Another Postcard for Seoul

Paldalmun, the South Gate of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, 30 km south of Seoul. Another UNESCO world heritage site.
Another two postcards arrived this morning from The Bat, and, even more exciting, a phone call! All is well, she is finding her feet and getting to know the ropes. She'll be a veteran by the time I get there.

It's been a day full of art and history for me. First off I went to the Banqueting House. The fifth property of the Historic Royal Palace's portfolio. It's only one large room : the Peter Paul Reubens pictures on the ceiling are stunning. It was outside this building that Charles I was beheaded for treason in 1649. Wandering through Horse Guards parade on to the Mall I noticed the Aviation Painting of the year exhibition, an interesting collection of paintings and drawings with something that flies in them. Continuing back into Trafalgar Square I went into the National Gallery and spent several hours looking at the amazing works of art. Finally still wanting a little more I spent a bit of time in the National Portrait Gallery next door. The BP Portrait Award 2006 exhibition is on. You can vote for your favorite portrait and I've just seen from the website, my favorite portrait won third prize. Well done Angela Reilly.

Needing something to eat I headed north to Soho to our favorite Japanese Restaurant oSatsuma but I was astounded to find it closed with no indication of opening times. Their website is just as uninformative. I hope it's not closed for good. That really threw me, so I headed home and cooked pasta and watched TV all evening, in spite of having bought a copy of TimeOut to find my next comedy venue.