I love every thing that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines. - Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

Wednesday was my first art class. Zana and I spent the morning in Regent’s Park, visiting with the camels and hundreds of dogs.

Dogs in Regent’s Park are just like their human counterparts. Well-groomed, well-behaved and running around like they have to pee really badly. Except Londoners have to pay for toilets, which must be why I’ve never seen a relieved-looking one.

Then off to our four-hour Art class. Excuse me what? More on this later, but the professor (or rather tutor) is from Ohio, spent the first ten minutes of class on a beer lesson and the middle ten minutes of class on a cigarette break. She seems delightful and the class will be worth sticking out, if for nothing else than to recommend the best London beers and to sound ridiculously New England School Prep when I say “in this Art History class I took once…”

Then off to the Warwick Castle pub for a quick glass of wine, a chat with the bartender and some infidelity in the corner. I love Europe.

Thursday was wet. Very wet. So wet in fact that of course it was the one day we spent splashing in puddles and standing perfectly still in a downpour listening to our tour guide. No overcrowded, toasty, nap-worthy dim classroom today. But we did learn that St Paul’s has a pineapple on one of its steeples, which Christopher Wren tried to replace the cross with. And that during WWII had it not been for volunteers literally pushing Nazi bombs off the dome, it would have been destroyed. Or that the Millennium Bridge (see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie) was so wobbly the first time it opened people were holding onto the sides for dear life. It was a gift from the Queen.

Millennium Bridge, with plenty of umbrellas

The pineapple on top of St Pauls! 

But out of rain, comes rainbows and we found our leprechaun at the end of the rainbow with his pot of gold. The leprechaun was a 65ish year-old Irishman from Cork and the gold was his freshly baked bread. I got two loaves and Jenna, Alice and I found a new friend. He was so pleased to find we were friendly and within 10 minutes we were his American granddaughters. The best part about him, besides his declaration that we are soul mates (or more likely descended from the same family tree) for our shared love of wine, for a hobby he traces Irish family heritage!!!

I can’t remember all of the facts (please remember by feet were drenched), but the Walls were into horses and sports and the Clancys were THESPIANS! Yes we were a traveling group of actors who even performed Shakespeare. It was honestly one of the best moments of my life and I can’t wait to go visit with our friend many, many more times to hear more stories.