Tates and a Midnight Bus

Well, my feet are really tired and hurting, but it's a good hurt. I guess I shall not waste too much of your reading, so here's yesterday and today:

Sunday
We decided to sleep in, so we didn't leave until 11 (at least we got some sleep to get recharged). From there, we met Ashley and Matt at Westminster to go to lunch. We ate at an American-Italian restaurant called Little Frankie's. It is complete with 60's music and milkshakes in metal cups. I still find it funny to find American restaurants because I feel like we've stolen our food from other countries, but I digress. Then, we walked around and saw St. Martin's and st. Paul's. At Saint Paul's (an amazing cathedral), we saw Evensong, but when the organ played, we couldn't hear the choir (which was unfortunate). From there, we said our goodbyes to Ashley as she left this morning to go back to Australia (and we're down to three). We came back to get our jackets and rest. We headed to a little hole-in-the-wall place, and I got some lasagna. Then, we walked around Picadilly Circus, and we found a bunch of stores and places to buy tickets for performances (by the way, it seems as though they have turned every movie created into a musical -- even Tony Blair's reign as Prime Minister). We think we'll find a play for tomorrow night. Unfortunately, Picadilly Circus wasn't much other than shops, so we decided to go to the London Eye. London at night from the Eye is absolutely amazing. I took some pictures, but I'm not sure how they came out. But seriously, it was really cool (although 15 pounds was a bit expensive for it -- oh well, you only live once right?). Then, we decided to walk down the Thames. We found a group playing Mozart (3 violins and a cello) under a walkway, so we sat down for awhile to listen. Then, we walked down some more, but we realized that we should probably go back considering it was around 11. We found Vauxhall Station, but the Victoria line was shut down for the weekend. As a replacement, we rode a double-decker bus to the next station. It was pretty cool, but I almost face planted into the front window on the second tier. When we came back, we went to bed.

Monday
We woke up a little late again, but we still got quite a bit done. First, we went to the Globe to find tickets for King Lear, but they were sold-out (we'll try to get in the replacement line to see if we can't find someone who can't use theirs -- a legal form of scalping it seems). Then, we headed to the Tate Modern and walked around for a couple hours. I really don't see the point in abstract art, but I think I gained a better appreciation for it. Some things like Jackson Pollack's work was really cool and interesting, but when they just put colored blocks on canvas or paint a room white, I am not impressed. Call me traditional, but I like to know at what I'm looking. From there, we took a boat up the Thames to the Tate Britain (it wasn't as exciting as we hoped), and we found some lunch at another little café. Then, we went into the Tate Britain, which is less impressive than Tate Modern, but it still has a lot artwork from famous British artists. Best of all, both were free. Then, we met Matt for dinner. We went to a place called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. It is one of the oldest pubs/restaurants in London. The "restaurant" was full, but the bar downstairs had seats. So we went downstairs, and we felt like we literally travelled all the way back to the 1700's. It was pretty cool and really dark. To top it all off, they had casks of Amontillado, which freaked us out a bit. It was still really cool, and we felt like we were in a real English pub. We ate quickly and headed over to the Jack the Ripper tour. It was pretty cool, and the guide was really interesting. Overall, he killed lots of people and ripped their guts out. I took some pictures of the places he killed people (that sounded worse than I meant it to). After walking around all day, we were pretty tired, so I'm sitting down writing this blog and having a beer. Tomorrow, we are going to head to the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery, and then to a play. That is the plan at least.

Observations:
- The British Parliament and Big Ben are the coolest buildings in London. Hands down, no dispute.
- I now understand the currency and don't have to look for the numbers on the back of the coins to know what they represent. Yes, and with a couple days to spare. I'm an idiot.