January 14

I had an overall slow day and sadly have very little to report. I think sleepiness is finally getting the best of me again, along with the overload of all the galleries and museums we've been visiting, all the walking we've been doing, etc [not to sound whiny, of course]. The Thames River Cruise didn't quite excite me as much as it could have. I guess having seen all the sights already had something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. I just enjoyed that we didn't have to walk and that the rocking of the boat was calming. Getting to the National Portrait Gallery afterwards was kind of hectic. Travelling from Greenwich made us all very grumpy especially after the Oyster card machines kept spazzing on us and then finding out that we didn't have to refill our cards after all. The National Portrait Gallery was kind of a drag as well, although I really enjoyed the contemporary artists' work. Julian Opie did a portrait of the band Blur, which came out looking like really cute vector art. Another portrait that really stood out to me was Jason Brooks' portrait of Sir Paul Nurse. From afar, it looked like a photograph, but looking up close, I was able to see the brush strokes. It's so amazing how much detail went into that painting!