Millennium Bridge
It is officially called the London Millennium Footbridge, a steel suspension pedestrian bridge that crosses the Thames and links Bankside to the city. A new structure that opened in June, 2000, the bridge seems like a fitting entrance to the Tate Modern. In fact, the bridge had a bizarre opening that could have served as inspiration for some of the 'interesting' art we were to see later at the museum. The bridge was designed to support a load of 5,000 people, with eight suspension cables tensioned to pull with a force of 2,000 tons against piers set into each bank. "Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after participants in a charity walk on behalf of Save the Children to open the bridge felt an unexpected and, for some, uncomfortable swaying motion on the first two days the bridge opened." I bet the excited pedestrians didn't expect to get seasick on a bridge. Cheerio! This wasn't brilliant. The company who had won a contest to design the bridge were, I'm sure, very embarrassed. The bridge was closed for two years of modifications to eliminate the sway. It reopened in 2002. They found that the 'wobble' had something to do with "lateral frequency modes." In retrospect, I'm sure I saw that phrase on the BS written next to some of the modern art in the Tate. It's a good thing the bridge didn't wobble. Sometimes older people can suffer from incontinence, particularly on a swaying bridge. Thankfully, we crossed without incident. Hopefully, there are bathrooms at the Tate.Tate Modern Museum
Again we decided to split the group up at the Tate and get back together in an hour or so. Anne and I decide to go see the free stuff. Our lack of interest in the special exhibits dictated that we not pay for something that could potentially (no, probably) be under appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate some modern artists (Picasso, Lichtenstein, Calder, etc.), but when it comes to most modern art, I am either an idiot and uncultured or this is a massive joke on humanity allowing some odd, off-balance people to be passionately unproductive. We headed to the gift shop first. Maybe there is some interesting stuff in there. Usually, particularly in modern art galleries, you can view most of the art there by looking at the postcards. It's quicker, without having to read the BS posted next to the art in the gallery and trying to make sense of what you are looking at. After spending enough time in the gift shop, we still have too much time on the clock before the group meets up again. We walk upstairs and run into Manuel. He looks excitable and says, "There must be something wrong with me. I don't get this stuff. It's a bunch of crap. I've got to get out of here." Thank you Manuel! I have just received outside vindication for my opinion on the subject. But Anne and I press on. We pass an exhibit by a "sound artist" who created these "artistic" contraptions that make weird sounds. What? Then we see this sewing machine, wrapped in a blanket, with a rope tied around it. OK, I've had enough. We decided to go out to the balcony overlooking the Thames until it's time to meet up again with he group.
Back to Petersham Place
We are back at the flat at the end of a long, eventful day of site seeing. Anne and I are responsible for dinner. We decide to walk to a small restaurant two blocks away and get pizza to go. We need to feed seven people, so we order three large pizzas. That should be enough. They hand us these small boxes and they appear to contain something not much larger than a personal pan pizza. It turns out they only had one size, large. Large is only 10 inches. London is expensive. They must have imported those ingredients from Italy. It's too late to order more, so we head back to the flat. The pizza with Manuel's always good selection of wine hit the spot. Surprisingly, this was enough to feed the group. Or was it. After a few drinks, Anne mentions gelato (surprise) and she, Wanda, and Marilyn were out the door in search of a few quarts. Successful, we ended the day on a gelato note. I'm sure Anne will fall asleep with a smile on her face as she counts different flavors of gelato jumping over a fence. Exhausted, we have another big day tomorrow. We will sleep good tonight.
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