We found our way easily to the tube station, and away we went to church.
I have been to St. Paul's Cathedral before, to see it from the outside, and just to peek inside, because I haven't wanted to pay the fee to see it all. On Sunday, however, you can see the inside as a place of worship. That was more my speed anyway. There were no photos allowed, so I don't have a lot to show you, but, I'll try to paint a picture with my words.
We went in and there were seats lined up for visitors to sit quietly. Service was not going on, but the organist was preparing for the evening concert. We found three seats together and sat and listened to the pipe organ fill the huge cathedral. It's not as big as it looks on tv, once you're inside. But, it is still a grand building. I was glad to have had a rare treat like that to sit and listen to the music in such a historical place of worship.
We decided to go downstairs, as there were more monuments to Earls, and Lords, and other tombs there. But, they were closed up...I suppose for the paying crowd to see on Monday. We looked through the gift shop, and sat to listen to the organ play a bit more. You could hear it through the ceiling vents, which were the sanctuary floor.
It was around lunch time when we left St. Paul's, so we started looking for something to eat. People were standing outside their restaurants offering little samples. We turned a few corners, and stumbled upon The Happenstance. We saw there were plenty of gluten free options, so we agreed on to try it out. And we were all happy we did!
The Happenstance A Happy Coincidence
I had a gluten free flat-bread with butternut squash, pecans, spinach, onions, and a pesto.
I think everyone really enjoyed their lunch. I thought more than once I wished we had a similar restaurant at home! This is just my kind of place!
From lunch, we moseyed our way around some streets and alleys to the Millennium Bridge over The Thames.
(A pub we passed by...what a name.)
You can see the Tower Bridge in the distance, and the tall building is The Shard.
I've been reading a series of books about a woman private investigator set in the early 1900's called, Maisie Dobbs, which has it's setting mostly in London. The book I was reading while on my vacation, was set mostly in this part of London, so it was fun picturing the sites first hand as I read.
Once across the bridge, we saw Shakespeare's Globe. Well, just the outside, as it turned out to be one of the busiest areas we had seen so far. We continued on along the bankside of the Thames, which led us to this excavated palace.
We saw a lot of old and new side by side.
A couple of tube rides later, we made our way to Trafalgar Square. We saw Nelson's Column, and the large lions surrounding it.
And then there was this guy.
The latest art installment on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Having seen as much as we wanted on that end of London, we made our way back towards "our end of town" to see Kensignton Gardens.
We walked through a beautiful residential area, where photographs were not allowed. My guess is because of all the embassies around, including the heavily machine gunned out Israel Embassy. It was still a beautiful walk, and one I would like to do again.
Since the Whole Foods was closed once we got to it, we decided to make another plan for dinner, one of my favorite restaurants in London, Masala Zone! I love to get the thali plate and try all the different dishes!
Steve called the restaurant and asked for one of his many names for me while we were eating. The manager came over and asked if one of us was the person in question and it didn't click with me then, so I said no. A few minutes later, I knew it was him. And once I got home, he told me it was. Just a little way for us to enjoy the memories together.
The evening ended rather uneventfully, as we went to the grocery store to pick up a few snacky and breakfast things before heading back to the apartment. My friend Rachel was joining up with us that evening, and I was anxiously awaiting her arrival, and my other friend Shona the next morning. Rachel got in late, but that didn't stop us from staying up even later catching up on everything we've missed out on in the past three years of visiting in the same room! Rachel and I will often message each other and say we wish we could just pop around for tea to visit. This evening visiting will be another thing I will often wish for.
1 comment:
So funny about Steve calling the restaurant. i remember the waiter coming over and we were like, 'uhhh...no...'
:)
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