This Is A Lake - A travel blog

In a way very reminiscent of my student days, I switched guides from an accomplished musician to accomplished doctors for the rest of the day. Sandra, Sharmistha and I apparently formed a perfect Canadian flag with our red, white and red coats. After all these years as an honorary LSHTM member, I think by now I can also claim to be an honorary Canadian, eh? (Note to the wise: Apostrophe serves real hot chocolate, the eat-with-a-spoon-kind. Eat your heart out, Paris.) The afternoon began with a quick visit to the National Portrait Gallery, where we agreed that no, Kate Middleton's portrait isn't doing her any favours (if it's supposed to be a realistic portrait with all the wrinkles and all -then why the blurry old-movie-glamour-shot look?). Then we kind of organised our own Best Of Covent Garden, the highlights of which were: The always fragrant Tea House , filled with endless varieties of black, green, white or red teas, infusions, and tea-appropriate crockery. I st...

 My idea for this flash-weekend trip to London was to take it easy and simply enjoy being in the city -but I should have known that plans just make themselves there! Unbeknownst to me, the Royal Academy of Music in Marylebone houses a small museum that is open to the public. The whole building is a labyrinthine combination of old structures, new annexes, expansions, corridors, staircases, elevators... Me, I just followed Jayson. That was yesterday, and if I were to return right now, I wouldn't be able to make it past reception without getting hopelessly lost. They would find me weeks later, in some abandoned practice room somewhere. The whole place was crawling with kids going up and down, some dragging instruments bigger than themselves, or generally just looking very busy. The museum is divided across three floors and displays the evolution of pianos, wind and string instruments. Violins don't seem to have changed all that much over the years, whereas the oboe star...