Going back in time - Last weekend,,,,

...I was in London with Jackie Lee, another culture vulture like myself. We'd been planning a weekend like this for quite some time and finally the time had come. The plan was to 'do' London in a day, on the train, with 2 exhibitions. A little ambitious, I agree, but we were game!

The weekend started on Friday night at Jackie & Dave's newly refurbished home near Scunthorpe. Dinner was an excellent curry cooked by Dave. Yum! This was followed by a lovely half hour or so when Jackie serenaded us on her new (old) Steinway grand. A real treat!

Saturday morning saw us up at 5 and out the door just after 6am on the way to pick up the train at 6:55 at Retford. We were booked in 1st class and so breakfast was served en-route but honestly we hardly had time to settle in as the train actually arrived at 08:40! So at 9am we were at Buckingham Palace!
After taking some pics and getting a lovely cappucino, we got to the Queen's Gallery (down the side of the palace) in time for our 10:30 timed ticket. The current exhibition is 'Breugel to Reubens' and was a fantastic view into the Flemish masters. The collection included a gorgeous picture of a little boy looking out of a window, and a harrowing scene of the massacre of the innocents, somehow made worse by the fact that the slaughtered children had been, at some point, painted over with bundles and animals and were therefore only visible on x-ray. Anyway the collection was fabulous and the commentary was fascinating.

After the queen's gallery, we walked accross St James' park to Picadilly and went to Burlington house, the home of the Royal Academy of Art. (And the courtyard societies) They have an exhibition on Byzantium. It couldn't have been a better choice for me! Ravenna, near Forli, is one of the best examples of Byzantine art in Italy. Fabulous! So I was extremely tuned in!

There were huge amounts of people in the exhibition but as Jackie is a member we had lunch in the members' lounge. Very exclusive! Th exhibition itself focused alot on Icons and iconography. Again it was absolutely fascinating and the audio guide was brilliant.

In the evening we did a quick zoom around Fortnum and Mason and then headed to King's Cross to wait for our train at 7:30. We were off the train at 9pm (how quick!) and back to Jackie and Dave's by 10! A long day, but a lovely one!