An unforeseen Delta flight delay meant we had to ditch our 10 am tickets for the Soanes and head straight to Balthazar in Covent Garden for our lunch reservation.
Here we are in my regular morning coffee shop.
Walking with her through the familiar streets we enjoyed people watching, window shopping, and the way a flower-covered cart made a street safe for pedestrians. So much nicer than neon-orange rubber cones.
After lunch, we strolled over to the National and spent a few hours with the geniuses of medieval and renaissance art. During this visit, I was struck by the individuality of the faces. Whether Venetian Doge, self-portrait of a painter, a painter’s father, or someone chosen to represent the son of God, these were specific individuals whose faces the painter came to know intimately.
The same can be said for the faces of the women. These are individual people, not generic types, not wife of/daughter of, but a particular person. They look back at us across the centuries. Like the epitaphs at Westminster Abbey, their faces say ‘remember me.’
Afterward, we both enjoyed a restorative nap.
Tomorrow we visit the British Museum and have lunch at Micheline-starred Frog.