London, Pt. 4 (Needle to Pizza)

Hey guys,

Back with another blog post about the London trip. I'll probably keep it short and succinct tonight, as I'm pretty exhausted.

Things on the Tube went a little more smoothly today, although once when we tried to get on today, we had to walk instead because of a line closed due to "a person on the tracks". Wow! He must've had a strong drink early this morning! Hope the chap survived...

The first stop (after hitting Starbucks for a latte and a ginormous cookie!) was Cleopatra's Needle. The Needle was a gift to Britain from Egypt at some point. This must be where you hang to do your smoking, as a fellow standing by the Needle had a cloud of smoke around him that made the air redolent of the scent of marijuana. Party at the Needle, chaps!

The next stop was the Temple Church, a church built there in the 12th and 13th centuries for the Knights Templar. The church was nowhere near as vast as St. Paul's Cathedral, but was still beautiful and had some impressive tombs and stained glass.

The Courtauld Gallery at the Somerset House was amazing, containing paintings by Botticelli, Monet, Gauguin, Pissarro, Renoir, and Van Gogh, among others. This trip has revitalized my interest in painting and art and the Courtauld Gallery played a huge part in this.

Lunch was at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. I had the Spicy Chicken Breast (which tasted strangely like a Chinese food chicken dish to me) with chips. I washed it down with a Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Bitter, which was rather tasty and reminded me a bit of Yuengling. Parts of the pub itself date back to 1667 and it was commonplace for 19th century literati to go there and dine. I tried to imagine Mark Twain and Charles Dickens in this miraculous dark old pub, as they were among notables who spent time there.

The Sir John Soanes Museum housed various magnificent, strange and ancient objects collected by (who else?) Sir John Soanes. The man left this house to the nation in 1837, wishing that all could come and view his miraculous collection of books, statues, and other artifacts. Quite stunning.

The British Museum was another of those with various artifacts from all cultures. The Rosetta Stone is housed there and one found it difficult to even so much as snap a picture with all the throngs gathered around it. The museum contained some of the oldest things I'd ever scene, boasting an Easter Island statue, various Egyptian mummies, 1.8 million-year-old Olduvai hand axes and many other things. Also, we paid extra to see a gallery of pencil drawings from the masters, including some of da Vinci's own. Worth the extra 12 pounds apiece.

We capped the day off with dinner from Pizza Express, which sounds like it's a rundown little kiosk, but is really anything but. We even had the feeling that we were ushered to the back of the restaurant because of our less-than-dressy clothes! We had the Garlic Bread with Mozzarella, which was a delicious lump of bread served with a small pizza cutter so you could cut it yourself and the Romana (pizza with a paper-thin crust) American Hot (which had pepperoni and banana peppers). Pretty good, but I've had better pies.

And with that, we ended the last day dwelling in London proper. Tomorrow will be Stonehenge and Glastonbury Tor. Gotta see that English countryside.

Anyway, guys... I tried to keep it short and couldn't, but I really must be getting to sleep. Lots of walking on already exhausted legs tomorrow. Hope this all finds you and yours well.

Peace...