Yesterday afternoon Genelle & Liz did some washing, as in clothes in a washing machine in our apartment in Earls Court, the spin cycle feels like there is a Blackhawk chopper landing on our roof. So the not quite dry washing is scattered through the apartment with the heating turned on, by about 10pm its like a sauna, its hard to breathe and so sleep eludes me for a good part of the night, even after the heating is turned down then off and windows are opened. Why did I tell you this, well I like people to know that I’m suffering, maybe even slightly hypochondriac, maybe, dunno?

This morning is an in house breakfast, then checkout the cost of a transfer to Gatwick rather than the Tube and then the Gatwick Express. Cost comparison is 24 quid each = 96 quid for the trains and a lot of stress and walking, 155 quid for a mini bus that is comfortable and no stress door to door, which one will we do?

Earls Court Tube Station is excellent for one reason, just about all the different lines converge in a way on Earls Court so its a great launching point, the main 2 lies are the District Line (access up the top and the Picadilly Line which you take the lift down to. You need to know the end station on the line and which way you are going and in central London you will hardly ever be more than 3-400 metres from a Tube Station. The Navigator is going to Covent Garden markets and shopping (thats a surprise!), Paul & Liz are going to the British Museum and I’m going to the Tate Modern Gallery so we all take the Picadilly Line to Covent Garden and I show the Murphy’s up to the museum (well worth a visit but you need a lot of time) then I walk down to the Thames, turn left and then cross the river over the Millenium Bridge and head East to the gallery.

The Tate Modern is free, like most museums in London, although they encourage you to donate 5 quid but thats entirely voluntary. The gallery is in the old Bankside Power Station, opening as a gallery in 2000. It holds the national collection of British art from 1500 to today including international modern and contemporary art. Its my first visit, there’s a Cezanne exhibition and a couple of others that you have to pay for, Cezanne is a long wait and I don’t have the time but the international stuff, the Jackson Pollacks, the Picasso’s, Matisse, Salvador Dahli, Andy Warholl and many others. This is the stuff I enjoy spending time looking at.

Next step is the walk back over the Thames to Blackfriars and get a Tube to Westminster where I meet The Navigator and a surprisingly small purchase portfolio, only 2 bags, whats going on. We catch up with the Murphys, walk through Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square where we find a pub and have drink. Good decision.

Its getting late so we get the Tube back to Earls Court and have a small rest, book the airport transfer, then head to a pub not far away for dinner. Then we walk to Cromwell Road to Sainsbury’s supermarket to get a recycled shopping bag (I got one years ago and they are almost indestructible), some Fry’s Chocolate Creams and some other nibbles.

Tomorrow is our last day, tomorrow night we will be in a hotel at gatwick and early Friday morning we’ll be on a plane home via Doha in the Middle East.

Cheers from Earls Court London – Pauolo