London

Monday morning I arrived in London for the first time in almost 12 years! With 5 hours to kill before Shawn's arrival, I decided to go to the Dali museum. It was interesting, but mostly concentrated on his drawings, sculptures and water colours.

I walked along the Thames to the Millenium bridge which led up the hill to St Paul's Cathedral. Feeling like a bit of a walk, I continued along until I found myself at Euston Station almost 2 hours later. I now have a good feeling for the scale of this city!

The hotel we are staying at (Columbia Hotel) is on the Nothern edge of Hyde Park. Literally, across the street from an entrance to the park. It was a lot nicer than we expected, both in decor, comfort and upkeep.

Yesterday was our first full day. We took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city which enabled us to see many of the attractions Shawn wanted.

We went into the National Gallery, Tower London, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Then in the evening we joined a historic walking tour of London's pubs. We drank in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where the likes of Dr Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens used to drink. It seemed fitting as we had seen Dickens' grave in Westminster Abbey earlier in the day.

As that was the last stop on the tour, we stayed for a few hours with some of the other people we met. It was a long day (15 hours) but a great introduction to the city.

Prior to the pub walk, we needed to find a place for supper. We found an Australian pub where I had kangaroo! It tasted a lot like tender beef.

For the duration of the trip I think I am going to do away with writing about what we are doing and will basically just upload pictures with captions.







- London taken from the top of St Paul's Cathedral (365 feet above the city















- St Paul's Cathedral, from the viewing platform at the base of the dome


















- Trafalgar Square behind me, I am facing the National Gallery, the first gallery Shawn had ever been in. There he was introduced to Van Gogh, Goaghan, Cezanne, and many other painters from the last 500 years.