January 25 Friday

We got a later start today and then rode the tube to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Unfortunately, it was not open to the public on this day, since there was a special service for school children. We had arrived at about 11 AM. However, the person outside told us that the doors would be open to the public at about 4:15 PM for another public service. We could come back then. As a result, we continued on across the Millennium Bridge to the South Bank to visit the Tate Modern art museum. The museum is just on the other end of the bridge. As with most museums in London, it had free admission. We entered and decided right away that we would pay the entry fee to see the special exhibit — a retrospective of impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard — wow, was it good and very lengthy, which was a very good thing. His use of color was amazing, and he really liked to paint the view of his garden from inside the house. A few paintings showed his dachshund (Poucette) of which he had six over his lifetime (all named Poucette), which we particularly enjoyed. The whole exhibit was truly outstanding. Rob elected to buy a knitted and stuffed Poucette in the gift shop. Poucette translates in English to small thumb or "Thumbelina." We looked around at a few other areas, saw Picassos and a great (green donkey) Chagall. Then we decided to leave.

From there we proceeded east along the south bank of the river towards the Shard, Europe’s tallest building. This is a very touristy area. We did see the ruins of Winchester Palace (a former 13th-century bishops' complex with ruins of great hall, prison and brewhouse) along the way, which were interesting.

At the Shard, we did the "cheat." You can pay a high fee to ride to the top to see the view, or you can cheat. We rode purposefully up to the 36th floor to the reception area for the Shanghai-La Hotel, which has a nice view. Then you can continue on to the 52th floor for the hotel’s restaurant (Gong), which we did to have a drink. However, we were turned away since we were not hotel guests. The staff did let us stay a few minutes to take a few photos. Best of both worlds — no fee and no overpriced drinks, but great photos and views of London!

From here we walked across the modern London bridge to the City. We stumbled upon the Monument, a Sir Christopher Wren-designed column commemorating London's Great Fire, with a viewing platform, which is also the name of a tube stop. Then we proceeded back towards St. Paul’s, passing the Bank of England (the Bank tube stop). We got in, but couldn’t see too much because of the impending religious service, but it was impressive — lots of mosaics.

We took the tube back to Tottenham Court station (had to go east to go west for some reason — super packed train!), then walked back to the flat.

In this evening, we had some wine at the local pub called the Tower Tavern (nothing to write home about). We are noticing that many of the pub employees seem to be foreign nationals — wonder why? We then walked down to Cote on Charlotte Street, a French style (chain) steakhouse, where we had delicious endive salads. For mains Rob had a fillet and Roy had a sirloin, both woefully undercooked.  Then home to Fitzroy Street.

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