August 08, London: Zoo, museum, and theatre

The London zoo is a very good zoo!   But you know it is not as if the animals hang around awaiting your visit, especially on a rainy day.  None the less, some were available for viewing.

Here, well, yes, but native to Indonesia, is a komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world.  Adults can kill prey as large as water buffalo, which can weigh up to five times their body weight.  Should a water buffalo not be available for dinner, a deer or wild pig will do:

Sumatran tiger taking a nap.  Like the fellow above, it also dines on deer and wild pig, but also enjoys monkeys, birds, and sometimes tapir.

Not only were the tigers napping, so were the lions:

This African red river hog was not snoozing, it was rooting around for fruit roots eggs, insects, or nuts, anything it could get its snout on:

To see its face and some of its friends, look here.

What is a zoo without some monkeys?

Though not all have a butterfly house:

or a display of locusts:

or a big Brazilian hairy spider:

 Apres zoo, the Courtauld Museum. There, in a prominent position at the top of a staircase, hangs a huge painting (only a fragment shown here) by Cecily Brown, who, in the realm of predominantly male artists gazing at he female nude, decided to make the male body the central theme.  Not surprisingly, it is called Naked Men: 

Modigliani was content to stay with the naked female:

Naked bodies were not the only subjects. There were also lilies in a jar by Matthew Smith (1914):

 

And a lot of paintings that I was not terribly interested in. All in all, not my favorite museum.

However, Witness for the Prosecution was a brilliant theatrical performance at the County Hall:

Where, perhaps Counsel may have been a bit tipsy:

Though maybe just the audience indulged.

I was foreperson of the jury:

And actually got to speak for the jury and announce the verdict to "His Lordship!"  This was very exciting, very exciting indeed!

On the walk back to the Air B&B, I saw the Big Eye all lit up:

The next day, it was time to fly home.

The scarlet ibis stayed at the zoo.