Never so good

Another great day. In fact, this might have been the best one in London, which is a good thing since it is our last full day here (although we will return in June for a few more days).

Only two big things to report.

Firstly, we visited the National Art Gallery which is located in Trafalgar Square. The monument to Nelson in the centre of the Square is probably the most effective public monument i've ever seen - it really communicated the reverence felt for him. Unfortunately none of us had a camera today, so no pictures of the column. Strangely there was not a pigeon to be seen, so maybe there's been a push to get rid of them.

The Art Gallery itself was very impressive. I had previously enjoyed the Tate, but this was superior. It had a good range of artists, some of whom i had previously heard of and some not. There were some Van Gogh, including the Sunflowers. Probably my favourite piece was 'Westminster on the Thames' by Monet, and i'll be trying to get a poster size version of it when i get home.

Unfortunately once again i didn't feel like i got as much out of this gallery as i wanted. It seems that art galleries take too much energy from me, and while i enjoy them i always end up exhausted before i've seen everything.

The highlight of the day was the play 'Never So Good'. It starred Jeremy Irons and was written by a fellow by the name of Howard Brenton who, it turns out, has written 13 episodes of Spooks amongst many other works. 'Never So Good' is a fairly sympathetic version of the life of Harold McMillan, who was British Prime Minister in the late 50s and early 60s. It examines his character and how it made him a sort of anachronism - a man out of his time - when he became Prime Minister.

The acting was first rate - it was interesting that although Irons was obviously commanding in his performance, he did not overshadow the rest of the cast. There were a number of actors who people would know from various BBC and film roles, including Anna Chancellor (from 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Pride & Predjudice) as Dorothy McMillan and Ian McNiece (Rome) playing Churchill with wonderful flare.

The stage direction was magnificent - the sets and backgrounds were subtle and reasonably minimalist, but incredibly effective. However, the thing that really took my breath away was the special effects. There were a few war scenes which managed to convey gunfire and trench warfare very well. However, the most spectacular scene capped the first act of the play as McMillan rescues the pilot of a downed plane. As Irons crawls away from the plane wreck with the pilot dragging behind him there was a massive explosion, a tremendous fireball right there on stage. I felt the wave of heat in our seats which were well away from the stage - i can only imagine how it must have felt for the actors.

This was definitely the best theatre experience i've ever had by a clear margin, and i would encourage anyone to see it if they are given the opportunity. This might be difficult however, as the play is completely sold out for a number of months, and we only got in by some kind of divine intervention causing a cancellation.

Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and get out of London. I think negotiating the traffic getting out of the city is going to be interesting. I believe we are heading first for Canterbury. Not sure how often i'll get access to internet from this point forward, so here's hoping.