Tate and the Thames

It was my last day in London.  I didn't think I had anything left to do, but it turns out that some final farewell activities had been arranged for us.  I had arranged a catch up with my friend Sarah in London so it would have to be an early morning breakfast.  I dragged myself out of bed and headed towards the Tube.  The depth of the London Tube stations is always impressive.  Heading down the escalator on this early Saturday morning, it was close to empty.  As I slowly walked down the escalator, I could hear my steps echoing in the tunnel.

Sarah had made a booking for us at Millie's Lounge at the Ned.  Being right next to Bank station, this was apparently a restaurant commonly frequented by the banking and finance staff in the area.  I walked into the large Ned hotel and made may way over to Millie's Lounge.  Sitting inside the grand foyer, it was an impressive place to be having a quick and simple lunch with friends.  It had been years since I had seen Sarah, I think the last time may have been when I stayed with her in Bondi.  This was a long way from her apartment overlooking the water.  The prices were high, but understandable given the location.  Looking at the menu, we were all suddenly overcome by a strange desire for some simpler and more comforting foods.  Eggs and soldiers were ordered, and I decided to go with the porridge.  With the cooler weather, it all seemed to make sense.

I wanted to stay longer, but I needed to go to the work event.  Sarah and Tom were kind enough to walk me over.  Once we got to the Millennium Walk bridge, we said our goodbyes and they went on their way.  I started my walk over.  It was raining a little bit, and the bridge became slippery.  I was late, but found myself trying to rush whilst not falling on this bridge.  I remembered the first time I crossed this bridge when I first visited the UK.  The bridge seemed to then represent everything amazing about the UK and its ability to integrate the new with the old.  Now, it just seemed to be a public hazard.

I arrived at the Tate Modern a bit late.  Everyone was already inside.  There was a special exhibition for Paul Cezanne and tickets had been arranged for all of us to attend.  Given all the work which had been done, I needed to attend just as a simple thanks and out of respect for the organisers.  There was also the fact that this was the Tate Modern.  Years had past, but it was still my favourite landmark in all of London.  Walking through the main turbine hall, I still felt a bit of the excitement I felt when I first arrived as a backpacker.  It seemed busier now.  There were more people around and there seemed to be more of a sensory overload with the way in which everything was set up.  Maybe it was just me and the way I had changed.

I went straight upstairs to the Cezanne exhibition.

Walking through the enormous crowds of people, it was a strange to see the sheer number of paintings that were from his period in the Cote d'Azur.  I laughed a bit to myself.  To be standing here, looking at these impressions of the place I had just been.  It seemed a bit strange to be confronted with this, almost like it had been an intentional event created to conclude my trip.

I enjoyed the exhibition, but it was the rest of the Tate Modern that I really wanted to visit.  The turbine hall and the adjacent rooms are as impressive as they always have been.  Walking through, I felt a sense of insignificance at the sheer scale of it all.  When I moved to Hong Kong, it was spaces like this that I had longed for.  Things in Hong Kong are improving in this area now with the opening of galleries such as M+, but this would still be the original for me.  It would always be the Tate Modern that opened my eyes and mind to this world that I loved so much.

After our time at the Tate Modern, we were brought to another private dining location.  We got lost on the way several times as we walked until we realised that the location was actually inside the security section of a modern looking office building.  There were people downstairs waiting for us.  We were taken upstairs to a room with a balcony overlooking the Thames river.

It was getting a bit much now.  There had been a lot of work, but at the same time the constant kindness shown to us was also excessive.  There didn't need to be so much of it and I felt like it wasn't necessary.  Still, it was important to be grateful for everything we received, and so with another glass of champagne in hand, I looked out towards London and decided to enjoy myself one last time.

With lunch finishing, everyone slowly started to depart.  There were planes that needed to be caught and everyone was flying off to all ends of the earth at different times.  I jumped into a cab with some of the Italians that were flying around the same time as me.  We laughed and chatted on the cab and train ride to the station.  Before long we were there and I said my goodbyes as I got myself ready for the long flight back to Hong Kong.