Julianne's notes, and Nancy's first drawing in London

Julianne - We have been here one night and today we got on Bus 36 and took a tour.  We snapped those Oyster Cards on the reader and walked on in just like we knew what we were doing.

It was a great help that we spent time looking at the maps and routes when you were in DC Raleigh.  The buses here are double-decker and great for a city ride when jet lagged.  We rode on out to somewhere north of Paddington, stopped for lunch and rode back to Hyde Park and marble arch.  Lazed around while Nancy drew the sculpture of a horse head there.  Relaxed back.  Napped.

This is quite a nice place though a bit down at the heels.  Owner has been in hospital quite a bit.  But a middle-class home in Camberwell and comfy.  The co-op grocery we noted on the map is also right outside our door and just fine for our needs I think.  We will cook dinner tonight.

Weather is good-a bit overcast and about 75 degrees.  Such a relief after DC.  Everything is a relief after DC--moving is really hard.  But the house is rented and all is going along as it should.  We are vowing not to collect so much stuff in the future.  Now to relax and wander the world.

from Nancy: this horse head is actually bronze, a stunning impact with the red buses and green trees behind. The people are to scale, quite a struggle for me as I kept wanting to make them bigger - but the sitters really don't reach the top of the horse's nostril. The sculpture, by Nic Fithian Green, is in the same green bit of park as the Marble Arch. The contrast couldn't be greater. The four-square white marble arch carved with classically refined figures representing England, Scotland, and Ireland (England in the center and larger, naturally) dates from Victoria's time. Nothing is left to the imagination - the arch stands there solidly telling you how it is in the 19th-century world. This bronze on the other hand leaves out nearly everything (as far as the horse is concerned) and implies everything - attitude, balance, delicacy, strength and character. Quite an accomplishment, speaking to the 21st-century world.