The Tate

Interior of The Tate 

Ancient Village constructed of Cous-Cous!

Jenny Holzer

Photo taken in pitch dark room illuminated by peoples flash

View of Millenium Bridge from Tate Observation Deck

My new favorite London Building

Moon over Somerset House

Perfect Salmon at Spring Restaurant

We travelled by the Tube to visit the Tate Museum and to shop at a nearby Contemporary Applied Arts Craft Store. When we exited the Tube a drenching, wind-driven rainstorm appeared out of nowhere. Everyone dashed for cover and 10 minutes later it was back to clear skies. We visited the Crafts Store first. After shopping at CAA we walked to the Tate.

In the interim of our last visit to the Tate they have added a 10-story addition. We spent hours seeing the various exhibits, and couldn’t see them all. A few favorites of ours worth noting.

Any medium can be used for art. An inspiration can come from anything. The national food of North Africa has to be Couscous. We make it all of the time. The artist Kader Attia created Untitled (Ghardaïa) 2009, it is a scale model of the ancient city Ghardaïa in the M’zab Valley in Algeria, molded from cooked couscous. What a great concept!

Everyone has been to museums where there are signs posted “No Flash Photography”. Not with Pak Sheung Chuen exhibit of photographs he took in Malaysia. You entered a totally darkened room and are instructed to take flash photos. For only a second or two can the photos of Malaysia on the wall be seen as they are illuminated by the flashes of the viewers cameras.

We have seen Jenny Holzer works in many museums. How she comes up with all of the clever sayings, and ways of presenting them is amazing.

On the 10^thfloor of the Blavatnik addition to the Tate there is an observation deck that circles the building looking out over London. The weather cooperated, and the view was spectacular. We especially liked a new building that is being constructed that is outlined by the architect in white.

The Tate is a not to be missed museum!

We returned to The Ham Yard Hotel for cocktails and then went to dinner at Spring Restaurant. We have their cookbook, cleverly named "Spring" and like it. The food at Spring was exceptional, we would be regulars if it was located in Los Angeles. Among other dishes we had probably the best Salmon I have ever eaten. It was served on top of smoky eggplant. All of the dishes we ordered wonderful.

The site of the restaurant is Somerset House. Somerset House is one of those giant homes that were sometimes used by British Royalty. It is now used for many different purposes one of which is to house Spring. Our Taxi driver while returning us to our hotel was a font of knowledge and told us in the winter, the courtyard of Somerset house is turned into an Ice Skating Rink!