Magical London Date

Here are pictures from a beautiful sunny day I had with my 9 year old date. We walked around the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral. You have heard the saying "Rob Peter to pay Paul." In the mid 1800's a the great fire of London burned both St. Peter's Cathedral and St. Paul's. When it came time to rebuild, there was not enough money to rebuild both. Sir Christopher Wren built this magnificent building at the expense of St. Peter's; hence the saying. The challenging thing about appreciating the exterior of St. Paul's is that so many buildings are built right up next to it so as to make it impossible to view it at a reasonable distance without obstruction. It has the second largest dome in the world (second to the dome at the Vatican).
We took a few pictures from the Millennium bridge which was built in 2000. It is a pedestrian bridge across the Thames. Shortly after it was built it began to wobble and hence repairs were required. The cost of the repairs was greater than the original cost of the bridge. It is a magnificent site to view both sides of the Thames as there is no noise from automobiles and one can easily cross the bridge to look over both sides without contending with traffic. It even have speakers playing seagull sounds etc (a bit cheesy in my view; I've never been a fan of artificial nature).
As we were walking we saw hundreds of presumptuous pigeons (all awaiting a hand-out) which Hannah reminded me are actually called "flying rats" according to information obtained from her Uncle Tyrun whilst he visited us in San Antonio last spring. After crossing the Millennium bridge we walked along Bankside London and had great views of the houses of Parliament and Big Ben (Big Ben is actually the bell in the tower, not the tower itself). We then went to Shakespeare's Globe theater (not the original but rebuilt near the original site using exact specifications and even wooden pegs instead of nails). There we enjoyed Shakespeare's Tragedy called Timon of Athens. This was absolutely wonderful and the highlight of my London experiences so far. The theater has 3 gallery levels and standing-space for 700 on the floor. In Shakespeare's time, the peasants would stand on the floor whilst the nobles and such would occupy the galleries. Hannah and I were seated in the lower gallery at stage level, no more than 30 feet from the stage. As this play unfolded I could picture myself 400 years ago (as a peasant most likely) enjoying a similar performance. The photos included are during the intermission as the stage crew were changing scenery and as the audience was in recess.
I love London! Thousands of people fill its streets on the weekends. There are people dressed in mid-evil attire performing for a few pence. Artists line the streets peddling their ware. Musicians are on every corner. Vendors sell boiled peanuts, sausages and pastries. The sights, smells and sounds of Old London, all shrouded in fascinating history make for nice day out with witty young lass. Take care everyone, Jarom

Up and Running

We now have a blog. I never thought that I would be into this fancy blogging thing, but it makes great sense. It will be a good place to add our fun pictures and update everyone on our adventures.