I slept a little later today, but still had an early start.  Knowing that St. Paul's Cathedral opens at 8:30, I plan on this to start my day.  It's in the "City" of London which is popular place for people to work.  The tube was crowded with commuters.  I take some pics around the cathedral and then head inside where it is deserted.  I learn that the dome is not open until 9:30 so I have an hour to fill.  I wander around, exploring the various memorials and the crypt below.  In the crypt famous folks are buried, like Sir Christopher Wren (architect of St. Paul's and other buildings), Lord Nelson, Florence Nightingale, and a host of others I've never heard of.  I spend a few minutes eavesdropping on a tour group and by then the dome is open.  The first stop (about 160 steps up) is the whispering dome part where you can hear people across the dome.  While my parents assured me that we visited here, I didn't remember it.  It now came back to me and I recall that Dad and I climbed up here.  I climbed up to the next two levels (about the same number of steps each time) and got a panoramic view of the city.  

It's now mid-morning and I walk across the Millennium Bridge (opened in 2000) to the Tate Modern.  I was looking forward to this before the trip and was even more eager after an Italian college student I was talking with the night before told me this was her favorite thing in London.  I was disappointed in the museum.  Even without high expectations, I would have been disappointed.  While there are a few great pieces of art here (including a couple by Magritte, whom I like), there was a lot of stuff that was definitely skippable.  As Bart Simpson would say, much of it was craptacular.  The MOMA in NY, while also filled with a lot of junk, has more great stuff.    A solid blank canvas just doesn't do it for me. 

I was finished a little ahead of my plan and then went to the London Eye.  This didn't exist when I was here before, and I got on line (queued up, as they say here), bought my ticket, waited in another line and then was in the giant ferris wheel (total time waiting & buying a ticket was about 40 minutes for a 30 minute ride).  Great views from down the river of this morning's St. Paul's views.  

I wander the City a bit, get a snack, and head to the hotel for a quick nap before meeting my early travelers again at 6pm.  We have a quick dinner and head to the West End where I'm seeing Avenue Q.  

Avenue Q has been on my short list of shows to see and I was not disappointed.  I enjoyed it a lot and it was an enternaining look at an R-rated Sesame St.  The music was very good and I'm glad I splurged on good seat. While the theater was small compared with ones at home or on Broadway, 6th row center was a great spot.  It was interesing that on top of a £50 ticket, they wanted another £3 for the playbill; I decline.  Plus people were walking around before, during intermission ("interval"), and after selling CDs and stuff.  I realize that as they say in "Spaceballs" it's all merchandizing, but still this was tacky I thought.  I also noticed how casual the audience was dressed.  I know Broadway has gotten casual but I saw almost no men in pants and a number of people in shorts.  Just like at work, I raised the bar by wearing pants and a nice shirt.  After the show, it's a couple tube stops back to the hotel. 

View the London photo album.