Notebook page 141 - 145

London

I've done tourist things in London several times, so I spent three days mostly wandering around and eating. I find the food in most of Britain to be bland and greasy, but London repairs all food faults. I had no trouble at all finding really good sources for all cuisines. Yum Yum!

My favorite was a small patisserie near the science museum where I had really good crepes and pastries, served in a French atmosphere -- sit as long as you want, the garcon won't come near you unless you signal.... linger over the food for an hour, or whatever.... and everything light and flavorful. Delicious.

I paid homage to the museum gods by visiting the too huge and piled up treasure house of the Victoria and Albert museum. Ceramics and textiles and iron work, kitchen utensils, glass, room after room, squeezed into little crammed cases with eensy-weensy labels. I spent an hour looking at textiles. Now I know the difference between brussels lace and valenciennes lace... very useful for a science professor! There was some exceptionally nice decorative wrought iron work: balusters and window grills, gates, and cast iron household items such as sconces and firebacks(detail above). We don't appreciate the workmanship in these until they are pointed out to us...

Then I visited Samuel Johnson's house in Gough Square. An interesting 18th century house:

I also trotted off with Dr. Farrell, another professor, to see a performance at the newly rebuilt Shakespeare's Globe theatre

... a round tiered theatre surrounds an open air court with standing room for patrons. The perfomers were a troup of early music enthusiasts who played well but were clearly completely ill-at-ease in a theatre where the groundlings were supposed to make rude comments, piss where they stand, and throw nut shells. This style of performance will definitely take some getting used to on both sides. We didn't carry out our whole groundling audience program either.

pages from a notebook 1997 Matt McConeghy