OK, here we are, a day before the wedding and hoping to feel some of the hype of the city. We were both impressed and disappointed. Certainly you couldn't fault the city decorations. The city is cleaner than either of us can remember it and the amount of flags and bunting is incredible.
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| Flags on display for the wedding |
Lots of private buildings have put up their own decorations and certainly the pubs in London are no exception. Here is one not too far from the Abbey.
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| "The Albert" in Palmer Street, SW1 |
We took a bus ride through the city to see the decorations and were surprised at the small number of people out and about but that may have been because it was still fairly early. Our bus trip took us to St Paul's and we were able to see the Millennium Bridge, a 330m steel bridge linking the City of London at St Paul's Cathedral with the Tate Modern Gallery at Bankside.
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| St Paul's |
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| The Millennium Bridge |
In the afternoon I went to the Victoria and Albert to a wonderful exhibition,
The Cult of Beauty, The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900. Unfortunately there was no taking of pictures, but because of a very minor problem with the ticketing they gave me a free pass for another day. Not of much use for me but I have offered it to a friend who may be able to make use of it. I always enjoy going to the V and A and there is always something to grab one's attention. This time (in addition to the exhibition) I spent some time admiring the statue of Samson slaying the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. This sixteenth century monumental marble sculpture by Giambologna is his only work ever to have left Florence.
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| Samson slaying a Philistine |
That was enough for the day so we finished it off with a nice dinner.
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