Back in Bloomsberry

We arrived late in London on Tuesday since our plane had been delayed leaving Philadelphia and left only at 11 PM. It was great to be back in this beautiful city; it's regal, full of a refined sensibility and British grandeur that is best not taken for granted. Parks are interspersed with the red brick and granite buildings in graceful patterns. The beauty of the city is not proclaimed as often as it is for places like Rome or Paris, but this more subtle architectural and city planning stand out in a special way all its own. After a short rest at the Hotel Russell, we took the tube to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Jim hadn't been there in a long time and was surprised at how the huge museum (60,000 objects) has been remodeled and modernized. We particularly enjoyed the Turner and Constable paintings, the amazing hoard of jewelry from ancient to contemporary, the murals painted by Lord Leighton, the cast courts (full of gigantic plaster versions of great old European sculptural monuments) and the building itself. The great Victorian building is full of lunette ceilings, architectural details and its own broad symmetry.After a stop back at the hotel, we headed to Fitzrovia where we had a great dinner at Tsunami, one of our favorite places that we equally enjoyed two years on our last visit here. Some of the highlights were a junmai daigingo sake, Goma nasa (peanut sauce on eggplant), steamed sea bass, unagi (sweet eel for the uninitiated) and a delicate panna cotta for dessert. This morning we're headed off to a couple of new attractions and lunch at the National Gallery. Stay tuned for our second report on wonderful London.-Dan