Our last full day in London. First thing this morning, we went back to Buvette In Neal’s Yard for their famous Pain Perdue. It’s worth remembering that they also have a restaurant in NYC on Grove Street. It’s a very nice place to eat, I love the ambiance, chic but approachable. Then a short walk back to the British Museum, this time with both Shauna & Jeff. I got a second look at the Rosetta Stone and Hoa Hakananai, the Easter Island monument. Checked out the Etruscan Gallery (Room 71). Not a a big collection but it had some things I had never seen before. The British perspective on who the Etruscans were is very different than what’s presented in Italy. I photographed the text to compare the 2 versions when I get home. The Italians present the Etruscans as friendly and well respected by their Mediterranean neighbors. The British version saw them as more adversarial. I’m not an historian, but the amicable version makes more sense only because in every depiction of an Etruscan (man or woman) they are smiling and relaxed. I have yet to see a sculpture or a painting of a smiling Roman or smiling Greek… just saying.
Lunch at NOPI, one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s many restaurants. He is someone I truly admire and I feel very lucky to have been able to experience his cuisine firsthand. I have made his signature dishes based on his recipes from The Masterclass. His restaurant did not disappoint, the food and ambiance were wonderful. The ladies’ bathroom was a 360 degree mirrored room angled to create reflections ad infinitum, took me a minute to figure out how to get out. It gets my vote for weirdest bathroom.
Then home, as we needed to take it easy and get ready for our departure. Flight leaves at 4 pm… we still have half a day.
10,026 steps, 15 flights of stairs (haha, my watch counted the escalator rides on the Metro as flights of stairs)