Experiencing the 'culcha'

We're staying in one of the garret rooms at the top , and as
 you can see we are
opposite the Borough Market

The view  of the 'Shard' from our attic window

After lots of sleep, and breakfast at a local cafe, we walked to the Tate Modern : a walk of only a few minutes -eleven to be precise. We passed The Globe theatre on the way but stuck to our plan of checking out the latest contemporary art at the Tate Modern.
After much deliberation about tickets and exhibitions we paid for two: Radical Eye and Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition, both of them focusing on photography.
Set in an old power station the Tate Modern is very industrial and has huge open grey spaces divided into the Stokehouse and the Boilerhouse sections.

As we walked in there was an enormous moving installation that consisted of large white rectangles being moved around a vast space by metal cables. It was mesmerising as you watched the patterns they made and tried to predict which would move next. On a sloped area people were lying on their backs staring at a ceiling that appeared to be twinkling lights. I thought that if I had to get down on the floor to view something it would only be for Leonard French's beautiful stained glass ceiling at our Arts centre, not for a few lights. But each to their own I guess!

Off we went to see the Radical Eye , an exhibition of photography collected by Elton John and usually displayed in his house. He became interested in collecting after he 'sobered up' in the late 90s. Whilst you might expect his collection to be more celebrity , it wasn't at all. He collected small - some of them tiny! - black and white photos from early 20th century photography pioneers. They were really beautiful and we both loved a group of them from Man Ray. He chose a random group of famous people to sit themselves in a corner and the way they chose to do that was very revealing. Salvador Dali was very front and centre whilst Joe Louis and Duke Ellington were far more relaxed -. fascinating!

 The Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition was a mixture of photos social commentary and political comment and -not really my cup of tea. But there were some lovely pieces n amongst the newspaper cuttings!

We decided that we should mix the old and the new and set off for the Tower of London along the Riverside walk, past St Paul's Cathedral. We braced ourselves for a climb up to the top of the dome but didn't succeed as it was a Sunday and no climbers allowed!

With loads of tourists we entered the Tower of London. Maybe we were tired but it was all a bit ho-hum to be honest. I guess it is very significant in the history of England but with loads of people it loses it's charm. I think I might offer to become a consultant to tourist venues to advise them on how to engage tourists: there's a new career for me!. I don't mean to sound like a grumpy old woman but the lighting and signage for many of the displays was poor and the light and sound show as you waited to see the crown jewels was ridiculous - random bits of information with no relationship to what you were going to see.

The jewels themselves were dazzling and you could see them in all their glory. Who knew you could actually get diamonds so large?! Not me that's for sure.

We checked out the Armoury, the Chapel and the torture chamber and headed for home walking across Tower Bridge and along the southern side of the Thames to reach home - well almost home.

It seemed appropriate to have a beer (or a cider in my case) at the Southwark  Tavern which is on the ground floor of our building: Expecting a basic English pub and counter meals we were pleasantly surprised to find a huge range of beers - the list stated "Yes we have beer but no Fosters!". And the food was fabulous and cheap: Roast chicken and roast pork with all of the trimmings including light and fluffy Yorkshire puddings - delicious.

 With aching knees and legs from so much walking - and struggling up 4 flights of stairs to reach our apartment! - we had an early night.

your cultured and informed correspondent

Dianne