Perspective and Slaughter...

After another typically huge English breakfast, we waddled off to the National Gallery for some terrific art. In a museum that large, you can't spend time at every work. My strategy is to wander through, looking for the paintings that capture my eye, then spend some time with them.


Uccello, called the master of Italian perspective, was certainly one of the first to get the vanishing point effect. Of course on his great painting, "The Battle of San Romano," the perspective's a little off. Lots of vanishing points. Terrific painting anyway, with tons of symbolism, drama, and some rip-snortin' war chargers. I loved the one comment from some suburban American, "It looks unfinished."

But enough about culture, how about some bloody culture? Last night we watched that most overwrought of Shakespeare's plays, "Titus Andronicus. Let's just say that when Lavinia takes her father's severed hand in her mouth to carry it because both her own have been lopped off, you know you're not in for a mild evening.

The performance at the Globe was electric. A good quarter of the play was acted out in the groundlings' yard, with actors running about moving the poor groundlings out of the way. It looked like the mosh pit at Mastodon.

We walked across the Millennium Bridge, ejoying the sights of London from the Thames at night. Even though London is a huge town, finding a late night place to eat is just as hard as in other cities. (Somehow, the night-owl district is always far removed from where you want to eat.) We ended up near our hotel, near Covent Garden, at a place called the Water House. It was outdoor, thumping with the sounds of the disco underneath and next door. The food was simple but good. I had a bleu cheese burger with chips and a lager. Pub food, but with a bit of an upgrade.