London Fog

Both Shari and I are running low on toothpaste. We each started with a fresh 1.7 ounce tube and we know how to squeeze it out. Time to go home.

London is the opposite of Tucson in many ways — the most obvious being weather, sheer size, congestion, public transportation, a river that flows year-round, and art and buildings dating back centuries. This world city is a great place to complete our one-month blitz of Britain. (Maybe "blitz" isn't the best choice of words.)

The curiously named British Museum.

London. The capital of a former empire where the sun never set. (The joke goes, because God didn't trust them in the dark.) Today you can hear almost any language spoken on the streets and Tube trains. Not just tourists, either. Our hotel is almost entirely staffed by Latvians. There was an African wedding reception in its pub dining room last night. We are located in a Polish neighborhood.  (There's a Polish-Chinese restaurant across the street.) Our server at breakfast is a Gujerati from Kenya.

The British Museum reflects that erstwhile empire. Bits and pieces collected, some say stolen, from all over the world. The Parthenon marbles are the most controversial. Having visited Athens, the Parthenon, and the Acropolis Museum, it is sad to see the marbles out of context. Mind you, the display in London is spacious, but juxtaposed with spectacular relics from Assyria, Egypt, Rome, Africa, China, India, Anatolia, Levant, Japan, the European Continent, it's a bit too much. It's not really a "British" museum.

By comparison, the Tate Britain gallery does focus on British art. There is more than enough to overwhelm. Beautiful, marvellous paintings they are. No wonder Shari wanted to see the Tate again. Ninteen years after her previous visit, there was no disappointment. It was tough to keep from taking photos even though the Tate website has accurate images readily downloadable.

Walking the Thames riverside was a little disappointing. The weather didn't help, but that's the climate here in autumn. Drab industrial piers along the river didn't help, but it is a working river. Homeless sleeping on benches and in camps under bridges didn't help, but London is a big city. Crowds of tourists didn't help, but London deservedly is a prime tourist destination. Odd, even bizarre shaped skyscapers and a ferris wheel dotting the skyline didn't help my appreciation, but that's only my lack of good taste.

What was a little frustrating was the number of buildings shrouded in scaffolding. They included MI5 and almost all of Westminister. Only the clock of poor Big Ben was visible peeking above the scaffolding.

So much for my goal of panoramic shots of The Thames and London. I did get some shots of police protection at No. 10 Downing St., but I wish I had the video camera on record to capture one tourist's reaction to being told there was a crowd there because it was No. 10 Downing. "What's that?" was the reaction.

"That's where the Prime Minister lives," was the explanation.