Our First Full Day in London

Sat. Apr. 16: We tried to get an early start and were the only ones in the breakfast room but it was still about 9:00 when we hit the Tube to go from Earl’s Court to St. Paul’s. We thought we’d take a little time to do Rick Steves’ walking tour there but the high admission cost included an IPod with an audio/visual guide to the Cathedral so we did both. And it was worth it as different things (the IPod included footage from Prince Charles and Princess Di’s wedding and a virtual tour to the highest level of the dome) were highlighted and they were very different in tone (Rick’s is lighter and funnier). The cathedral is the 4^th biggest in Europe, and was constructed by Christopher Wren beginning in 1667, after the big fire burned London pretty much to the ground. He lived to see his masterpiece completed and his son put the cross on the top of the towering dome. We climbed, not all the way to the top, but to the second of three levels where we could walk around outside and look down across the vast city. By the time we had explored it all, including the crypt in the basement, it was after 1:00 and we were well past the time we had hoped to be on the Hop On/Hop Off Tour Bus so we climbed aboard for an overview of the town. It was partly sunny and nice to sit up on top once there was a spot for us. The sites of London are far more spread out than Paris so it was good to have this chance to be driven and have the route explained to us. After quite a long time we got off at Buckingham Palace, just as a minor guard change occurred (not the big pageantry that happens once a day) for us to film. The area is in full bloom but partly barricaded in preparation for the Royal Wedding in two weeks, with Press Stands blocking off the entrance to St James Park. We walked to Victoria Station and took the Metro to the British Museum. In between as some point we found Linda Filcek’s recommended restaurant for sandwiches, Pret A Manger, or “Pret” as the new ones seem to prefer. Marv had a grilled chicken Panini and I had a FABULOUS brie, basil, and tomato on a baguette. We were therefore ready to take on the huge museum with the help once again of Rick Steves. He took us to the Rosetta Stone, followed by the ancient Egyptian exhibits, with the mummies, Assyrian, Roman, and Greek exhibits. We ended with the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, so named for the procurer (he says he saved them, the Greeks say he stole them). Once again we closed the place down; as Rick Steves was closing they were shooing us out the doors. With a little extra wandering we got back on the Tube and returned to Westminster Abbey to get pictures and find out what time the services would be on Palm Sunday, because it looked like that would be the only way we were going to see the Abby. We dropped in at the Red Lion to have a pint. As we sat, it was getting dark. We decided that it would be nice to get pictures of things lighted, so we had a Sharing Platter of wings, sausages, potato wedges and garlic bread for dinner and then walked down to get our pictures. There was a full moon between the Parliament towers and Big Ben so we got some pretty spectacular pictures and even a movie as the bells chimed for 9:45. By the time we returned to the hotel we did some emailing and called Marv’s mom (with limited success) and went to bed.