Today was our first rainy day in London during this trip. It didn’t rain heavily or constantly. We just faced intermittent showers off and on throughout the day… really nothing more than a light drizzle.
Since it wasn’t raining, Mom and I started off by taking Emerson to Holland Park to enjoy the playground. She enjoyed this immensely and didn’t really want to leave, but it was time to move on… things to do! We returned to the timeshare to have lunch with Libby, who’d spent the morning relaxing.
In the afternoon, we took Emerson to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Wow! The museum with all the dead/stuffed/fossilized animals was a total zoo! Emerson, Libby, and Mom all enjoyed it greatly. But, the museum was a little too crowded for me with oodles of families and scads of school kids on field trip for me to really enjoy it. In fact, after we got into the museum, they started having to queue people at the door in order to manage the crowds.
After the Natural History Museum, Mom departed with Emerson to walk back to the Allen House. Emerson fell asleep en route. So, Mom took the scenic route through gardens and parks happily taking photos along the way. It seems that both enjoyed their time. 
Meanwhile, Libby and I headed off to the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, which had been a tradition for us in past years (though we haven’t visited since 2008). Comparing it to past exhibitions, I thought it lacked a certain pizzazz. My favorite work was Onya McCausland’s Red with Shadow, which felt both evocative of, as well as an evolved form of, Ellsworth Kelly’s paintings. My honorable mention goes to Brigitte Williams’s two works on paper, including her Homage to Boetti (the only work I seriously considered purchasing). Of course, others’ works were complete crap… poorly executed and/or conceptually weak. Since I’m generous of spirit, I won’t mention those artists/works by name (though my handwritten notes in margins of the List of Works is an amusing read—“best of a boring bunch;” “crap, again;” etc.).
Following the Summer Exhibition, we walked up Old Bond Street and New Bond Street, mostly window shopping at the high-end stores (which, we agreed, paled in comparison to what was on offer in Dubai). We then popped over to Regent Street where Libby (surprise, surprise) bought a new purse at Furla (another summer vacation tradition it seems). Following retail therapy, we headed back to Kensington to pick-up dinner for the family at Whole Foods. In particular, we enjoyed some especially scrumptious gorgonzola dolce w/ a lime & red chili marmalade on crostini.
Tomorrow is our final day in London before heading off to Dusseldorf.