Greetings from Old Blighty! Today got off to an interesting start when I was headed for the National Gallery. In Charing Cross Station, a film crew was taking film footage of crowds walking through this one intersection, splitting them up into 4 groups and walking them past the camera. I watched for a little bit, and then I decided to try joining in. I took a couple of passes with one of the groups, and was not detected by anyone. I don’t know what it was for, but there you have it.
At lunch, as I was waiting around for my appointment at the Milestone Hotel (they graciously agreed to give me a tour), a performance artist was doing his thing in Trafalgar Square. He was a Finnish juggler/acrobat, and for part of his show, he did a side-flip over some dude lying on the ground, and I volunteered to hold the chain for him to flip over. I don't like new people, but as a writer it's sort of necessary, I guess.
Finished up today at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I went there because I was in the Kensington area anyway, and I was surprised to learn how honking huge it is. It's got a little of everything: paintings, sculptures, jewelry, costumes, the works. But what I found most impressive was the cast room. Prince Albert knew that a lot of really cool architectural stuff was in far away places, and the average person would never be able to go see them. So he had these to-scale casts made for the peeps who couldn't travel all the miles to see them. This here is Trajan's Column from Rome, standing behind a statue of St. George killing a dragon. Despite the vastness of the room, the column had to be split into two sections. The detailing on it was amazing. I was standing right next to it and I couldn't believe it. I don't believe it now.
I should totally set one of these up for my home town.
Bonus Statue Action! (From the Victoria and Albert Museum)
