enjoying the city, loving the countryside

arrived in london on friday night, late. amazed at random conversations on the train, with an icelandic man about iceland, with a man from a country in africa whose name suddenly escapes my mind. loved it. comfy subway seats (which is probably why the mta is way cheaper) and london, well, it's just bustling and urban, like new york, but less in your face, less intense. it seems as if it were designed with tourists in mind, and there seems to be many more tourists--or is this because i am currently traveling?

on saturday went to the british museum (lovely; i do have some photos of me posed with statues of nude men, which i'll post when i can), the dali museum (pricey but i do love dali, and i got to see venus with the chest of drawers, the mae west lips couch, and the lobster telephone!), and the national gallery. my favorite painting ever is there--jan van eyk's 'portrait of giovanni arnolfini and his wife' (there are varying titles for this painting)--i stared at it three different times and the guard noticed my infatuation--we got in a huge discussion about it, as i have studied it on several occasions. then went to eat at a lovely little vegetarian kitchen, yum.

have been up to marilyn's house in lancaster; lovely. andrew, marilyn and i have been hiking (seeing some andy goldsworthy sculptures in nature), eating (oooh, lovely cheeses and breads for dinner with good olives, pickled walnut chutney and sliced apples), taking photos--it really is lovely up here. i'm so relaxed and wil in fact stay until tomorrow; i don't want to leave at all.

but soon, paris; tomorrow, the world.