Steve and Kathy's Adventure: A Little Rain, a Little Tea

I'm shocked, just shocked! There's rain in London.

We had a very restful night's sleep and didn't wake up until after 7:00. I'm always terrified that I'll wake up at midnight with Jet-lag and be completely awake, still on California time. Instead, we both had a full night's sleep and woke up ready to go.

Debbie and Kathy planned an afternoon (girl's only) tea at the Fan Museum, which left the morning free for the two of us to visit the sights. After breakfast, we got on the tube, and rode downtown to Westminster.

Walking out of the tube station is neat because you come out right underneath Big Ben, with Westminster Cathedral to your right. It's immediate sensory overload; it reminded me of getting off the train in Venice--it's so different.

As we walked around, the rain lessened a bit, until it was just a light drizzle, like Seattle or Portland. We walked around the Parliament buildings, then around the outside of Westminster Cathedral. (The line to get inside stretched about a block in either direction.)

After that we took a leisurely stroll down Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square. We passed some mounted Cavalry Guards, advertising a museum exhibit.

And Kathy took my picture at 10 Downing Street (or as close as you can get these days).

When we got to Trafalgar, we looked at the iconic lions, the famous pillar with Admiral Nelson on top, and, a new addition: a large purple chicken. (Probably part of the collection from the National Gallery which fronts Trafalgar square.) My picture isn't that good, since it was raining again.

The real reason we came to Trafalgar Square though, was to eat lunch again in the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martins in the Fields church. The food is delicious and inexpensive, and the atmosphere just can't be beat.

Visiting Greenwich

After lunch, we took the tube and DLR back to the Alnutt's,

where Debbie took Kathy away for tea with some of the other ladies from the church. Marshall took me in hand for the afternoon. We walked down the block and crossed under the Thames in the Greenwich pedestrian tunnel which comes out right at the Cutty Sark (which was closed the last time we were here.)

I managed to take a little tumble when I missed a step, and twisted my ankle slightly. Later this evening, though, it seems to be much better. There is a lot to see in Greenwich. The old Royal Naval Academy buildings are very impressive, and used for a lot of "period" films. Marshall tells me that much of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was shot here at Greenwich.

The first place we visited was the "painted hall" (which featured in the movie). Apparently, you can also rent it out for weddings, etc.

To save you from injuring yourself craning your neck to look at the ceiling, mirrored carts have been placed around the room so you can examine the paintings, or, take your own picture.

We also visited the Chapel next door. These are the only two buildings still open to the public. The rest of the buildings are part of the University of Greenwich, or a music conservatory. (You can sometimes hear the music across the Thames at Debbie and Marshall's house.)

One thing I had wanted to do (and that we didn't have time for on our last visit) was to climb the hill to the Royal Observatory. This is literally, the place where time begins. Everyone wants to get a picture like this:

I'm standing right on the Prime Meridian, with one half in the Western Hemisphere and the other in the Eastern. This is Greenwich Mean Time 0.

After quite a long walk around the grounds (which are beautiful in the rain, and, Marshall tells me, very popular and crowded when the sun comes out) we headed home to prepare for the Tuesday night Bible study. Since we couldn't get here for the Sunday service, both Kathy and I were excited to see the City Temple church where they have services. City Temple is the tower in the background; the church in front is an Anglican parish church.