Chelsea Adventure

Yesterday, after turning in my paper, I had on my calendar that I was to go to the Saatchi Gallery. I really didn't know anything about it but that it was contemporary art. So I figured out the neareset tube stop and headed over. Turns out it is in Chelsea, which is a SUPER posh neighborhood. The tube put me out right next to Harrods, and my walk from the tube to the gallery had me walking past every major fashion designer you can name (Prada, Chanel, Dolce and Gabana, Yves Saint Lauren, you get the idea...). As you walked past, every one of them had a security guard in an expensive suit positioned just inside the door. There was even a jewlery store that had a guard outside the shop. Now, this may sound really cool, but I'd been in an artistic mood and worn my paint pants, worn chucks, a nondescript grey t-shirt, and a sweatshirt thing without sleeves. So, needless to say, I felt rather out of place. After pashing the Danish Embassy, I finally get to the Saatchi Gallery (which is in the Duke of York's Square) and it turns out its a converted mansion in the middle of london, complete with huge lawn out in front.
So I go in, and am greeted by their person at the front desk, and another one of those suited security guards! Anyways, I walk through the gallery, which is actually pretty cool despite it's posh surroundings (and apparently support, I think it was Chanel that was listed as one of their major donors). The people working for them in the gallery seemed more like I was expecting and reminded me of Yale Art School grad students. Sadly, their shop was also posh and I wasn't able to continue my tradition of supporting the arts through random postcards, drawing pencils, and buttons.
I went through it fairly quickly though and decided to head back to the National Gallery, since the French painter guy had prevented me from seeing the Impressionism part of the gallery, which was really one of the main reasons for going. So I hopped on the tube and spent some time browsing the bits I'd missed, which were well worth a second trip. I then found some things in the shop I hadn't bought the first time and headed out to Trafalgar Square.
Since I'd already ridden the tube twice, I decided to be economical and walk home. I wasn't really quite sure where I was going since I'd only ever walked there and not actually walked home. However, I knew generally the direction I needed to go and recognized various landmarks and made it home just fine. It took me forever though because I kept popping into shops (like this really cool music store called fopp) and buying boxes of nectarines (which turned out to be really really ripe) as I walked along. I was so tired by the time I got home that I ate my leftover pasta from lunch and decided to take a nap. I pretty much never got up and instead of going out to Zoo Bar with everyone, got up around 2am and talked to Mike for a couple hours before going back to bed.
The lesson- walking around London and it's galleries can be lots of fun, but don't expect to have energy to dance into the dawn as well.