So many visitors!

Last weekend, Steve came back to London. On Saturday, we went to the National Gallery, which I absolutely loved. We primarily looked at renaissance paintings and a bit of medieval. My favourite find was Bronzino's Allegory of Love. I had to sit down and admire it for a while. To my art history masters, Anna/Nicole: What is going on in Veronese's Adoration of the Magi? It looks like Chewbacca [sp?] makes an appearance... seriously. It's very strange. We saw Mantagna's Agony in the Garden but not Bellini's. It was being restored. I once confused the two of them on a slide test at UofT. We also saw some Titian and Botticelli. It was stunning.


Steve + I outside the National Gallery

Afterwards, we tried to identify all of the provincial flags at the Canadian Embassy. We failed. Then we had a picnic and drank wine in Soho Square. I love how accessible and socially acceptable alcohol is here. Everyone in the square was drinking. It was just so relaxed and made for a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


London drinks in Soho Square.

That night, we went back to The Astoria to see the Pussycat Dolls. I'm not a huge fan, but it was a good show for only 12 quid and you certainly can't see them that cheap in North America. Later, Steve demonstrated an unprecedented display of insensitivity, but it was generally a good time. We met some fun Irish people who invited us to Dublin sometime!

On Monday, Brennon and I went to the British Museum where we saw plenty of Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts and sculpture. I didn't recognise too many specific pieces [unlike the National Gallery] but there were sooo many red-figure Greek amphoras and the mixing bowls and other vases.


The obligatory Great Court photo.


The seated goddesses from the Parthenon.

I made a new friend on Tuesday: Nik. He and I were hanging out at Starbucks on Tuesday when Adam Morrison called my mobile. I met Adam while I was living, working and partying in Kingston, Ontario last summer. He was passing through London from Greece on his way back to Canada and he was hoping I could give him a place to stay [naturally, I had lots of space for him!] The three of us had dinner at Wagamamas in Leicester Square. It kind of reminded me of Salad King / Spring Rolls in Toronto. Then Adam and I went back to my flat, I gave him a tour of Canary Wharf and he gave Brennon and I a bottle of Ouzo from the Isle of Lesbos [hehe]. It's a liquor that tastes like Sambuca [black liqorice] but it's much stronger and had to be diluted with ice water. We had a pretty late night of drinking and photo sharing.

Yesterday, I met up with Erandi DaSilva. Erandi and I did our undergrads together at UofT and she's continuing to study architecture here in London. It was nice to see her. For you other archi-kids, she's been very busy at school and she's in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend who lives in Toronto, despite the fact that she's in a 5+ year program here. Good for them! We went to the John Soane Museum. I was appalled to learn that she'd never been there during the 2 years she's lived in London. I went during my first 2 weeks. She loved it. I accidently stood on his wife's grave while I was trying to get a view upward to a skylight. Soane buried his wife and son in the basement. Kinda weird. Then we went to Harrod's and walked around for a while. I am in love... with Duchamp ties. Then we went to the Spitalfields / Old Street area where we went to the El Paso Pub and shared nachos and beer. The El Paso is SO Toronto. I love it. It's sort of Green Room-esque.


Erandi + I at John Soane's crib.

Today, I started my library job. It's fine. It's very low-key. Ronnie arrived from Toronto with contact solution, eye drops and Kraft Dinner for meeee! I'm very excited to have him here. I'm sure he'll make the next 10 days very interesting.