Friday, October 12: Tate Modern & Doggett's

Jamie's class ends early on Friday so we were all headed out to the Tate Modern Art Museum by about 4:00 p.m. Liam had tried to talk me into taking him somewhere else, but I thought it more important we have some family time since Jamie has been working so hard while we are here. We took the train to Southwark on the Jubilee line and were delighted to find not only excellent directional signs, but a very cheery string of orange painted light poles that lead you straight to the museum.

Of course the boys' favorite piece was the brand new crack down the length of the turbine hall. It is meant to convey the split in humanity due to racial and ethnic hatred. It is a powerful piece and I had the impression many of the people were walking the length of it much like a contemplative labyrinth ritual. Others were merely photographing the daylights out of it. I suppose we were in the latter category.

The boys weren't too bad as we traipsed them past Picasso, Miro, Kandinsky, Pollock and the like. Liam was disappointed they do not have any Dali. The "melty clock" painting is a favorite of his. I think we've finally taught him the correct name for the piece. It was a bit rough going towards the end but I sent Jamie into the last gallery by himself while I played with an interactive instructional video exhibit with Liam and Colin.

After the museum Jamie tried to find a great pie house with traditional British fare for our dinner. We had a bit of a wrong turn, but at least it took us past the recreation of Shakespeare's Globe theatre. Nevertheless, our intrepid wanderings did eventually take us to Doggett's Coat and Badge which has a spectacular view of St. Paul's cathedral from the third floor dining room.

Liam: Cottage Pie
Colin: Bacon and Cheese Melt
Jamie: Steak, Stilton and Potato Rosti
Ann: Spinach, Brie and Red Currant Bundle
All: Sticky Toffee for dessert (Oh My Goodness!)

Straight home after dinner to pack for our flight to Vitoria, Spain tomorrow. A little nervous about the train to train to train to plane to automobile trip but slept fairly well for all that.

I am going to go insane if I have to stay in this small flat for much longer with two hyper and bickering children. I will blog the trip to Spain later on today. Needless say...el fin de semana fue maravilloso!