What's this horrible-looking plastic meal?! You've probably guessed it already - it's airport food, sad and expensive - the only uplifting item here is the wine. It's my lunch at Barcelona Airport, before heading to London and another hermit experience. If France is my second home, then England is definitely my third. I was at University in England in the 70s, in Brighton, and the train journey up to London was quick and easy, but even before living in England, London was my favourite city. I hadn't been to England for ages when I managed to visit London three times in 2012, two of the trips were Big Mama-escapes. Obviously I was very London-deprived!
Now we're talking - dining in style alone at the Wolseley
My visits to London last year reopened my eyes to those wonderful cultural experiences always on offer in this city. 2012 was perhaps a special year - an Olympic year for Great Britain - where they took the opportunity to show off their cultural muscles. The country was brimming over with exhibitions, concerts, theatre productions, book readings and every other imaginable happening. Being a person who needs regular cultural fixes - or I'll simply wither and die - but having a family who doesn't necessarily feel the same way, it's natural that some of these fixes are done when I'm in my hermit state.
David Hockney at the Royal Academy! I had no pre-ordered ticket, so I queued for an hour. No stress - the weather was gorgeous in March - early summer! As I was slowly approaching the entrance, about one third of the queue to go, a woman about my own age came over and offered me a spare ticket - one of their party hadn't turned up - and I practically whirled through the fast track entrance, surprised and delighted that I was the chosen one from a queue a mile long.
And oh, so in awe... The exhibition "David Hockney - A Bigger Picture" was amazing, overwhelming, moving, breathtaking. http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hockney/ It is now on show in Cologne, Germany, so if you're somewhere in the vicinity, promise me you'll see it! My soulmate Grete is DH's biggest fan, and she gave me a crash course and a book before I went there!
Souvenir - my David Hockney umbrella
The following day it was time for the National Portrait Gallery. http://www.npg.org.uk. This was always one of my favourite haunts in London, and the exhibition in spring showed the fantastic portraits by the unique Lucian Freud. http://www.npg.org.uk/freudsite/ Appropriate enough one of the first portraits I noticed was this one of David Hockney!:
David Hockney - portrait by Lucian Freud
Self portrait - Lucian Freud
Everything comes together. Always. Everything is connected. This is how I feel in London.
His creative mind inspires me, constantly........and then there is London....ahhh.....
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