Westminster Abbey and far more accessible. This Christopher Wren masterpiece was once the tallest building in the London skyline. It houses the graves and memorials of many Royal servants, as well as a memorial to Winston Churchill and Florence Nightingale. We climbed up 259 steps from ground level to visit the Whispering Gallery, then an additional 378 steps up to the Stone Gallery, which is the round vestibule visible at the base of the dome and stands at 173 feet above ground level. 
Finally we braved the additional steps (total of about 530) up old wood, stone and spiral staircases to the Golden Gallery, the smallest of the galleries, which runs around the highest point of the outer dome, 280 feet above the ground. (Look at the photo on your right, look at the top of the dome and see the stone gate type architecture. We were up there!) For those of you who know I don't like heights, I'll just say that it was worth it for these irreplaceable views of London!
We then walked slowly down the steps and across the Millenium pedestrian bridge to the Tate Modern, a large free modern art gallery. We both realized that we weren't really crazy about surrealism, took a respectable journey through at least 20 rooms of modern art, said hello to Warhol's Marilyn Diptych and Double Elvis and promptly left for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
We had a very entertaining walk through the Globe on the South Bank of London, standing in the groundlings' area, sitting in the 2-3 penny seats, listening to our tour guide explain the particulars of Edwardian and Jacobean theater.
Next came a late lunch of panini from a small shop in Gabriel's Wharf, next to the OXO Tower. Then we walked to Waterloo tube and train station, possibly one of the largest (and most dodgy) train stations we've ever seen. There's a reason why almost everyone in London is trim, you have to walk everywhere! From the Tube entrance to the actual train is typically at least 20-50 stairs and nearly a quarter mile. (W says - more like a half!) Thank heavens - no rain yet and good shoes = no blisters.
We took the Tube back to the other side of the Thames and attempted to secure West End theater tickets at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. Nothing was available that we wanted to see so we vowed to arrive by 9:30am tomorrow morning and wandered around the Strand until we found a pub recommended by one of my co-workers who is a native Londoner. We grabbed some much needed rest and a pint at the Coal Hole.
After much cajoling, I finally got W to try the bus, recommended by most travel books as the way to see London. Included in the cost of our TravelCards for the Underground, these double deckers are the way to go. If buses were only this clean in the states, people might voluntarily ride them. We took the bus down to Knightsbridge where we braved the Harrod's sale for about 45 minutes. This is like no other department store in the world - Cavalli, Lauren, Burberry and Armani 'salons,' specialty themed areas like the Egyptian room and escalator, appointment only shopping services and more Harrod's teddy bears and tea for tourists than you could possibly know what to do with!!!
We strolled down through Kensington in search of restrooms (loo's or WC's here) and vowed to visit the Victoria & Albert once we passed in this evening. We took a very crowded Tube back to Covent Garden and wandered again for about an hour before finding the Porterhouse Brewery for dinner. Seats are rare in this order at the bar for all type of brewpub and we ended up sitting next to two young Brits, one of whom resides in San Francisco and is a chemist for a pharmaceutical company. We picked their brains about football vs. cricket vs. rugby, UK vs. USA costs and received recommendations about where to travel to outside of London this weekend (Cambridge or Canterbury.)
After a twelve hour day, we're back in the flat and ready for bed!
London annoyance of the day - small children (4-5) racing on scooters across the Millenium Bridge, nearly taking out all those walking across
London joy of the day - the view from the top of St. Paul's
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