A Chimney Sweep in our Taxi

 SONG - Chim-Chim-Cher-ee by Dick Van Dyke

Day 31 - Thur. May 30

Got up late as we both had a bad night on our last night in York. I think we are both missing home a bit. Relaxed in the morning and then went across the street to Paul’s & had sandwiches and a strawberry tart. 

Found a good old fashioned London taxi which took us to the Tate Britain to see the John Singer Sargent & Fashion show. Fabulous. They had the real dresses to match some of his paintings.

Sargent was an incredible artist.  So happy we made to this show!

A cold drink outside at the cafe there until it began to rain & then inside to see some of their other paintings including a David Hockney!

And here is the David Hockney “A Bigger Splash” 1967

Got a taxi ride home with a Cockney guy who shared stories the whole way home about seeing the Queen on several occasions, Prince Philip, King Charles, traveling around Europe for a year with his wife in a travel trailer. Fun stories. Then he said people think he talks like Dick Van Dyke as the Chimney Sweep in Mary Poppins. He did too! Told us that his parents said God Blimey often and that it really means God Blind Me. Google it and it’s true!

Came back to the hotels sitting room for a drink and met a guy & his girlfriend from NY. He had lived in London 20 years ago. He never stopped talking. They are going to a friend’s estate near Inverness that they are staying at for a week. He told us about places to see near London and the expensive places where they are dining. He also told Mr. B privately how he loves a good honor bar because he doesn’t have to write his name down for drinks. Jerk! We decided to dine at our hotel’s restaurant. We had dined there before in 2017 and it was not good but they have a new chef who has a Michelin Star and since it was supposed to rain soon we decided to give it a try. It was much better and our guy, Ondre from Slovakia wasn’t a singing Italian waiter but he did dance a few dishes to our table!