Burlaki on the Thames

Today, we went to an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts called “From Russia”. It presented over a hundred paintings from the collections of four leading Russian art galleries, of French and Russian painters, such as Monet, Renoir, Repin, Petrov-Vodkin, Chagall, Malevich, etc. Too much space for cubists, abstractionists and the like, for my taste, but a good exposition nonetheless, although probably not as fascinating as the erstwhile Russian Masters collection at the Guggenheim in New York. We went with our friends. The kids expressed their reluctance to go look at paintings, and we decided not to insist. It illustrates how we reached a whole new stage in our cultural life, where we no longer feel that we should be forcing the girls to participate in our activities. Thankfully, we no longer fret much about leaving our children home by themselves for a few hours. They had their own cultural program: TV and computers…

On the positive side, we were free to enjoy the adults-only company, and topped off the gallery visit with a lengthy repast at a nearby pub. As always, nice conversation on a vast variety of topics left all parties pleased with the event.

We also popped in for a quick look into the nearby Fortnum & Mason, which is about plenty more than just tea: A multi-level department store that sells pretty much everything. And pretty much on the high end…

We went to see the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London last night. Confirming what I have been hearing for years, it’s a tremendous show, with imaginative colorful costumes and contraptions depicting various animals, and simple but expressive sets. The acting, I felt, was a bit on the mediocre side, but that cannot negate the overall positive impression. One little problem. For once in our lives, we did not bother with choosing our seats, but instead went for what was available through a distributor. Ended up in the fourth row of the mezzanine, which, at this particular theater, has less than ideal acoustics. But the most important thing is, this show is not suited for viewing from above. The sets that depict savannah lose their impact on the viewer because of the perspective. For instance, when the sliding strip of vegetation is meant to create an effect of moving through a grassy terrain, and you see the actors’ shuffling feet from your perched viewpoint, it all looks rather weird.

In addition, parts of the stage open up to let in or take away both the characters and some additional decorations, and seeing the gaps in the floor or some of the mechanisms is downright disillusioning.

Not being able to properly see the parts of the show where the animals move through the orchestra is also a downer.

Well, the kids loved it anyway! That’s all that matters.

“A nice weekend is one that allows you to catch up on your sleep a little bit.”

I was ready to adopt this new motto, having had two prior travel weekends in a row - I never stay in bed late when I am traveling, never mind the fact that I usually feel less than comfortable in hotel beds, - so some extra shut-eye was overdue.

Given the times of my awakenings on Saturday and Sunday - let’s put it cryptically at closer to noon than to my weekday 6:50 alarm-clock moment - the weekend was quite nice. But it also encompassed an interesting bit of entertainment and a boisterous get-together with friends.
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Today we entertained ourselves with a visit to the Royal Albert Hall for the Carols by Candlelight concert.
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Becky complained that she spent twice as much time on the bus during her class trip to France than actually touring. While I suspect that she is exaggerating, there is certainly a bit of a shortcoming with the whole day-trip to France concept: Getting to Calais takes at least two hours from your door. Add the same two hours to the return leg, and you end up with quite a chunk of time just spent getting to/from the gateway to the country… Objectively speaking, there is a limited range of what you can go for as far as a day-trip is concerned, and most of the time it involves getting up at five in the morning to make a start…
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There is nothing quite like a classical music concert to take your mind off mundane happenstance, even if the first piece of the program is somewhat disturbing Also sprach Zarathustra, by Richard Strauss (which has been immortalized by Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey, but is more likely to be associated with Что? Где? Когда? for most of my readers). It was followed by very enjoyable Sibelius’s Second Symphony, and then, for encore, two short energetic pieces that I have no recognition of.
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Becky’s school year is over. A bit more sleep in the morning for me until September (although I was foolish - that’s another word for professional - enough to agree to an 8:30am meeting on Monday, signaling to all those willing to notice that I no longer have the drive-daughter-to-school excuse to decline early meeting invites).

And if my American readers are a bit incredulous at the mid-July end of the school year, let me assure you that only going to a private school allows Becky to start her summer holidays this early. Poor Kimmy still has a week to go…
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In our many years in New Jersey, we cannot recall ever having a breakfast outside. Barbecues, parties - yes, but never a breakfast. There were several excuses for that, such as absence of a deck and complicated logistics of carrying stuff down wooden steps to the patio, but the fact remains. During our Tuscan sojourn, of course, we had breakfast in the gazebo every morning…
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I forgot to check with the groundhog this year. Did it see its shadow or not? To be honest, it would not make any difference. The winter never really came to England. Late fall lingered… and gradually morphed into early spring…
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Next on the list - learning sign language.
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I drove my parents to the airport in the morning, and we are all by ourselves again. Time to get back to work, school and otherwise routine existence.

Time to resume our grand plan of Old World exploration, too. Upon returning from Switzerland, we did a few things with the parents (such as a narrated city bus tour, which Natasha had never taken before, and visiting the Royal Observatory in Greenwich), but otherwise, my mom and dad have done us better, with visits to places we had not gotten to yet, such as the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tower. Ok, Natasha and I have been to the latter, but not as part of the official programme.
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If anybody has a chance to go see Mary Poppins on Broadway - we highly recommend it. Going by our Travelog ratings system, ♥♥♥. Magnificent production, great songs, fun all around. In a word, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!
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