Gretchen's Blog

Today I began with figuring out "the tube" and then headed to Westminster. Started by viewing Big Ben, I still remember it from the last time I was in London (25 years or so ago.) I felt like one of the Griswalds when I looked at it, took a picture and kept going. I took a couple of pictures and I expect postcards would do a better job. What's the point of taking the pictures when I'm not in them!

Westminster Abby is a very elaborate church with a lot of dead people buried in the floor. Very beautiful, of course I'm thinking how could they afford to build such a church? I wonder what it would cost to build today? Would you ever be able to find the craftsman that have the proper skills? All the while, walking over all these dead people. The floor where they are buried have settled at different rates but you can tell where they are buried by the shape. Eeewww.

Next was the National Gallery where I spent a couple of hours but could have spent all day viewing art. They had these headsets that you could punch the number into the player and it would describe the piece you were viewing. It works out great cause you can get info on only the art in which you are interested.

I went to Fortnum and Mason for high tea. They asked if I wanted the exotic tea blends for an extra £5. Any tea better than Lipton is exotic for me so I skipped the upgrade. I tried to watch how others poured their tea so I didn't look like a complete idiot. First the sugar cube, then the strainer, then the tea, remove strainer to drip catcher and then add milk if desired. A couple of times I forgot the strainer and had a few tea leaves floating in my cup. Hope they didn't get stuck in my teeth. I couldn't figure out if you could use your fingers with the finger sandwiches and I didn't take a chance so I cut them in two and stabbed them with a fork. The tea was great and so was the ambiance.

On the way back I stopped at Hamleys "Britain's largest toy store" and tried to find a few unique items for Annaliese. Half the girls floor was covered with Bratz and Barbies, I'll save that for Target.

Finally I got to see Phantom of the Opera, what a great musical. It's been running for 20 years straight and I can see why. The theatre was quaint, not a bad seat in the house. I decided to try and get 1/2 price tickets to another show for Saturday, take a chance on something I've never heard about.

Ta ta for now.