Michael and Elizabeth out the frount of our Hotel in Bloomsbury
A new and perfect day in London. Our drem was to walk carefree around London with Elizabeth and that is exactly what came to pass. Our dream together on Facetime from Australia was a reality. We walked across the Thames and along the bank. I noticed Liz spying for a spot to get down on the bank and give me the opportunity to experience mudlarking in reality. She coaxed us down onto the not so muddy bank tide way out and we walked along with our head down gazing at the rocky bank . It became quite mesmerising . I found a nail from a very old ship and a bone from when the butchers used the river as their drain . History is amazing you could write chapters on the few things I picked up. There was also a group down there picking up rubbish and it was the experience Liz wanted us to have. We recovered . . . back up on the bank and walked on to Tate Modern. Michael and I had been here once but it was closed and so our first experience walking into this grand old electical or water plant and seeing how it has been modified. It took awhile to orient ourselves and then Liz gave me the opportunity to experience the special exhibitions as she is a member and has a Tate card.
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Munter and the Blue Rider the ones who led the road to Modern Art
Now You see Us Women Artists in Britain 1520 -1920 Women who forged a path silently for generations to come
Yoko Ono : Music of the Mind
Elizabeth was excited to show us The Snail by Henri Matisse. What fun , What an amzing picture.
Elizabeth with The Snail (Why is Matisse’s snail so famous? “The Snail” is furthermore considered a particularly profound Modernist statement because the spiral pattern on a snail shell, what Matisse referred to as the “unrolling,” references The Golden Ratio, a compositional strategy frequently used in early abstract art that is considered an expression of universal harmony in)
Why a snail? Dali used them as images of impotence, while medieval painters included them in paintings of the Virgin Mary, due to the belief that their shells meant that their modesty was protected and they reproduced without sex.
From the members room and from the shop we enjoyed a wonderful view of St. Pauls Cathedral. Here is a good photo shoing the Thames and St Paul’s with Elizabeth and Michael in the Tate.
It is a commonplace, but we cannot help repeating it, that St Paul’s dominates London. V. Woolf.
Admittedly Virginia wrote that is an essay about London harkening back to a time when London, and St Paul’s, was surrounded by ‘sheep grazing on the greensward; and inns where great poets stretched their legs and talked at their ease.’
The Poetry Pharmacy
Today, we like flaneurs wandered along the London streets back home to our accomodation and Elizabeth led us along a busy vibrant Oxford Street. And we came across The Poetry Pharmacy which I have followed on line for sometime and I wexcited to visit the actual new shop.
https://www.instagram.com/poetry_pharmacy_/#
What a wonderful oasis in a bustling street in a fast moving city in a overwhelmed world .
It was so lovely to drop in and see all the books and jars, and the little café! Such a creative use of the space and love the whole concept✨
We sat sipping tea with nibbles, enjoying the wonder selection of books and poetry reminders around us , noting all the poetic medicines to assist us in our needs in this days.
Welcome to the world’s first walk-in Poetry Pharmacy!
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9PJ__RtbPj/
I love the reminder about the medicine:
Handmade – No Bitter Pills
No adverse reactions
Easy to swallow (Metaphoriaclly)
Pill capsules are filled with Poetic Solace
(Not suitable for children)
My choice to bring home to Australia was a bottle of Poemcetamol
