Gettin Cultured and Such

First the big news, I got a new bike!!! It is a folding bike so I can take it on the Tube and trains, check out the beautiful picture below. It is awesome. Of course we are in for 3 days of rain so I can't take it out just yet. I have a feeling that little bike and I are going to spend a lot of time together.



Tate Modern
So today I took in the Tate Modern Museum. It is essential that I get out and accomplish/do SOMETHING each day (since I work from home, it can get a bit lonely). Knowing Dave's distain for modern art, it was something I had do do alone. OK yes, there was the odd paper-mache sculpture that looks like something my 4 month old niece could do, but there were also some really great Picasso and Dali works, a Diane Arbus photography exhibit, and cool historic posters. Plus the museum is free, well they ask for a $4 donation.

Symphony
Tonight we are headed with a few of Dave's coworkers to see the Philharmonic Orchestra at the Southbank Center. Should be cool, I know nothing of nothing about classical music really - except that I like it and there is a ton of it here in London.

Flying Dutchman
OK this is going to be a weird stalker story. I have been swimming this month with a really fast guy. We met a few weeks ago, he had on a blue swim cap with a big "M" on the side. So I asked if he was from Michigan - nope, he is Canadian. He told me he was in London for work. After a few swims, I learned that he was actually a professional opera signer, no shit. He told me that he was signing with The Flying Dutchman at the Royal Opera House. He is like one of the lead guys, which I found out after internet-stalking him. I looked at tickets for he show a few days ago and they were literally hundreds of dollars, but I checked again yesterday and they released a few "partial view" tickets for $13 each. For $13, I don't care where the hell I sit since I may never go to the Royal Opera House again in my life! So we are going to see the show tomorrow, at that point the guy may get a restraining order against me - but whatever.

Guy Fawkes' Night (aka. Bonfire Night)
We will be celebrating our first official British holiday this weekend. I don't quite understand exactly what happened and why we are celebrating, despite reading the Wikipedia page a few times....... Apparently in 1605 Guy Fawkes (the scary dude to the right there) got a group of his Catholic friends together and tried to assassinate the Protestant king of England at the time, James I. Well the plot was thwarted and now we will celebrate that fact by burning things and shooting off fireworks. They even burn and effigy of the Pope in Lewes, UK - wherever that is. Scandal!

Getting Ready for Madrid and Portugal
Madrid is next week (leaving on Thursday) and Portugal is at the end of the month. Today I started my Portuguese language CDs and bought a Lisbon book at the charity shop down the street - man I love those stores! More trip reports to come......