Had a stroll down the road, checked out Admiralty Arch and got as far as Number 10 Downing Street. Just a bit disappointed the PM didn't invite me in for morning tea but never mind. I'll get over it! Lots of police around plus two with some sort of rapid fire guns...not being an expert on guns...let's just say it would deter me from trying to climb the fence. Couldn't do it anyway with my dodgy knees and bung feet :)
By ten I headed back to Trafalgar to visit the National Gallery. It was wonderful, not too crowded and I got to see my two favourite artists, Monet and Turner. Unfortunately Van Gogh's Sunflowers was on holiday in Amsterdam, which was a shame. Spent a few hours looking at the art work plus a visiting exhibition called Saints. It was...bizarre! The work comprised of mechanical models that you could operate by using a foot pedal. One huge model of a person, supposedly a saint, would swing a giant hammer and hit itself in the chest repeatedly. Another was a female saint who stabbed herself in the throat with a giant pair of shears. As I said...bizarre.
At this point a swarm of Spanish school students on excursion descended on the museum like a plague and they were then joined by a multitude of other students, obviously on excursion. Overheard one posh miss saying to another, in a very posh accent, "Oh I do so like this painting. It has a certain something about it." The painting was of a horse so maybe she was thinking about her pony club days. Tally-ho!
This signalled that it was time for me to depart. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring all the little streets and not so little streets around Lancaster Gate, Queens Gate and all the other gates and mews...discovered a great shopping complex and had a much needed iced lemonade before returning to the hotel.
I found a chemist in the area so have bought some hay fevertablets but alas, they haven't done anything. Constantly dripping nose, sneezing and red eyes have kept people away on the train which is the only benefit of hay fever.
Spent the rest of the afternoon writing postcards to my sisters (which they will get after I return, no doubt!!) and will not venture out again today as my heels now resemble bread dough (swollen and blistered) and I need to buy more band aids.
Tomorrow - leaving London and catching the train from Paddington station to Bath.
