The morning that I return begins a week even more of a whirlwind than the last, in which I see various people, watch several plays, and visit even more museums. I barely sleep, rarely eat, and speed from the office at exactly 6PM (I start counting down the minutes at about 1:30, my meticulous notes are surrounded by little crossed out marks of 4 hours, 3.75 hours, 3.5 hours, etc.) I return to South Clapham Station at 11:30 every night, and walk back through the quiet neighborhoods, where I collapse gratefully for a few hours sleep, before getting back into my suit at 7. I have the house to myself for a few days while the various Grahams travel about on various trips, so I blast loud music and make exotic meals for myself, luxuriating in the comfortable house with a great selection of food, movies, and music. I am comfortable being alone, and I relish the utter freedom of my existence. I miss Casey though. All the time. Don't tell him that.

On Sunday morning I go to Trafalgar Square, and walk around the showering fountains, misted gently by the spray as I people-watch in the shadow of Nelson's Column. Finally, I find Susan and Lisa, the two Canadians from Edinburgh who have demanded a whistle-stop tour of London's Museums.

First we launch into the National Gallery (3 steps away from Nelson's Column) where we experience the Percy Stubbs National Gallery Tour. While I have not actually contributed to the museum collection (except perhaps for a few sketches I did under the not-very-clever pseudonym George Stubbs) I lead them to my favorite pieces. These include if you are interested J.M.W. Turner's "Ulysses," and "The Fighting Temeraire," George Stubbs' "Whistlejacket," John Constable's "Cenotaph," and Delaroche's "Execution of Jane Grey." As well as a few others.

I am shocked and thrilled that they actually like to hear me talk about London, its history, and the other various things I drone on about, but they love it, and demand more, so we go from thence to The Albert Area to the the Royal Albert Hall, the Albert Memorial, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A leads us to incredible exhibitions on theater and music, filled with costumes and stage-sets and brilliant pieces  of art and history in unparalleled collection and presentation. The Cast Hall at the V&A contains stunning replicas of sculpture from every corner of the world, and we are left in awe.

Then we go back to my favorite haunt, the Natural History Museum (which in Sonoma would more likely be called the Natty Hist Museum), to see the wildlife photography exhibition. I recommend looking up some of the photos from this, as my desciptions of these photos (some of the best wildlife photos in the world) will be woefully inadequate. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/

We make a good exploring team, the Canadians and I, and the various exhibits are, in their own ways, riveting. Eventually we part ways, and the London adventures continue.