I've decided to spend my morning with 2008's presidential nominiees on youtube again. McCain is getting on my nerves today. We should both practice deep breathing techniques. Perhaps then he wouldn't get so flustered. And then I wouldn't feel the small ball of unease in my gut. And we both would be quite peaceful.
After a few deep breaths I feel much better. How do you feel, McCain?
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Today I leave for Bangalore, although I won't arrive until tomorrow at 7pm. I leave London Heathrow at 9pm and arrive in Mubai tomorrow morning. Five hours in the airport, and then I fly to Bangalore. The rest of the group will arrive Tuesday night, so the travel agent for the tour, Sanjay, has said that he will pick me up in the airport and take me to where I shall stay.
Wow. India.
The past couple of days have been beautiful here in London. Only on Wednesday were there thick clouds and light rain showers from the sky. On that day, Marcelo and I met outside the Tower Hill tube station and walked down along the Thames, marveled at St. Paul's church, and found our way to his friends' flat in the western-most end of London.
On Thursday we had a slow morning sitting in filtered sunlight as Marcelo reconnected with old friends. We went off by ourselves to Hyde park and ate lunch by the Royal Albert Memorial before going to the Natural History Museum. Much of the displays about the geological history of earth and space were in dark rooms that made me feel tired, but I stayed strong and went on to see the dinosaurs and mammals. After watching a mechanized, life-sized T-rex for several minutes, I was glad that I had not succumbed to the power of the yawn.
Friday was another slow morning and another museum. We went over to SoHo and walked around the time-squarish part of London. We walked through St. James' park and then up and over to the British Museum. We were only there for about an hour before it closed. We hardly had enough time to oggle the mummies. As we left the museum, a flyer for a Baroque ensemble called clockwise handel (I think) caught our attention. The music was in a church called St. George's and was literally right around the corner from the museum. Aside from the everpresent street noise, the acoustics in the church permitted the beautiful sounds to resonate for several seconds after the musicians had stopped their movements. There were 5 musicians: an oboe, soprano vocalist, harpischord, a bassoon-like instrument, and cello. All the musicians were passionate and talented.
It was afer the music (and on an empty stomach) that we met our roommates at the old english pub pictured below. We were there for a couple of hours and I drank two beers. The first was a nondescript organic ale and the second was...sweeter. It was great to be at this particular pub because it is in the old city of London and one of the last pubs around of its kind. If you can zoom in to the picture, you'll see 'anno. 1720'... just another structure older than any institution in the US.
And yesterday we hung out in the flat, got some chinese food for lunch, and played music. Marcelo left for his flight to Berlin last night around midnight and we have made plans to meet again after I return to London from India. I'm pretty certain that we're going to meet in the arctic town of Tromso in Norway. However there is a slight possibility that we will meet again in Italy. Whichever way the wind blows I suppose.
Today I might go to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. Gareth prepared a London to-do list for me before we parted ways, and I have checked off most things on the list. The Tate is on there, so I might go for it.
Soon I'll pack my things and blow this popstand. I'll probably head to the airport around 6:30pm...
Until we meet again, Love.
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