Kensington - Old Baily

This is outside the Glouster Tube station in S. Kennsington. I stayed at the Baily Millenium...an old hotel with creaky floors and ghosts....and feathers. Wonderfully located- was simple to get around from there. I was aware of a few homeless people, something I hadn't seen much of in London but the neighborhood had more texture - and I felt more at home there than in other neighborhoods where I've stayed. Watched football in the Polo Lounge down the street.
What's to say? I suspect that when darker days come I'll think about brilliant days like this one and examine it like a jewel - too beautiful to be believed.

Isle of Wight

And this is from the dock
Could there be a lovelier village? Maybe the people are harsh and grasping. Maybe the weather is brutal. Maybe there are "dark shadows".
Maybe- but hard to believe people would not take comfort in being part of this.
The train station...tea in styrofoam cups and tourist brochures inside.
A street on the way back from the ruins.. the first autumn walk on crunching leaves. Desolate, but in a peaceful way.

Roman History in the Rubble

These are actual ROMAN mosaics that have been uncovered on a dig located on the Isle of Wight. Sorry that I was not able to join the team for the regatta- I was - still thrilled at the antiquities, the display cases of other finds, at the beauty of the day.

This is a view of the harbor from the ferry boat that made the crossing from Southhampton to the Isle.
And this is a glimpse of my Sunday afternoon at St. Paul's Cathedral. It is so large- and in such an urban environ it is difficult to get perspective. Would be interesting to have a history of the cathedral-- or an understanding of what it meant to Londoners to see it perfectly in tact after weeks, months of blitzkrieg. Is it possible that it was intentionally spared? 

Wicked

This is the inside of the Victoria where we went to see Wicked
The sign is not electric-- it is all spangles. Right across from Victoria Station and down the block from an easy little Portugese restaurant I came back to a second time because the wine and the roasted nuts were so good! I think the second time I may have enjoyed it even more than the first!
And all over the city--- Elphaba and G-linda conspire with girlish whispers Wicked is simply the backstory to tale we all know- and a case in point that when you know the rest of the story, sometimes the villian isn't the villain, the hero isn't the hero and life is less predictable than we think.