Toby and Allan in Malta, Amalfi Coast, Naples and London

Monday April 2, was yet another cloudy day with a few isolated showers.  The high was 11C.  We walked to the Liverpool Street station to catch the tube to the Tate Britain. Alain and his buddy Good advice We went to see All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life.    The exhibit featured a number of painters in Britain (British and not, but who lived or live in London) who strove to represent human figures, their relationships and surroundings in a very intimate way.  Some of them only ever painted from life.  Others created imagined scenes.  Whatever the approach, this group of artists moved beyond naturalistic representation, capturing the ways in which they are affected by their subjects. The two major artists in the show were Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, but their art was shown alongside a number of their contemporaries.  The last room of the show featured a number of younger artists who were carrying on their ...

Sunday April 1 was cloudy with a high of only 8C.  However, there was no rain during the day.  We started our day by walking to the Sunday Columbia Street Flower Market, about a 10 minute walk from our flat. It was a great scene-- tons of people buying plants and flowers and lots of little cafés and bakeries lining the sides of the market area.  The street is blocked off for the weekly market. Wonderful row housing near the Flower Market Another view Great plants It is busy-- walking up to the market, we saw lots of people carrying flowers Great selection English lavender Orchid guy We liked the vendors shouting:  "Three for a tenner". There was live music too We stopped for a coffee at Start Coffee- another busy place with a line for take out.  We decided to have a coffee inside. Start Coffee beside the flower market We then walked down to Brick Lane to check out the Sunday scene there.  We stopped for a photo...