Thames has for centuries been a focus for local and national celebration. In a lavishly illustrated talk, Pete Smith traces the history of these revels on the river." It was a totally entertaining talk and you know how much I love totally free events. Afterwards, I took in Architecture of London, the current exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery, which I really enjoyed. I thought I recognized the location of one of the paintings and, sure enough, it turns out to be just down Brecknock Road from my AirBnB. I'd seen the spot from the 390. 

All day I'd been dodging the rain. For the most part, I was inside when it was chucking down and on the move when it eased up. I couldn't tell from the forecast what the evening had in store, and I was dead tired, so I decided to bail on the free evening walk to see the illuminations of four of the bridges on the Thames. I beat the rush hour, got back to Tufnell Park with plenty of time to walk to Budgen's (a bit further walk but SOOOO much better than the nearby Sainsbury's Local) to load up on more groceries. I used the evening for stretching, fixing dinner and writing this long post for my loyal readers. I think I'll be doing every-other-day posts from here on in. 

Monday stats:
£2.50 Photographers' Gallery (half price with Art Pass)
£2.50 groceries
19,482 steps
8.32 miles

Tuesday stats:
£3.85 for sandwich 
£3.50 for Guildhall Art Gallery
£16.30 groceries and wine
13,135 steps
5.47 miles

Open House Weekend

Loyal readers will know how much I love Open House — the annual September weekend when more than 800 buildings are open to the public across the capital city. Each time I'm in London for Open House, I begin my preparation in the summer when I order the printed guide and pore over it, making index cards for the places I might want to see, sorting them by day and area, putting them in order and noting the transport routes from one to the next. 

Saturday was a glorious day — warm, sunny and blue skies all day. Armed with my camera and index cards, I was out the door a little past 10 a.m. to walk one street over for the first destination. The house at 1 Hugo Road is a Victorian terrace house, originally a two up two down, very similar to the one in which I'm staying, that was renovated throughout in 2017 with a fantastic kitchen extension into the back garden. There was already a queue outside when I arrived. Once inside, we were given access to the garden level and the first floor. They've really done a great job with the small footprint. I could live there happily. In my dreams.

Next destination was five minutes away — the Acland Burghley School, a brutalist Grade II listed building. I got there just after a tour group had set off through the building and another group was waiting in the auditorium for the next tour in 45 minutes. So I pushed on. 

I was headed to the farmers' market on Parliament Hill to pick up fruit, veg and bread. From the school, I zigged and zagged west and north, cutting through a housing estate until, to my delight, I popped out into Little Green Street, a place I knew. Roger and I visited several of the Georgian terrace cottages here during Open House several years. At that time, the street was under threat of nearby construction and the residents were keen to draw attention to this unique little street. It's been saved and is no longer an Open House venue, but it was so nice to see a familiar place. 

The farmers' market was bustling and I was pleased with my haul, which I stashed back at my gaff before hopping on the 390 bus for King's Cross, where I was hoping first to see the Aga Khan Centre, a Muslim cultural center that contains six gardens of the Muslim world. When I arrived, there was quite a queue with signs saying it was an hour long, so I moved along to the Coal Drops Yard. Another disappointment there, as I was too late for one tour and way too early for the next, but I had fun looking around the development. Last time I was there, these buildings were derelict and the gasometers had been removed to make way for the redevelopment. Well, it ain't derelict any more and the gasometers have been reinstalled, although all but one of them have flats built inside them. 

While around Granary Square, I also did the tour of the Coal Office (it had small trees growing out of the roof last time I saw it; now it's cleaned up and occupied by designer types). Next up was the nearby Victorian Waterpoint. Getting there was a bit tricky as I had to wait for two canal boats to go through the lock and then walk the narrow plank on top of the lock arms to the other side of the canal. Well worth the trouble and the somewhat-scary stairs to the top, where the views on this glorious day were grand. 

Opting not to double back to either of the places with the tours I had missed, I forget ahead to 2 Temple Place, a destination always described in superlatives but one that I'd never been able to see. It took no time to get to Holborn on the tube and to walk to the Strand and then into Temple Place. Imagine my surprise to see no queue, just a regular flow of people in and out the door. Let's just say it's pretty opulent and worth seeing. 

When I finished poking around there, I went over to Embankment Gardens for a sit down and a consultation of my Open House app, which informed me that the faux "Roman" bath/cistern two streets over was open for viewing. The bath is 17th century, not Roman, and David Copperfield bathed there, as did Charles Dickens himself, when working nearby in a blacking factory. It's another place that's been on my to-see list for yonks but I've never timed it right until now. 

Hard to believe that I still possessed any energy, but I was on a roll and hustled back to King's Cross for one more venue — Impact Hub King's Cross. Located in an old lead factory (Grade II listed), this collaborative workspace is the second of its kind and now one of over 100 collaborative spaces worldwide. There's a caff/performance space, meeting rooms, flexible office space, etc., for use on a short- or long-term basis. I rolled up for the last tour. What a day!

Dinner at my gaff, wine, sleep (many hours in a comfy bed), shower (hot and strong), and out the door a bit after 9 a.m. on Sunday morning for more of Open House. My first destination was the Golden Lane Estate (Grade I and II* listed) in the City of London near the Barbican. This was some of the first post-war housing built on a heavily bombed, former warehouse area in order to provide much-needed housing to people employed in the City. I had pre-booked for 11 a.m. entry to the roof top of Great Arthur House on the estate. As I was early for that and the first tour of the estate wasn't to be until 11:30, I signed in at Golden Lane and tried to find my way through the Bloody Barbican to see St Giles Cripplegate first. The BB confounds me. I can't figure out how to get in, and then once I'm in, I can't find my way out. I walked all around the perimeter till I found a way to the church from London Wall and Wood Street, only to find a service in session. I was waved off by an old lady, so beat a hasty retreat and groped my way out to Beech Street and back to the Golden Lane Estate. Reaching there just in time, our group went up to the roof terrace where Jen was stewarding. The threatened rain had held off, I brushed off my trepidation about heights, and the views were as great as advertised. 

Needing sustenance and a sit down, I nipped into a Tesco Metro for a deal meal (egg and cress on brown bread and a bottle of water) and into the churchyard of St Bartholomew the Great (you've seen it in Four Weddings and a Funeral) to sit on a bench and eat. As I sat there, the sound of hymns being sung and the smell of incense wafted out of the open door of the church. 

Skies were looking threatening and I forged on to Smithfield where I hoped for a tour of the new Museum of London space in the old General Market. Yes, this was another tour I missed, as they had already filled up. (Wait, was there something on the web about timed entry? I think not.) A nice member of staff did walk me to an entry where I could look into the space and see all the people on the tour with their hardhats. Oh, well. It opens in a few year's time and I'll see it then. 

My next destinations were to be in the East End and I was so happy to find that the best bus for me to take stopped right in back of Postman's Park. I got there as the 100 bus was stopped, waiting for a delay somewhere else on the route to clear, giving me just enough time to nip into Postman's Park, a place I "discovered" on my first trip to London in 1998. Twenty years on, it's still a favourite place. 

From St Botolph without Aldersgate (where Postman's Park is located) to St Botolph without Aldgate to make my way through Petticoat Market to Toynbee Hall and Toynbee Studios where I had timed it just right to do both tours. Whew! These were the highpoint of my 2019 Open House and ticked all the boxes for me: interesting architecture with a mix of old and new, social justice mission and history, community programming, education, arts, nice caff, good toilets. Stellar!

Too late to make it to the Sandy's Row Synagogue, I went to 1 Bishops Square (Foster and Partners, ho hum) for my last stop. It's a nice modern office building, without many wows. Good for those who like that sort of thing. And the skies were cloudy and drizzling when I got to the roof terrace. 

In for the evening now. Tomorrow is another full day. 

Stats for Saturday:
£12 or 13 at the Parliament Hill Farmers' Market
22,355 steps
9.44 miles

Stats for Sunday:
£35.10 for one-week travel card
£1.75 for lunch
£6.55 more groceries at Sainsbury's
22,512 steps
9.33 miles

Arrival Day: Tourist/Pack Mule

It was an odd and somewhat disorienting arrival day, unlike any other I've had in London. The night flight from Hartford is certainly more convenient than flying out of Boston, but the pre-dawn stop in Dublin means about two hours of sleep max in the way over. Dazed and stupid, I stumbled off the plane in Heathrow at about 8 in the morning. For some reason, I kept expecting my Fitbit to reset the time zone on its own, but it didn't and so I walked around all day looking at EST on the watch. (Much, much later I realized that the time setting happens through the app and, as I had no internet connectivity in flight, it couldn't happen. Note to self: Change the time zone via the app before take off next time.) 

On all my past journeys to London, I've gone straight to my accommodation — Roger's flat or my previous AirBnB — but my host in Tufnell Park was not expecting me until 5 pm. So, with my laptop/camera bag on my back and dragging my carryon wheelie bag behind me, I hopped on the Tube and headed into town with a plan to get some errands out of the way, see a few things and try to stay on my feet for the day. The best way to do this, I reckoned, was to stick to known places and avoid having to do too much critical thinking. It's been a full two years since I was last in London, and although so much is familiar that I don't feel the need to pre-rehearse my routes in my head, little things have changed and that knocks me for a loop a bit. I was sure I could change from the PIccadilly to the District line at Earl's Court via a steps-free route, but I took the wrong exit and faced a set of steps rather than the lift and then found myself on the platform, clueless as to which train I was waiting for. Thankfully I wasn't the only confused passenger and there was a nice member of staff who pointed me to the right train for Paddington, where I DID find the exit with the lift, which I knew would bring me up to the concourse level with some food options, a free toilet and a magic money machine.

Next stop was the fruit and veg shop where I was stashing my carryon for the day. I'd booked that through Stasher.com a month ago and chose a spot only four blocks from the station. With a giant leap of faith, I surrendered my bag and set out to get a UK sim card for my stupid phone. There are a couple of phone stores in Queensway and, sticking to the familiar, I went into the one I'd used two years ago. While the clerk was installing the card, I mentioned that my previous experience with getting a EE sim card was a bit frustrating as I discovered a block from the store that the internet didn't work and had to go back for some tweaking of the settings. This time, when the clerk assured me that she had the internet working, I executed another leap of faith, put the phone in my bag and headed to the Lancaster Gate entrance to Hyde Park, near the Italian Gardens.

And there I was, sat on a bench looking at the lovely fountains, when I pulled out my phone thinking I'd post something to Facebook, and discovered — you knew this was coming, didn't you? — that I had no internet connectivity. Bloody hell. I was going to need to go back to Queensway to get it fixed. Couldn't even look up the location of another EE store closer to where I was at the time. I took some snaps of the fountains and headed south to the Serpentine Gallery, where I had some lunch at this year's pavilion and collected my wits. 

Long story short, I got the phone fixed, picked up my bag at the Nisa Local in Craven Road, and headed to the bus stop on Praed Street. But Praed Street is all dug up and buses were on diversion. Made my way to the next stop down the road and hopped the 205 for Euston Station. From there, I walked across the Euston Road to the Wellcome Collection, a welcome sight indeed. Checked my bag in the cloak room (free), spent some time in the library in a comfy chair, looked at some of the exhibitions, used the loo, ate a snack in the caff, and generally started feeling more grounded and less like a tourist or a pack mule. 

The 390 bus took me up York Road towards Tufnell Park and my AirBnB, which is roomy, comfortable and will be a great base for the next two weeks. My friend Jen walked the 15 minutes down the hill from where she lives, met me at my gaff and walked me back to hers for a tasty and filling dinner, washed down with a bit too much wine. Feeling much more like a human being, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I'm out the door now to do Open House — as a temporary Londoner, not a tourist or a pack mule. 

20,792 steps
Expenses (they were many):
3 Euros for tea on the plane (highway robbery!)
£6 to Stasher
55p for water at Paddington
£15 for sim card
£10 to top up my Oyster until I buy a travel card
£5.95 for sandwich at Serpentine Pavilion (more than a Deal Meal, but worth it)
£2.85 for banana bread at the Wellcome Collection caff
£11.20 for groceries and bottle of wine from Sainsbury's Local in Tufnell Park

Travel Tips: London on the Cheap

When I tell people that I'm going to London, the response I often get is "I'd love to go, but it's such an expensive city." Sure, I say, if your travel expectations are for luxury accommodation, West End theatre and lots of tourist attractions, but that doesn't suit my style or my wallet. Over the past 15 years, I've developed a shedload of ways to have as good — or, I'd argue, better and more authentic — London travel experiences on a budget. Here are a few of my tips. 

• Before I even left, I saved myself a bundle through my credit cards. I booked my plane ticket and AirBnB with my travel rewards card (and made the down payment on the crown I need on a tooth I just broke) and got back about $150 in rewards to offset the cost of the travel and accommodation. I had let the reward points accumulate on my other credit card since my trip to Ireland last year and I'll be able to transfer about $200 to my bank account, which I'll use for walking around money in the UK. When I ordered a new raincoat and a few other things I needed for the trip from Amazon, at checkout I saw a banner advert saying I could open an Amazon credit card and immediately get $100 off my purchase. So I did. This is all free money!
• Accommodation: AirBnB or Vrbo have some good values for money, but it helps to start your search early. Forget about zone 1 — look at areas in zone 2 with excellent transport links, preferably a tube station and a couple of convenient bus routes. Two years ago, I stayed a five minute walk from Queen's Park station for $62/night. On my upcoming trip, I'll be spitting distance from the Tufnell Park station with easy access to Camden Town, King's Cross/St Pancras and beyond for $52/night. I look for a room with a private bathroom, wifi, cooking facilities and use of the washing machine. 
• Transport: Once you've settled in and walked to the tube station or bus stop, what's the best way to pay for transport? Whether you're in town for a few days or a few weeks, you need to get an Oyster card, but the type of card and what you load onto it will be different depending on the length of your visit. For less than a week, you're fine with a visitor's Oyster, which can be purchased online and mailed to you before your travel or purchased at Heathrow. If you're staying a week or longer, wait until you're in town and purchase a regular Oyster from any tube station or hundreds of news agents. What's the difference? Visitor cards function only as PAYG, so you need to pay attention to your balance and top it up when you get low. Regular Oysters have the added advantage of enabling you to load travel cards, sold in one week or one month duration, onto them. I load my Oyster with some cash and one-week zone 1-2 travel card(s). The cash will cover journeys into the farther out zones (Heathrow is in zone 6, so I always need some dosh on my card to get to/from the airport because I'm too cheap to take the Heathrow Connect or Express). 
• Food: Dining out in London can be expensive, but food is actually cheap. I rarely eat in restaurants other than to go for an Indian or a pub meal. I scope out the nearest farmers' market, street market, bakery and grocery store options. Tea and a roll or a chunk of tasty bread is all I need in the morning. For lunch, I prefer to bring something with me in my day bag or grab a Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local meal deal — a sandwich, beverage and crisps for about £3 — and sit on a bench in a park or a churchyard to eat. Cafes are a good alternative — the ones in church crypts often serve healthy and hearty food. I often stop for an afternoon treat at a bakery or caff and then end the day with dinner on the cheap — a veggie pie, soup, salad or something else I can heat up easily at my gaff washed down with a glass or two of wine.
• Free outdoor spaces: London is full of places to walk and explore, including some of the best parks you could imagine, often with an historic home in the park or nearby. Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath is lovely, full of art and free. And the cemeteries are to die for! Highgate Cemetery is the only one of the Magnificent Seven that has an entry fee, but it's quite reasonable. It's often said that London is an amalgamation of many villages, each with its own character. I love spending time rambling around and taking it all in. And it doesn't cost a thing.
• Museums and other attractions: Most of the big-name museums, including the National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Victoria & Albert, the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum, have free entry. They do, however, charge for special exhibitions and those entry fees have gone up considerably over the past few years. Some of the other museums, including the Royal Academy and the Foundling Museum, do charge entry fees. If you know that you'll be museum hopping all over London (and beyond), while soaking up a lot of art and culture, an Art Pass is a great investment, particularly if they have a three-month "taster" Art Pass on offer for 15 quid. The card gets you in free to hundreds of venues that normally charge and also gives 50% off the cost of special exhibitions. Cards need to be ordered online and sent in the post to UK addresses. I asked my AirBnB host if I could use her postal address for my Art Pass and she was fine with it. NOTE: This is different to the London Pass, which in my estimation is a total ripoff. 
• Events and performances: I've never been to West End theatre, so I can't give advice on how to score cheap tickets to those plays.  Smaller theatres away from the West End, like the Almeida (Islington), Arcola (Dalston), Hampstead (Swiss Cottage) or Kiln (Kilburn), are reasonably priced. The Hampstead has reduced-price tickets on Mondays. There are also scads of cultural events, including performances, talks and walks, that are free. Some of the churches have free noontime music performances or you can sit in on a rehearsal. I'll be in London for two fantastic free events: Open House weekend (over 800 buildings of architectural interest all across the capital city open to the public) and Totally Thames Festival, a month-long celebration of the river with exhibitions, talks and walks. I also like to check out free or reasonably-priced talks at cultural institutions such as the British Library and the Bishopsgate Institute as well as the museums. 
• Promo codes and coupons: I get a bunch of weekly email newsletters from London websites and am always on the lookout for bargains. In the past, I've had coupons for pub meals and attractions. I recently downloaded the app for a new ride-hailing company called Kapten and used a promo code from SkintLondon to put £15 in credit on my account. 
• Views: Why pay £25 to look down on London from the dizzying heights of the Shard when you can get views just as good for free? There are viewing decks on the new extension to Tate Modern and on the One New Change shopping centre in back of St Paul's Cathedral. For something a bit higher up and enclosed, there's the Sky Garden on the Walkie Talkie building (timed entry, book online up to three weeks in advance) and the new garden at 120 Fenchurch Street (no need to book ahead). I've seen great views from Primrose Hill, Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and several places in south London. On my upcoming trip, I'm looking forward to seeing the view from Dartmouth Park Hill, about a 10 minute walk from my AirBnB.

Two great sources of info about free and cheap things to see and do are the IanVisits website (sign up for his weekly newsletter of listings) and Londonist.

Watch this space for my chronicles of my journey, with scintillating details of where I went, what I saw and how much I spent. If you know of other tips, please pop them in the comments below. 

Heading home now

It was a bit lonely in the doss house last night, but I slept well thanks to the wine and Tylenol PM. Woke up around 1 am when the inmates in the next cell came in, but they weren't loud for long.

I got up early, showered, packed and was out the door at 9 for a walk around Griffith Park and up to the National Botanic Gardens. Both were lovely and quiet on this sunny Sunday.

We really lucked out with the weather this past week. Though it was grey and a bit chilly in Belfast, we only had rain one afternoon as we came back from our day's adventures. The past four days have been warm and bright ... and long, as we were here for the solstice and the sun has been setting around 10 pm.

I'm sitting at the gate at the airport now and we'll board soon.

Stats:
€2.50 banana bread at the Botanic Gardens caff

13,386 steps, 5.79 miles (so far)

A Flop House in Dublin

Friday (yesterday) we returned the rental car and got a morning bus from Belfast to Dublin, arriving at noon. It was an easy ten minute walk from the bus station to the hostel where we had reservations to stash our bags for the afternoon and then we were on our way to explore. The bag stash place is very close to the Dublin GPO, site of the rebel headquarters during the 1916 Easter Rising, so we stopped for a look around. Over 100 years on, the bullet holes are still evident on the portico and facade. Inside, it's a busy post office, nicely rebuilt after the interior burned during the fighting, with lots of wood and brass fittings. There's also a museum about the Easter Rising, but we skipped it as we needed to push on.

Next stop was the visitor info center where we bought our Leap visitor cards for the bus and tram and then made our way westward in search of food as we looked at this and that along the way -- a garden of remembrance for the dead of all Irish rebellions, the shiny brass plaque on the Sinn Fein national headquarters in Parnell Square, the bustling produce market, Jameson's Distillery, Victorian warehouses and worker housing, newly constructed office and housing blocks. We finally found sustenance in Smithfield Square at a trendy food market with lots of eat in/take out options including an excellent salad bar with Thai spice tuna salad, curry rice salad, and various combos of veg, feta, cous cous and quinoa.

On the itinerary for the afternoon was a guided walk about the Great Famine in Dublin, led by Fin Dwyer, the man behind the Irish History Podcast. Through sight and sound, he exposed us to the impact of the potato blight from 1846 to 1851 (which we usually think of as a rural calamity) on people living in urban Dublin. We learned that, throughout the years of the hunger, Ireland was exporting food to Britain and Europe. The blight may have sparked the famine, but it was the land tenancy system, along with British governmental policy and callous disregard for the suffering of the Irish people, that precipitated a food security catastrophe the likes of which has not been seen since. I'd highly recommend the walk to anyone coming to Dublin with an interest in Irish history.

After the walk, we popped into the Cobblestone to have a pint (Roger cider, me Guinness) and listen to some trad music, then reclaimed our bags and took the city bus north to the Drumcondra area to check in to our Airbnb. Drumcondra, like the Queen's Quarter where we stayed in Belfast, is an area of tree-lined streets of red brick Victorian terrace houses, populated by students, young families and senior citizens. Though we were feeling the good vibe of the neighborhood when we got off the bus, that disappeared when we opened the front door of the house where our Airbnb is. Turns out that the rather shabby house has been chopped up into ten tiny units. The dark hallway with worn carpet, steep stairway and hand-scrawled signs of instructions from our host awaited us inside. Our unit is small and dreary, but it's cheap, in a safe area and has good transport connections. We quickly dropped our stuff and headed out again.

In addition to booking these accommodations, Roger booked tickets for an a cappella showcase at a club near the Temple Bar area. We ate pizza, consumed wine and listened to music -- a nice way to wind down our day on the move. We wrapped it up with glasses of whiskey at Fagan's Pub (where Bertie Ahern took Bill Clinton for a drink in 1998) on our block in Drumcondra.

This morning we explored the Liberties, a very old part of Dublin between the massive Guinness factory on the west and Dublin Castle on the east. This doesn't seem to be an area that attracts tourists and I was happy to wander through a community garden with a pig located on wasteland, a tatty market and a Norman church without colliding with any teen tour groups. When we reached Dublin Castle, we spent a good amount of time seeing an exhibition called Coming Home: Art & the Great Hunger. It's a very powerful show, with a video intro, paintings and sculpture. Much of the works come from the collection of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut (who knew?) so local folks will get to see it when the art returns in 2019.

Roger then headed for the airport to go back to London, leaving me to travel solo until my flight on Sunday. I spent two hours at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Parnell Square. The permanent collection includes many impressionist and modern works by Irish artists. They also house the studio of Francis Bacon. It's his entire actual studio. After his death, the studio he had for over 30 years in a Kensington mews was dismantled and reconstructed, down to the piles of clutter and the smallest detail in this Dublin gallery. I'm not a fan of Bacon, but I thought the studio was so interesting -- it's rare to see the place where art is actually created.

I also walked along beautiful Georgian terrace streets, saw an iron bench being consumed by a tree at the King's Inn (a legal inn), visited Blessington Basin park (ducks, a swan, fairy houses and a sweet little lodge) and did my shopping for dinner. I'm back in the flop  house now. As soon as I finish writing this, I intend to sleep soundly and long.

Friday stats:
£3.50 final bus fare in Belfast
€19.50 for 72-hour bus pass in Dublin
€4.80 lunch
€17 famine walk
€3.40 pint of Guinness after the walk
€20 ticket to a cappella showcase
€12 pizza and wine

21,252 steps, 8.77 miles

Saturday stats:
€2.85 tuna & sweet corn sandwich from Tesco
€5.39 salad for dinner
€5.30 bread and wine

20,644 steps, 8.48 miles

The Coastal Route

We rented a car and drove north via an inland route and back to Belfast along the coast. Today is the longest day of the year and it was sun and blue skies the entire day, though temps never got out of the 50s and it was pretty breezy. I think this might be as good a day as we could possibly have had weather-wise in the north of Ireland in June.

We got turned around and lost numerous times, but Roger drove on the wrong side of the road only once and we didn't hit anything. There were a few times on the twisty narrow B roads that our hearts were in our throats, however.

I took a lot of photos on my camera, but only a couple of crap ones on the phone.

The Dark Hedges, a two hundred year old tunnel of beech trees seen in Game of Thrones:

Giant's Causeway, which is pretty spectacular:

When we got back into Belfast, we thought we'd drive over to the Shankill Road to look at the unionist murals. We made several attempts to get there via what looked on the map like through streets, only to encounter the barricades of the "peace wall." It might be that the gates had been closed at 6 or 7 pm, before we got there. It was a stark example of what local residents encounter as they try to get from one part of Belfast to another.

When we did reach the Shankill Road, we thought the area was creepy and the murals are very militaristic. During the Troubles, this was home turf for gangs who committed the most brutal sectarian violence, murdering scores of Catholics across Belfast. Now, the gangs have turned their enterprise to drug dealing. I didn't take any photos with my phone so you'll just have to wait for me to upload my proper photos to ipernity.

Stats:
£3.50 top up bus pass
£2.75 sandwich and crisps in Bushmills
£11.50 entry fee for Giant's Causeway
£3.40 pint of Guinness in Cushendun
£3.50 soup and bread for dinner

15,786 steps, 6.58 miles

More on the Troubles and a big ship goes down

Today we got a different perspective on the Troubles and how they impacted ordinary citizens of Belfast, both Protestant and Catholic, and do so to this day. We did the walking tour about the history of the terror with DC Tours. 

Our guide Paul ( Donzo) took us through several seminal incidents that took place in Belfast city centre, incidents that illustrated the "parallel universes" that have been inhabited by people on the two sides of the conflict over the past four decades. He carefully showed how people on either side can have their own truth and their own trauma. I was particularly struck to hear him describe the ways in which a person's own experience in the years of terror can to this day impact that person's viewpoint, body language and behavior. Paul has taken part in a number of educational and reconciliation projects related to bringing peace to Northern Ireland. I wish I had been able to ask how young people who were born after the Good Friday Agreement experience their city. I'm really curious how they view the Troubles and to what extent -- given that something like 90% of primary and secondary schools are segregated by religion -- they are able to have normalized experiences that mix Protestant and Catholic kids.

After the conclusion of the walk at the waterfront, we took a look at the Salmon of Knowledge and then crossed the pedestrian bridge over the river and made our way towards the old ship yards. Our lunch stop was the DOCK Cafe. I can't remember how I heard about this place, but whatever it was made me put it on my spreadsheet as one of my Belfast destinations. In a cavernous space at the base of a new development next to Abercorn Basin, the caff serves up wholesome food on an honour system -- each customer puts whatever amount they think is fair price for their order into an honesty box. The caff also serves as a meeting space for local groups, with comfy donated furniture all around, an art gallery, a prayer garden and place for community volunteerism. On the recommendation of one of the volunteers, we each had the chicken soup and bread and it hit the spot.

Our next destination was the Titanic Experience, where we learned about the late c19 and early c20 industries in Belfast, the dockyards, the building of the Titanic and its sinking. It's an interactive, highly immersive place -- as opposed to a museum proper. Lots of moving images, sounds, buttons to push. I enjoyed both the bits about the industrial history and seeing how the ship was outfitted with furnishings, woodworking, china, linen, etc., most of which was made in Ireland. 

It was wicked easy to catch a bus back to the city centre from Queen's Island. We stopped in a pub -- pint of cider for Roger and pint of Guinness for me -- before catching another bus back to the Queen's University quarter where we are staying. For dinner, we went back to Slim's Healthy Kitchen where we had eaten two nights before and it was just as good the second time around.

Stats:

£3 to top up bus pass

£1.90 for scone for breakfast eaten on the bus

£15 for History of the Terror walk with DC Tours

£3 lunch

£15 Titanic Experience

£4.40 pint of Guinness

£15 dinner and wine

14,392 steps, 6.08 miles

A lesson in history and lunch at the Felons Club

Two of the reasons for this trip to Belfast were to see the political murals and learn more about the Troubles. We did both today on a walking tour of west Belfast, organized by a group called Coiste that supports former IRA prisoners. Advertised as a three-hour tour, we actually spent well over four hours with our guide Peadar Whelan, who put the murals and the individuals depicted on them into context. Woven through the walk were the history of the political, social and economic conditions that gave rise to armed resistance to British rule as well as Peadar's own personal history in prison. The tour is not on unbiased view of the conflict and doesn't pretend to be. It's all about the IRA's fight for a united Ireland free from British rule.

While there are dozens of murals to be seen on both sides of the conflict, we saw only a handful of them. At first I wished we'd pick up the pace and wondered if we'd run out of time before I'd seen enough. It wasn't until we were a couple hours into the walk, when Peadar told us his own story of serving 16 years of a life sentence in the Maze prison (part of that time with Bobby Sands), that it clicked for me. I thought I knew a fair amount about the Troubles but my knowledge was certainly augmented by Peadar's insights. What I had no previous exposure to was the personal narrative of imprisonment. But for this to have come earlier in the walk would have been premature. It seemed right that Peadar tell his story on his own terms at whatever time works for him. I won't retell it here, but suffice to say it gave me a new perspective on the reality of imprisonment, the brutality of the British government and the organized campaign of resistance that the IRA waged within the prisons.

The official end of the walk was at the Milltown Cemetery where many IRA members, including Bobby Sands, are buried. But the real end was just down the road at the Felons Club, a membership club like the Elks for former IRA prisoners. We were invited to the bar for a glass of Guinness and we stayed to order sandwiches for a late lunch. I wanted to take a photo of the outside after as proof positive that I was there, but it was stonking raining when we left so you'll have to take my word for it.

We hopped the bus back into town and then got another bus down towards Queen's University and the neighborhood where we are staying. Sadly, it was too late to go to the Ulster Museum. We then tried unsuccessfully to get into the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine in the Botanic Garden, but those had just closed as well. So we trudged home in the rain, dried off a bit, went out for nearby takeaway from the Thai Tanic (cheap, edible, nothing to write home about) and came back to the flat to eat and crash.

Stats:
£3 to top up bus pass
£8 for walking tour
£5.50 chicken sandwich for lunch
£6.95 Pad Thai for dinner

21,302 steps, 8.88 miles

Street art, Hobnobs and a good night's sleep

We didn't make the 10:35 bus as Roger spent a long time in the immigration queue, but caught the one an hour later. There's not much in the way of scenery to gawp at from the motorway to Belfast -- cows, hedgerows, auto junkyards and a few isolated wind turbines, but no picturesque Irish villages. The journey was fast and we hit the pavement in Belfast city centre by 2 pm. Our first stop was nearby at a tourist ticket shop that doubles as a short term luggage drop (pre-booked on Stasher.com), then to the Belfast Visitors Centre to purchase our city bus passes and to a magic money machine to get a fist full of her majesty' s currency. I learned when I purchased my return bus ticket from the driver in Dublin that the pound coins I was carrying are no longer in circulation. Some time in the last nine months they've been replaced with shiny two-tone nine-sided ones sure to defy any attempt at counterfeit. I spotted a Waterstone's, so nipped in to buy a copy of The Gospel According to Blindboy, a book of satirical and philosophical short stories by one of the Irish podcasters who has been in my ears these past months.

Our original plan had been to spend the afternoon at the Titanic Experience learning all about ship building and ship sinking, but opted to explore the streets and alleyways of the Cathedral Quarter instead. This turned out to be a grand idea as nothing warms my heart more than derelict buildings and street art. Just off the busy shopping streets we found plenty of both, as well as some proper good architecture (Georgian and art deco) and a big cathedral (early c20, Protestant and uninspiring).

After a sit down at Caffe Nero, we reclaimed our bags, boarded a bus and headed to our AirBnB. There was some confusion about the key, but we got that sorted. The place is clean and spacious with most of the mod cons we require. We explored the neighborhood eating options, ending up at Slim Kitchen, a nice bistro serving fresh, healthy and tasty eats as well as booze. Our final destination was Tesco to stock up on essentials -- cereal, milk, more wine and Hobnobs.

Stats:
€2.25 coffee at Dublin airport
€2.20 bottle of water
£22 return bus ticket for Belfast
£6 luggage stash
£3.50 one- day bus pass
£10.99 Gospel According to Blindboy paperback
£3.35 water and banana bread at caff
£24 dinner and wine
£7 bevvies and nibbles from Tesco

19,254 steps, 7.92 miles

I'm in the Emerald Isle ...

... and spending my first five hours hanging out in the arrivals hall of Terminal 1 at Dublin airport. It was an uneventful flight over, packed like a sardine in steerage. I give myself high marks for judicious packing -- my new carry on weighed in at a mere 16 pounds and I successfully hoisted it into the overhead bin unaided. Ate some crap airline food, watched Lady Bird (swearing censored) and slept about an hour and a half on the flight.

Roger just messaged me that he's on the train to Gatwick. I'm hoping he exhausted all his bad travel karma on his recent trip to D.C. If good luck holds, he'll arrive at 10:10 and we'll be on the 10:35 bus to Belfast.

As I know my loyal readership is eager for the scintillating minutia of my travel adventures, I will try to post every step taken and pence spent. Stay tuned for further developments.

Lessons Learned

Happy to say that I didn't lose anything or get lost on my trip. Before I forget them, here are the lessons I learned:

1. I must stop looking for the steps-free access to the westbound District Line platform at Paddington. Yes, it is possible to take the lift up to the ticket concourse/street level from the eastbound platform, but steps-free access back down to the westbound platform does not exist. Advice to self: Deal with it, get a lighter suitcase, or use the Circle/H&C via Hammersmith to get to Heathrow. 
2. Aer Lingus from Hartford via Dublin is the way to go. Doing immigration at Dublin saves much time and hassle over the lines at Heathrow. It was so quick and easy on the way to the UK that I hardly realized (at 4 am) that I had done it, but I have the stamp in my passport as proof. Coming back was a bit more complex, with three different segments to the pre-clearance for US-bound passengers (re-screening of all carry-on items, passport scanning and a final station where you turn in your customs declaration form and receipt from the passport scan), but at 45 minutes all told it was better than the up to 2 hours it can take now at Logan Airport in Boston. 
3. The Airbnb experience was fantastic. I was a bit wary of staying in the home of people I didn't know, but with my room a bit removed from the rest of the house (I was over the garden extension) and my own bathroom, it was extremely comfortable. Traveling on my own, it felt nice to have people to talk to for a few minutes when I came in every evening. The location was ideal -- I really like Queen's Park and it was fun, after two years away, to explore new things in the area.
4. The 2GB add-on package I purchased for £15 with the sim card from EE was more than enough data for my stay, even running Google maps and the Citymapper app every day. I switched the phone to wifi-only data when I was in the flat and used a total of about .6GB of data over nine days. I could easily have gone with the 1GB package for a tenner. 
5. Having a smartie phone with me when I was out and about was certainly convenient for maps and transport info, but time spent looking at a screen is time not spent looking at what's around you, as tempting as it may be to check Facebook when riding the bus. 
6. The 90-day Art Pass for ten quid was brilliant. I got value for money within the first day of using it. They don't advertise the 90-day pass, but I saw a promo code for it in one of the London e-mail newsletters I receive (can't remember now which it was -- possible Open House or London Transport Museum). 
7. I need to upgrade my technology. Taking the bluetooth keyboard to use with my tablet wasn't worth the bother (heavy, awkward touch), so I finger-typed my blog posts on the tablet instead most of the time. Time to think about buying a Chromebook -- possibly the new Asus Chromebook Flip C101. 
8. Many years ago, my friend Helen declared me an honorary Londoner, but at the time I didn't feel that I'd fully earned the appellation. I'm chuffed to say that, finally, I think I wear it well. 

I came home with £20 in my wallet and ~£13 on my Oyster. Time to open a new spreadsheet and start adding things for the next trip to Blighty. 

Open House: Sunday

A quick recap before I finish packing and leave for the airport. On Sunday, I set out with many more index cards in my stack than the number of places we could possibly visit. I figured that, if queues were long or took more time than I'd thought to visit, we could skip some and move on to others. The first two stops were non-starters. When we got to the Andaz Hotel, the queue for the Masonic temple inside was already 100 people long. It was supposed to open at 10 am, but the queue didn't begin to move until 10:20. By 10:30, we'd only moved a few feet, so we pushed on to St Helen's Bishopsgate, where the morning service had just begun and we weren't allowed in. After that, we were much more successful and saw seven OH venues:

• St Mary-le-Bow, a small Wren church in Cheapside
• Billingsgate Roman bath and house (archeology under a new building)
• Custom House, just across Lower Thames Street
• After a bus ride to Bermondsey and lunch at Maltby Street Market, we hopped back on the bus to Rotherhithe to see Brunel's shaft, recently fitted with a proper staircase inside. It's the 8th wonder of the world, as we were repeatedly told by the director of the museum during his talk/tout of museum shitknacks. 
• The nearby Old Mortuary, now the Time and Talents Community Centre
• A quick look at Sands Films Picture Library
• Through the tunnel to Wapping to Metropolitan Wharf, where we visited an architectural studio overlooking the river.

We walked along the Ornamental Canal up to London Docks in hopes of seeing Pennington Warehouse, but reached it too late to get in. So, we ended our trek at St Katharine Docks, where we saw the royal barge Gloriana moored. No, we didn't get to go aboard.

Making an early night of it so we both could go back to our Airbnb flats to pack, we had dinner at Mr Fish, the local chippy in Queen's Park, which was quite good. Thanks for treating,  Molly!

Speaking of my Airbnb, it was totally lovely and comfortable. And the location was perfect.

Final stats:

1 pound 85 for egg and avocado on a mini roll

4 quid for lunch

90p for water

85p for coconut macaroon

23303 steps

10.01 miles

Open House: Saturday

It's been a number of years since I was last in London for Open House, an annual September event during which over 800 venues are open across the capital. It's a fantastic opportunity to see the inside of buildings normally not open to the public or to go on special tours to learn about the unique architecture of sites. I do my research well, choose my destinations, make an index card for each, put them in order and plan the transport route from one to the next.

Armed with my stack of index cards, I headed to the first venue, a home and studio near Brondesbury station, stopping in the cafe in the middle of Queen's Park (the actual park) for something to eat on the way, and was the first to arrive at the gate at ten minutes to ten. I was soon joined by a woman wearing an Open House volunteer name tag and her husband. We chatted a bit and then we're confronted by a snotty youth demanding to know why we were standing in front of his house. The woman explained that we were there for Open House. He kept insisting that the house was not open and finally said that his parents changed their plans and it would be open only on Sunday. I'm guessing that the bratty attitude is a case of the apple not falling far from the tree.

The rest of the day went much better. I did one residence/studio near my Airbnb myself and Molly then caught me up for the rest. Here's what I saw:

• Studio McLeod in Kilburn Lane, an architect's studio and residence that made amazing use of a small space, even finding places to conceal and store three motorcycles.
• Simon Court in Saltram Crescent, where we saw a small flat in a converted Victorian church.
• 264 Westbourne Park Road, two contemporary houses built one atop the other on what had been a small corner of derelict land. We were the last people admitted for the last tour of the day. The architect/owner/occupant showed us most of the house and explained his design and the construction. It was a great tour.
• Royal Albert Hall. As I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend a concert here anytime soon, this was a good opportunity for hoi polloi like me to see it.
• Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Street, with lots of Art and Crafts elements. 
• Moravian Close, just off the King's Road, on a site dating back to Tudor times, where there's a more recent Moravian burial ground and chapel. I need to do more reading about this spot (we missed the talk).
• We walked down to Cadogan Pier, where there was supposed to be an exhibition of art made from bits and bobs found on the foreshore, but it wasn't there. (This was something I read about on the Totally Thames website, not an Open House venue.)
• Sambourne House at 18 Stafford Terrace in Holland Park. Again, we got there in the nick of time to be among the last people admitted. This is said to be the best surviving late Victorian middle-class home in the UK, and I'd had it on my spreadsheet for ages but had never managed to get to it on one of the days that it's open each week. It was totally rammed with people, but we got to see most of the rooms.

Much in need of a drink, we stopped at the Elephant and Castle, a nearby neibourhood pub, for bevvies and nibbles. Next, it was back to Queen's Park for a pub meal at the Salusbury to end a long and full day.

So, seven venues seen, two closed or missing, and two index cards skipped. All told, a highly successful day.

Stats:

2 pounds for pastry in the park caff

2 pounds 86 for meal deal for Tesco (eaten in a park off the Portobello Road)

1 quid for pamphlet about Holy Trinity Church

2 pounds 35 for half pint of beer

20 pounds for pub meal

25019 steps

10.28 miles

Bermondsey, Bankside and Victoria Embankment

Friday was a very full day spent on both sides of the river. The weather cooperated through the daylight hours and we got some great views of Westminster, the City and Southwark.

I started my day at White Cube Bermondsey to see an exhibition of women surrealists called Dreamers Awake. I hadn't read much about it beforehand and there was no text in the gallery to help me understand what each artist's intent was or how the pieces fit in the surrealism movement. What I saw were some disturbing images, a lot of genetalia and many dismembered body parts. Not my favourite exhibition of those I've seen this week.

Molly caught me up and we walked up to Borough Market for lunch, followed by a walk along Bankside under a warm September sun. This was the weather I was hoping for, not the dreary damp of earlier in the week.

We reached Westminster Pier for my friend Jen's guided walk, Beyond the Great Stink. Jen does her walks through a collective called Footprints of London, a group of qualified guides who give well-researched walks on a variety of topics in locations all across the capital. This walk was no exception. I had read the book The Great Stink, but the walk really did take my understanding beyond the miasma. I learned a lot about Joseph Bazalgette's engineering of the sewers and the Embankment. We saw 16th and 17th century watergates, which showed us just where the pre- Embankment Thames would have been, and peered through a grate where we saw a platform on the District line just a few meters below us, made possible once the river was contained.

As it was Friday Lates, we were able to go back to the south bank and spend time at Tate Modern, where we saw Soul of a Nation, an exhibition of black American artists' work from the 60s and 70s. It's a massive exhibition that covers many themes and perspectives on a turbulent time in American history, and it exposed me to scores of artists I didn't know of. If I lived here, I'd go back and see the exhibition a second time.

We also went to the observation deck on the new extension (great views) and had a look round the building and the tanks.

Stats:
4 pounds 50 for lunch
8 quid for walk
7 pounds 50 for Tate exhibition (50% off with Art Pass)
A fiver for dinner at Leon (not great but ok)

30041 steps
12.97 miles