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Weather: Cold but Clear
Lunch: soup at a sandwich stand near St. Paul cathedral
Dinner: The Mekong, Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese restaurant near the hotel
Stayed at Luna and Simone Hotel

Today was the last day and only clear day in London. We purchased the underground day pass, and took a subway to Tate modern, the art museum I was eager to go for quite some time.

The permanent collections were classified into 4 themes; i.e., Material Gestures, Poetry and Dream, Idea and Object, and States of Flux, and covered Surrealism, Minimalism, post war abstraction, Cubism, Futurism and Vorticism. Since I audited art history class about a year ago, and also I translated a long pop art catalog essay last January, I was familiar with most of the artworks and movements, and was very excited to see them.

The question “what is art,” which modern artists struggle with, always intrigues me, and I bought the book titled “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger at the gift shop.

Even though we started quite early, it was already 2:00 PM when I finished viewing the collection hurriedly. We crossed Thames river suspended bridge on foot.

After having a very light lunch, we took a bus to National gallery again, because I could not see the artwork after 1700 the other day. Very quickly I went around the galleries to see the Gainsborough, Reynolds, Tuner, and impressionists. Mark took a break at the coffee shop while I was rushing through the museum.

We had dinner at Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese restaurant near the hotel, because we were tired of fish and chips and heavy meals by now.