Hampstead and art

the other day troy and i went to hampstead heath. its a nature reserve in the north of london, take the tube for 20 minutes and a little walk and your in the middle of the woods! i was half expecting to see robin hood darting through it in pursuit of some dastardly wealthy bad guy. there are hundreds of little paths through it and at one edge is the hill gardens.
it was like a secret garden, very quiet and serene, hardly anyone there. there were long walkways and columns either side with wisteria and wild roses growing up them and overhead, it was gorgeous. i kept thinking it would be a great place for a wedding - if i believed in marraige...
further down near the lawns there was a pond and some nice benches to sit on. we sat and watched a squirrel clamber up a tree. tried to get a picture but it was a private squirrel, elusive.
we made our way back around and through the heath again. at first it was just pretty and enjoyable but then every direction looked the same. its quite a big area and people do get lost in there but we had started out near the road so i didnt think we could be that far. troy started to get that desperate look in his eye and a panicky tone, he never trusts my sense of direction but i'm happy to say i remained calm. the combination of a vague sense of which way to go and the distant sound of traffic got us out of there. we stumbled out of the woods into hampstead and cried 'civilisation at last!' we survived hampstead heath!
after that we went back into london, sat in a park for lunch where some brass band was playing, then went to go see some art at the national gallery. i like the van gogh and the cezanne, and dammit the other impressionist room was closed. but the rest of it didnt really move me. i remember really liking the turner exhibition that came to canberra, but the paintings they had here were a bit blah. call me uncultured but everything alse was a guzillion paintings of jesus and portraits of some dead old rich dudes which i found rather boring. there were a few greek and roman myth paintings i liked, especially venus and mars, but the rest i could have done without. i do want to go to the dali exhibit though, but troys not so keen so i might wait until cass comes over and see it with her ;)