Bye-eee

Right. Carry-on bag and backpack are packed, i-pod is loaded and charged, condo is clean, and I'm off to London this evening. I will not be tweeting or blogging while I'm there. I keep travel journals when I go on a jaunt, though, so I will tell you all about it when I get back.

I've been thinking about how people turn up their noses at "touristy" stuff. I agree that there is always more to see in a place than just its monuments and famous spots. However, it's good to see said monuments and famous spots with your own eyes at least once, rather that relying on others' accounts of them. Often when you see things for yourself, you notice something about them that no one bothered to tell you. I'd heard all about Van Gogh's paintings and had seen countless reproductions of them in books. When I saw them for myself at the National Gallery in DC several years ago, I was struck by how thick the paint layers were and how mural-like the Crows in the Wheat Field painting was.

So, seeing as my hotel is a few minutes' walk from Buck House, I will make a point to stop and scrutinize it for a few minutes at least. I will make good use of the Tube and bus systems to visit the British Library, the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Hampstead Heath, St James Park, and St Paul's Cathedral. I also have a couple of out-of-town trips planned - one to Windsor and one to Oxford ($11 gets you train tickets to and from Oxford!). I also want to see Oscar Wilde's House in Tite Street in Chelsea, pay my respects at Jacqueline du Pre's grave (which is listed as being in a Jewish cemetery somewhere in "greater London," so should be interesting to try and find), have tea somewhere, browse in a Waterstone's bookstore and the I Knit yarn shop, and possibly take a ride on the London Eye. And that's just for starters.

Be good while I'm gone. (And thank you to Emily for looking after the cats.)