London Day 2

We caught the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) to a station near to Somerset House, where we used the advice we'd been given the previous day and got into the elBulli exhibit at half price. It was quite a compact but detailed display covering both the history and philosophy of this famous restaurant. Then we to the nearby church of St Martin in the Fields for a free lunchtime concert by the Bernadel Quartet. This was exceptionally good and we donated more than was requested in response. From that we crossed the street to go into the National Portrait Gallery, and while this wasn't as big as I expected and had the obligatory amount of contemporary (therefore largely self-portrait portraits - seriously, are current artists unable to find models or are they just self-obsessed? Judging from their supplied annotations to their masterworks it's clearly the latter) and a dollop of "we involved summa da local kidz wozza innit wikkid" rhubarb, actually there were some fascinating old portraits in there, of people who really did stuff. Fancy! Admittedly they were dullish paintings but it was a treat to care *who* they were of. Then out of one building and into the next - the National Gallery. We could easily have spent ages in there, like most great galleries there were "famous" paintings in many rooms, surprise runs of good paintings of unfamiliar artists and solid collections of national and/or period styles. Next we ambled around the streets to St James's Square, seeking the elusive London Library. Not helped by me forgetting exactly what it was and why I was interested in it. Eventually locating it - right next to a building with a blue plaque for being the residence of Ada Lovelace - despite being obscured by renovation works. Alas the same renovations meant that the normal guided tours of this historical private library were cancelled. So on we walked into Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, noting the number of ticket seller booths for London musical theatre and finding a touristy but ok place for some lunch. We took the tube home, but this time went from the Canary Wharf station and shopping centre to the adjacent (and as far as I can tell, pointlessly separately named) Cabot Place shopping centre in search of a real supermarket. Found, it wasn't much different to the closer one we'd already found. We had gone far enough to need to catch the DLR home anyway so it was all for nought.