London Calling !

We most recently return from a 10 day family vacation in London and the south of England. It was our son Jean-Luc's idea at first. It was his dream to see a football game (soccer) of his favorite team, Chelsea FC. With 32,000 season ticket holders and only 8,000 tickets available to the general public, I had to become a member of the team in order to have the opportunity to try to purchase tickets. When my turn came to buy, it was already a sell-out. We did however have a chance to see West Ham United vs Manchester City in front of a jam pack stadium of 38, 898 chanting fans. And earlier that week we visited Stamford Bridge Stadium and the Chelsea FC museum, where he had a chance to have his photo taken with the FA Cup, which the team would defend a week later against Portsmouth.

Suzanne & I had previously visited London back in 1997, and had arrived on election day when Tony Blair was first elected as Prime Minister of Great Britain. As history would repeat itself, we were there during another election. So much has changed since our last visit in Europe's largest city. With most of all major museum being free, we took full advantage. We visited the Natural History Museum (Life, Earth & Darwin Center), the Science Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum (art), the Tower of London, The Museum of London, Somerset House (art), the Tate Modern (art), The Drawing Gallery at Windsor Castle (drawing & photography), The National Gallery (art), The British Museum, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, The Tate Britain (art), The National Portrait Gallery (art) and finally The Royal Observatory and The National Maritime Museum both in Greenwich. The Saatchi Gallery was closed for a private function. It is difficult to not be in awe of the spaces that holds all of these collections. The Natural History Museum and The British Museum are worth seeing just to admire the architecture. It also difficult to not be impressed by the genius of Sir Christopher Wren who was a monumental figure in rebuilding London after the great fire of 1666. London would not look like it does if not for him.

On a personal note, one of my most anticipated moment was a visit of Plus-One Gallery, a commercial gallery that represents hyperrealism artists. I was not disappointed. Works by many artists I admire were on display in a group show. In the lot was Pedro Campos, Tom Martin, Paul Béliveau, David Finnigan, Stephen Fox, Fernando O'Connor, Cesar Santander & Steve Smulka among others.

Other highlights from an art perspective were the Dutch painters and French Impressionists at the National Gallery. Pop Art and figure paintings by Meredith Frampton (1894-1984) at the Tate Modern; John Singer Sargent and the Pre-Raphaelites at the Tate Britain, and Nicola Jane Philipps and Jason Brooks at the National Portrait Gallery.

Other highlights of our trips included a visit of the City of Bath, Oxford, Windsor, Greenwich, Stratford-upon-Avon, the Cotswolds, Stonehenge and all the beautiful monuments, green parks and bridges of London. But my favorite moment of all happened on Saturday, May 8 when we attended a matinée performance of the musical ''Billy Elliot'' at the Victoria Palace Theater, which originated here 5 years ago. It is easy to see why it won 10 Tony Awards on Broadway last year......Smashing good fun!!!