Picking up

Today's been a fairly good day. Got off to a late, lazy start then spent almost 3 hours wandering around inside Apsley House, former residence of general Arthur Wellesly aka Lord Wellington - the man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo. The house holds much of his large and interesting collection of art and has a bit of interesting biographical info as well. I strongly recommend the (free) audio guide.

I then crossed the street and spent 15 relatively wasted minutes at the Wellington Arch which has a few tiny exhibitions inside, nothing really worth paying for. Not that I did, as both places are run by English Heritage, the sister organization of Historic Scotland - of which I'm a lifetime member.

I then had a sinful lunch at the same Italian place I went to yesterday, just behind the National Portrait Gallery. I believe the name of the place is Ciao. Hardly an original name, but with the wildberry and ice dessert they served I feel inclined to forgive them. I then walked on to the British Museum, to see the Babylon exhibit. It wasn't stellar, but it was good and the amount of information given was vastly superior to what I encountered at the Royal Academy Wednesday. It's nice to leave a paid event and not feel like you've been ripped off.