U I vethed na I onnad.

I just spent the morning and most of the afternoon in Trafalgar Square, first to attend the Russian Winter Festival and then walking through the halls of The National Gallery. Though I only saw the first half of the festival events (the whole of the festival went from 11:00 to 18:30 and my feet could not take the constant standing past 14:00), it was one of the more exciting things I've seen in a long time. The music was wonderful, perogi was sold from every stand, along with beautiful hand-painted boxes and nesting dolls and chocolates and such. The Moscow Circus sent some of its performers, and there were two dance companies that specialized in folk dancing and music. My favorite was the military cadet band, as they had a fantastic drum line, though I forget exactly which academy they belonged to. I damn myself thrice for forgetting my camera and not realizing it until I was half way to the square on the tube.

The National Gallery, I admit, I walked into as something of an after thought. It happens to be the building right behind where the festival was going on, so when I finally left the grounds I figured, hey, I'm here - I might as well go in. So I did. And I walked the halls of one of the most grand galleries I've ever been in, viewing their collections from 1250 to 1600 (I missed the 1700 to 1900 collection in favor of getting a late lunch). I did not spend as much time there as I should have, so I will simply have to go back another day for it.

Finally, happy birthday to my father and to Darell Rasner. Cheeky bugger Rasner doesn't have any decent pictures on line, so he doesn't get a banner.