Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Allyson and I slept in a little today. Then we got up and headed for Brick Lane. We had heard that Brick Lane has a million different Indian restaurants on it, so we were dying to check it out. We had a harder time finding it than we planned, because all of the underground lines we needed were shut down for repairs. We ended up taking the bus, but that took us forever. When we finally got to the area, we had a hard time finding the street, as nothing was very clearly marked. We wandered around for a while, finally finding it when we turned around and started heading back. We ate at a random Indian restaurant, and it was okay. I got lentil soup that was amazing, and a vegetable curry that was not very good. Overall I was kind of disappointed, because I love Indian food and was looking for a good deal. The place near our house is much better and has better prices. After lunch we took a bus to Tower Hill, and walked across Tower Bridge. We thought it would be easy to find the Tate Modern from there, but we were wrong. We walked for a long time, but eventually we reached it. Should have taken another bus. Tate Modern, Britain’s national museum of international modern art. The building the museum is housed in was the former Bankside Power Station. I had mixed feelings about the museum. I liked a lot of the paintings by Miro, Dali, and Picasso, but there were other forms of “art” that did not resonate with me. I don’t understand how some things are called “art”. I look at them and think, “Well, duh, a two year old could have smashed that together.” Well, my almost two year old Zach could do so much better than a lot of the artists in that museum. There were also quite a few disturbing pieces, particularly videos of self mutilation, blood, gore, and sex. I did not enjoy those, because I do not see any element of art, only the artist’s need to get a shock from their audience. Not art.

We left the Tate Modern pretty late, and made our way home. It was raining as we left. We walked across the Millennium Bridge towards St. Paul’s Cathedral to catch a bus home. The view of St. Paul’s across the Thames was beautiful. I love that cathedral. It is spectacular.

We enjoyed one of our famous Tesco dinners tonight. Oh boy!