3 April - Day 3

Day 3 – One more gorgeous day - perfect for a new crisis du jour - mine! I had tried to make reservations on line for our trip to York. Not having used the British rail system I was nervous about just showing up. The concierge did his best to help but it seemed we would have to go to a station to make the reservation. Of course, I assumed the worst - the rail passes weren't valid, blah, blah blah...Tom and I walked the short distance to Victoria Station, waited in the wrong line (long, wrong line), were politely told to get in the other line and once there effortelssly reserved our seats for the trip. Euphoric we hopped in a cab up to the British Museum where I fulfilled a long time dream to see the Elgin Marbles. You could spend days in there. Then off to the Tate Britain to see the Turner’s…sigh. The current exhibit draws parallels between Turner’s so-called “unfinished” works and those of the 20th century abstract expressionist, Mark Rothko. I’m not sure I’m buying all that but it was very thought provoking t0 think that Turner purposely played with light and paint in a very abstract way. The two Tates (Britain and Modern) have a Thames shuttle between them! Named, of course, drum roll….Tate a Tate! How cool! Another perspective on London! We didn’t go in the T-Modern or do the Globe Theater tour (the lobby was bedlam) so we opted for lunch OUTDOORS at a little pub on the southern bank of the Thames. Our view was looking over at St. Paul’s. From there a walk across the Millennium bridge. The bridge, if you will remember, wobbled like mad and had to be rebuilt so when Sophie and I were there 04-05 you could only walk out a short distance as the center was removed! We are on a roll so why not one more museum? OK – the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. Wow! On display was just a modest sampling of the art works acquired by the royal family. The current exhibit is “Bruegel to Rubens” – superb! A walk across the street to our hotel. Such a great day we decide to walk up to Sloane Square to a restaurant Tom remembers fondly - Oriel. Nice walk. Great restaurant - table by the window to people watch. Tomorrow - another installment of Tom vs. Marcus so tune in again!