12. LONDON:  Life is Short - LIVE WELL!

Кого жизнь ласкает, тот и горя не знает.

He dances well to whom fortune pipes.

Краси́во жить не запрети́шь.        

                                                Literal: You can't forbid living beautifully.

Yes, I'm on my way to Moscow now, but of course it's not always a straight line we walk, is it. 

I am having a pre-HSCT break in London for 10 days, then Moscow for 7, just enjoying the tourist part of my trip.  I'm fortunate, I know, and I'm in Europe often. I'm an antique dealer, and this is part of my work, too.  I'm stopping off in London for a bit, enjoying the city and living the life. 

So this posting is mostly for my family who are following along.  Here is my South Kensington flat that overlooks a little park. This probably looks familiar to my kids and grandkids.  They've been here before with me:

The flat has a nice bedroom, but my luggage was all over it, unpacking, so it didn't get a click. There is a small flight of about 7-8 steps up to a little indoor veranda/sunroom off the bedroom, and a door there that leads out to my roof top patio with plantings and table, benches.  I love this flat! 

And London is LOTS of walking, so I'm adding Prednisone to my load of pills just to get more out of my legs. Prednisone, if you could see it, would look like this, I'm pretty sure:

My CIDP feet/legs (such as they are) will wander me all over London this week. Today I just stayed outdoors and enjoyed the blossoming of Springtime. Here's St. James' Park, and if you do a 180, you'd be looking at Buckingham Palace. I began my walkabout there and spent 5-6 hours on these legs today. Benches abound.  And I did drop into 2 churches. To my great pleasure each had fine string orchestras practicing for their evening performances. So, having been performed to today, I bought a great seat for tomorrow night's "Kings of the Dance" performance at the London Coliseum.

Never underestimate the perfect placement of a plethora of benches throughout UK and Europe. They are a CIDP patient's saving grace. A bit of a sit, the legs are ready to go again. Otherwise, you just have to fall down now and then to get some rest. 

Oh, yes. It's definitely London.  That's Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery ahead: