London – Day 2

What a day today! We headed out the door around 9:30am and went straight to St. Paul’s Cathedral. How’d we get there? The Tube of course! That system ROCKS! We popped into a cafe near the cathedral on the way and got muffins and drinks. No, they did not make it on our “best muffins ever” list, however we’ve scoped out EAT. for tomorrow which is where yesterday’s muffins were purchased. Mmmm, can’t wait!

The cathedral is breathtaking. It was built circa 600a.d. and it is absolutely mind  blowing to think that people were capable of building such amazing structures without all of the technology we have today. Kevin made the great journey up into the dome. It was a 600-stair, one way, realllllly narrow, stairway up into the dome. I made the decision to remain on the ground level and wait to see him poke his head over the balcony in the top of the dome. There were three levels, the interior “whispering” platform and two exterior platforms that were near the top of the dome. He said it was amazing but concurred that I would not have been happy squeezing my way up 600 stairs. We also toured the crypt at St. Paul’s. I’ve come to the conclusion that one thing I don’t enjoy doing is touring crypts. Creeeepy.

After St. Paul’s we had lunch at Pizza Express, rather good! Though, we’ve figured out that our drinks at our meals cost nearly as much as the meal itself. I ordered a Fanta, Kevin a beer and we shared a still water and it came out to 9 pounds, my pizza was 7 pounds! The still water (a 1 liter bottle) costs more than a beer! I think I understand why people drink a lot here. I will definitely not take free water for granted at home anymore!

Once we finished lunch we crossed the Thames via the Millennium bridge (the one that was in the beginning of the newest Harry Potter) and headed over to the Tate Modern Museum. It is a huge building with a wide range of art from Picasso to Warhol and everything in between. Some of the art was beautiful, but frankly, a lot of the “modern” crap makes me cringe. There was literally a blank canvas with a slit in it, um, that is art? Then there was the giant rope that was just lying on the ground. Art? Seriously? Oh, and there was the giant palm tree, roots and all, lying on it’s side. The only impressive thing about that was the fact that they somehow got it into the building in one piece! But, art? Come on people! Thankfully there were some classic works there which saved the Tate for us. And, maybe best of all, it was free!

We walked out of the Tate and headed west over to the Shakespeare Globe which is a replica of Shakespeare’s playhouse. It is the only building in London that has a thatch roof, so it definitely stands out. It was small and cute outside.

We crossed back over the Millennium bridge and hopped on the Tube to (thanks Dad for the awesome suggestion) Abbey Road to the crosswalk where the famous Beatles album cover was photographed and the record studio where their album was recorded. We weren’t the only people checking out the famous street and we could tell that the locals were used to us “dumb tourists” holding up traffic to try and get a shot of ourselves crossing Abbey Road. It was a very, very cool thing to see and I’m so glad we went!

After Abbey Road we hopped back onto the Tube over to Hyde Park. This is a HUGE park in the middle of London. We walked for what seemed forever and only covered a fraction of it. We saw school children running laps around the lake in the park dressed in their school uniforms which were red shorts and khaki polos, tucked in, so proper and adorable! We also saw the Princess Diana memorial fountain, a somber place.

We decided to take a double-decker bus back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We hadn’t realized yesterday that our daily tube pass is also good for the local bus system, score! We guessed at the bus we needed to take and got lucky! We got to ride on the top deck of a really old double decker bus, what an experience. It was around 5pm at this time and London was packed with people and cars everywhere. Total chaos, but somehow it was organized chaos.

Once back at the hotel our awesome concierge recommended Punjab, the oldest Indian restaurant in London, and the #1 restaurant in Covent Garden. He also made reservations for us, drew us a map, and showed us the best way to get to the theater after dinner. I love how helpful and pleasant people are here! Though, on a side note, I did hear a guy yell a racial slur at a Muslim woman praying in the park today, aside from the fact that he was a total racist a-hole, it was almost refreshing to know that this town ISN’T perfect afterall, I was beginning to wonder!

So, we had our first Indian dinner ever tonight, and it was delicious! It was fresh and light and very tasty! After dinner we walked to the theater and watched 39 Steps, a hilarious comedy based on the Hitchcock story. The theater was about 3 stories underground and older than dirt. It really is amazing how old stuff is here.

After the play we walked through Chinatown and SOHO, had some delicious Chinese food (yes, second supper is acceptable on vacation!) and then headed to Trafalgar Square. There were hundreds of people out, just hanging around, and it was after 11pm on a Wednesday night. So different from home. There is a “living” art exhibit happening called One & Other, some local kids rollerblading around cones to music that was playing, and a crew from the museum packing up the largest chess board I have ever seen! It was just so cool. Such a great vibe!

We walked down the Strand back to our hotel and now here we are! Exhausted again with a big day ahead of us tomorrow.

We’re glad that you guys are enjoying the blogs and we LOVE getting your comments, so keep the coming! It takes a lot of time to write these blogs, so I will try to make tomorrow night’s shorter so I can reply to some comments instead! Miss you all! Nite nite.

Pictures:
Our most recent on flick
London Day 2 set on flickr