After breakfast we popped over to a Waterstones bookstore to pick up some reading for the trip back to Canada. As we had been warned of queues for the Van Gogh exhibition, we decided to check for outselves.

When we arrived, once the people who did not have tickets were sent to the other really long queue, there were only two couples and a family of four ahead of us.

The exhibit had 61 paintings and drawings by Van Gogh, it calls itself “Poets and Lovers” to emphasize themes in Van Gogh. What it really does well is show how he repeated and re-worked ideas.

The drawings were very interesting.

I had not seen a number of the paintings before as some were from private collections or museums I haven’t visited.

I tried to look at the Piero della Francesca’s in the National Gallery collection. The most famous, Baptism of Christ, was not on display but two others were.

Also looked at the Caravaggios.

The Artemesia Gentileschi has been acquired since my last visit.

We stopped for a light lunch. Scott returned to the hotel to take advantage of the bathtub while I returned to look at more of the NG.

A small exhibit was about Constable’s “Hay Wain” which has become a national icon.

For dinner we went to Delaunay, where I forgot to take many photos.

Remanants of chicken and venison.

Chocolate mousse.

Then we went to Fortune Theatre to see “Operation Mincemeat” based on the true events about the British effort in WWII to deceive Hitler into thinking the Allied armies were going to land in Sardinia instead of Sicily. It was a musical which was funny, but also addressed more serious issues like the role of women and individual worth.

By the time we returned to the hotel it was quite late (especially for me).