A Bridge Too Far

Millenium Bridge, originally uploaded by cjsceats.

Walked my dawgs off today. Absolutely beyond my means. Though by Google maps it only appears to have been 8 or 9 kilometers. I feel like I ran 10 KM. Twice. It started innocently enough. After a pleasant team meeting / breakfast then a post-meal perambulation up to Oxford Street for a coffee with work colleagues, I headed back to the hotel, then off to the Tate Modern for the Gerhard Richter retrospective.

“Moaning on… made me more An Idiot Abroad than Sir Henry Morton Stanley.”

Mustang Squadron, Gerhard Richter, 1964 image via Art Tattler International

After so much walking, strolling around a large gallery probably wasn't the best idea. By the time I had gone through 13 rooms of work by Richter, I could say I was fairly well-done. Which would've been fine except I was inexplicably drawn to walk across The Millenium Bridge. It offers some unique and wonderful views of the Thames, St. Paul's and the London skyline. Not that I could enjoy it. Moaning on about being terribly exhausted and getting a bit of a head ache made me more "An Idiot Abroad" than Sir Henry Morton Stanley. Naively I thought I could simply trot over the bridge and catch the Tube at Blackfriar's but of course, that station is closed. I had to make my way to the next Tube stop. Eventually I made it back to the hotel, just in time to collapse on a pile of cushions.

Fortunately, the cycle of life in London allows time for pre-supper naps. After said repose, I joined a colleague at a restaurant cater-cornered to our hotel. Luckily, London offers not only the worst of but also the best of dining experiences . One of my favourites is Wagamama and I was glad to find it was as good as I remembered it. Plus it was nice to just suggest a place that was close by and you knew was reliably good and affordable. One pile of noodles and a Japanese beer later and I was ready for another satisfying slip into high-thread-count sheets and lighter than air pillows. Defying logic, I wound up staying up to watch this fascinating live music program on BBC 2, "Later… with Jools Holland". You'll just have to trust me on how good this program was.