Found myself in Covent Garden after being brutally but necessarily squished by my osteopath so I decided to take an artist date – I bought the coffee I’d gone there for, swung past Neal’s Yard Dairy where they were giving out free Cheddar samples outside, then went for a browse in the London Graphic Centre. Wandered up Charing Cross Rd via Konig Books and Foyle’s (but didn’t buy anything). Lovely!
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I went down to the Firth of Tay to see the Discovery, Scott of the Antarctic’s ship, which was amazingly awesome and interesting. They had an harmonium on board! I was most impressed. Freakin’ freezing outside though so I didn’t linger in inspecting the ship itself.
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Another birthday treat – there wasn’t going to be anyone to do anything with, so I figured I’d treat myself to a proper video night. I went out to get a takeaway pizza from our local shop, which has just been taken over by new people – and they gave me a free coffee, a little biscuit and a mini KitKat while I waited! AND it was a great pizza when it came. And the bear had given me Quantum of Solace on DVD, so everything was set 
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At the National Gallery. Interesting. I didn’t really know his work, but some nice stuff there. He seemed a bit uncertain as to what to do with the English light or lack thereof in the earlier ones, but the later Welsh seascapes are beautiful.
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Only had the morning really in Brussels before needing to get lunch and go and check-in for my train, so I went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, which was absolutely fantastic and huuuge and worth a good deal more than the measly €5 they charge to get in. Had a last wander round the Grand Place with my lunch when I was done, then bought specaloos and some PIMs for John from the supermarché near the hostel before collecting my bag and heading to the station.
Knitted on the Eurostar on the way home and a French lady opposite told me my scarf was “très jolie” and that she’d always wanted to learn how to knit, so I told her it wasn’t very hard – only 2 types of stitches to be learnt. Nice to have a good exchange in French, however small.
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Went to S.M.A.K. (contemporary art gallery) and then the normal art gallery in Ghent. I wasn’t that taken with anything much in S.M.A.K. but it was marvellous to see a gallery devoted entirely to the work of living artists, and there was a very nice wonky stool made by some Italian chap which I rather liked. The other art gallery was fabulous, especially the modern section – mostly Belgian artists I’d never heard of, but some beautiful pieces there.
Had frites for lunch, then boarded a train back to Brussels and went and wandered around the Grand Place for a bit, visited the Manneken Pis to see what he was wearing (nothing at all, but apparently earlier in the month he’d been dressed as a dentist) and then went and indulged in a hearty and not too expensive spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Yum! More knitting when I got back to the youth hostel.
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Taking photos all the way. Negotiated the Belgian train system, went to Het Gravensteen (castle), a couple of interesting art exhibitions in an old monastery and spent hours and hours just wandering the streets drinking it all in and taking tons of photos. Oh, and had the best coffee in the world ever. Mmmm. And did some knitting in the evening too.
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Missed the Eurostar I was supposed to be on because they cancelled our bus route and I ended up having to walk to the station, but the people in the ticket office were lovely and switched my ticket to the next train, so off I went – extended artist date here I come!
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Walked Jac back to Imperial College after lunch and on my way back to the station was inspired to take myself into the museum for a bit of an impromptu artist date. Interesting!
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Because once definitely wasn’t enough. Twice even isn’t enough, but I doubt they’d let me take any of the Seagram murals home and they for-sure wouldn’t fit on my walls if I did!
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