Southbank, Sunshine, Psycho Buildings and a Drink Among Friends

Tuesday morning found me hopping a tube train to Canon Street, where I navigated my way to the Thames and the southern bank where Monday night ended. It was a beautiful sunny day: Perfect for simply strolling, which is exactly what I did.
Following along the Thames I just walked; Pausing here and there to watch an animated group of youngsters or stare out over the gently lapping waters of the river that walked along with me. The Southbank of the Thames is a bit like a festival. On nice days street musicians and living statues put out their hats (or baskets) and perform, hoping that a generous passerby will drop in a few unneeded coins.
Whether they're tourists, school groups or Londoners out for a day in the sun people seem to crowd around places like the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern Art Museum, Gabriel's Wharf and the other entertainment and art venues located along this particular stretch of walkway. The constant chattering and bustling about gives the entire place a feeling of energy and life.
Ultimately I ended up at the Hayward Gallery, where they were presenting an exhibit called Psycho Buildings: Artists Take on Architecture. Every piece on display was a large-scale artwork meant to play with and make you aware of your sense of space and spacial reasoning. From the spice-filled "tumor" made of mesh-like lycra and designed to make you feel like you're underwater to the 3D photograph of a room mid-disaster (whether explosive or natural), each artist made you fully immerse yourself in the art and use all of your senses to make sense of it. It was really a fun exhibit.
After making my way to Embankment I hopped a train back to my flat to eat some food and rest up before the evening, which found the seven of us walking Fleet Street once more, this time with a tour guide and a pub agenda. We learned a lot about the historical culture surrounding some of the pubs in the City of London and had a drink or two along the way. The guide left us two hours later at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where we all sat for the rest of the night eating, drinking and talking about everything and nothing.

JD