Not Doing That Again...

After a friend cycled late at night through the Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames and said it wasn’t bad, I thought I’d try walking through it. So I walked over to Limehouse and made my way to the tunnel, which was opened in 1908 with two lanes for cars and sidewalks for bikes and pedestrians on both sides.

I quickly learned why it doesn’t show up as a suggested walking route on any of the mapping apps I use: the ventilation is horrible! I was constantly breathing in exhaust fumes for 1.5 kilometers. The first half of the tunnel was nicely tiled...

…while the second half was just boring cement. There were distance markers along the way, which seemed to taunt me by reminding me how much longer I would be stuck under the river. 

While this isn’t actually the view upon emerging from the tunnel, I went out of my way to remind myself how lucky I am to live next to this amazing river. 

 

Signs of Spring...

We covered a lot of ground that day walking through several parks, where the trees were still bare.

To cross from Hyde Park into Green Park, we went under Wellington Arch, which was built in 1830...

…and has lovely doors. 

We were thrilled to see several signs of spring.

 

More Art...

Next we walked across Hyde Park and into Kensington Park to visit the Serpentine Galleries to see two unique exhibits. We had first seen some of the work of American artist Barbara Kruger as a similar piece was painted on the walls of the Stedelijk in Amsterdam and remained for many years before being displaced by bare walls.  

Much of this exhibit called Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. were digital pieces that rotated through with different words.  

She also had some old-fashioned collages; this one featured the title of the exhibit.

So thrilled that Veronica likes going to see art exhibits with me!

We also visited the other Serpentine Gallery and saw a really wild exhibit about nature and AI. Turkish artist Refik Anadol presented Echoes of Earth: Living Archive, which used over 100 million photographs of nature, many of which were shown here, to train an AI model. 

We sat in various spots on the floor around the gallery to watch the immersive show that filled the walls from floor to ceiling highlighting the creative potential of AI. It was mesmerizing.

 

A Day of Art with Veronica...

Veronica and I had a day filled with lots of walking and lots of art on March 13. We started with a visit to Saatchi Gallery, where we saw these whimsical sculptures.

Our main focus was not light-hearted, but rather an incredible photography exhibit by Edward Burtynsky called Extraction / Abstraction which showed how mankind is stripping the planet through industrialization, most specifically mining. 

Later that day, we enjoyed seeing his exhibit come to life on the huge video screens of Outernet, near Tottenham Court Road Station.  

Most of what is shown on these screens are digital creations, so it was great to see real photography for a change. 

 

Southbank...

Rise Up Rhino

On March 12, Veronica joined us for a City H3 hash starting near London Bridge which gave her a perfect opportunity to see some of the Gillie and Marc sculptures that I had been enjoying.

They Were on a Wild Ride to a Safer Place
with Rabbitwoman and Dogman

It was also a chance to walk home back across Tower Bridge...

…and admire the business district at night.
 

St Dunstan in the East...

Veronica was excited to take some self-portraits at the ruins of a 12th century church in the city center.

St Dunstan in the East was severely damaged by the Great Fire of London in 1666, but later repaired. The tower, designed by Christopher Wren, was added in 1701 and somehow survived the Blitz in 1941. Sadly, it’s not open to the public.

While it was actually a brisk spring day, Veronica didn’t hesitate to change into a summer dress to pose below the blossoms.

I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of the artist at work. 

St Dunstan is surrounded by modern office buildings including the Walkie-Talkie, seen in the background, which houses the Sky Garden.
 

More of Veronica’s Visit...

It’s so great that the girls enjoy cooking. Veronica happily made us dinner...

…including focaccia baked in Jimmy’s new pizza oven.

It was delicious!

I know the quality of this photo is crappy, but it helps to tell a story. 

Due to a variety of circumstances (including UK Immigration having our passports for two months to add our visas delaying our ability to open a local bank account, which was required by our broadband service provider), we watched TV from the guest room for nearly four months as we had no WiFi in our living room. 

While this photo also isn’t great, it was taken in one of my favorite spots in our neighborhood where we first spot Tower Bridge in the distance. While lots of tourists cross the bridge itself, the iconic bridge acts as an invisible force field that seems to keep tourists from coming further east. I truly appreciate having crowd-free views on our walks into the city center. 

Veronica took this nice selfie on our walk back through the tourist zone managing to avoid capturing any of them.