Steel and Glass

Out of bed at 5.30 a.m. and onto a London bound train an hour later, to see the Viking exhibition at the British Museum. After a strong cup of coffee I had the opportunity to wander off on my own with a camera for a couple of hours while Hanne Lene took Jess to Madame Tussauds. (Later on I got to see some of Jessie's photographs...selfies with a selection of heroes and villains from Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler).
I was going to take the Docklands Light Railway out to Canary Wharf and beyond, I find the architecture, the views and contrasts very visually powerful. But the railway was closed for repair work. So off on foot through the financial district, almost deserted on a Saturday and eventually to Holborn and Bloomsbury to meet up with the others.
There is something delightful about being lost in an urban jungle but secure enough to blunder on till you see a familiar landmark. When I lived in London, my eyes and my mental space was perpetually defended against taking in too much. But as a tourist, I felt a bit like Crocodile Dundee coming to the city, wide eyed with curiosity.
Unfortunately the Viking exhibition was massively oversubscribed. We had timed tickets but it was almost impossible to move amongst the heaving mass of visitors. We saw a few marvellous things but cut our visit short and headed off to look at part of the permanent collection devoted to the spiritual practices - totems, shamanism, religious artefacts and funeral rites - of tribal peoples. This was fabulous. I might cheat and post my favourite Inuit mask tomorrow.
Finally we headed off for a short stroll into family history to look out the street in Bloomsbury where my grandparents lived and where my mother spent her childhood. It was touching to think of her as a little girl playing in the park with her sister, and a nanny in close attendance.