This is the day you have to have. It was perfect in every way. Except for the non-wake up call. I woke up 15 minutes before I was supposed to meet G at the museum. He thought I'd been killed (nothing like a little drama). So I'm a little disheveled. I got there and the perfect day began. Start at The Tate. It's England's major art museum. Go. I don't care that you don't like art museums. This one has every painting you've seen as an illustration your whole life.

You'll find John Singer Sargent,gorgeous Whistler paintings that have nothing to do with his mother, Constable and Turner--the definition of beautiful English landscapes. There are sculptures by Henry Moore that make you want to touch them, and then wonder why you are moved by these shapes that are so evocative but lack eyes and ears and mouths.

My grandmother was remarkable for a million reasons, but one of them is because it never occurred to her that a little girl might be too young for Tennyson. I was raised on the Knights of the Round Table and the glory and tragedy of Camelot. Long before I'd ever heard of Richard Burton. So as I was luxuriating in painting after gorgeous painting, I was stopped still in front of The Lady of Shallot by Waterhouse. And I wanted so much for my grandma to know I was there. In London. Standing in front of this painting and thinking of her.

Now here's the cool part. Leave The Tate. Turn left and cross the street at the crossing. See the pier entry right in front of you? Take it. The Tate runs its own ferry from this museum to The Tate Modern. 5 pounds, easy 20 minute ride on The Thames. You'll go past Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye, The National Theatre, OXO Tower, and arrive at the AMAZING Tate Modern.