London – Day Three

Readers, I lied. I lied to all of you. It is a sad day but I would like to explain myself. I told you that we visited the inside of St. Paul’s on day two of our adventure however; we actually only saw the outside, as it was a Sunday and services were being held. It was not until day three that we walked amongst the ridiculous amount of memorials. If you seek to sever this blog friendship due to my inability to get my facts my straight, I understand. And you may do so at this time…pausing…pausing. I hope most of you are still here. Let us proceed!

Day three of our vacation begins with Jason and me visiting the inside of St. Paul’s. (Wait, did you know I was going to say that?) We also had tea and scones at a little place called Tea, just around the corner from the cathedral. It was quite good but really, when do I complain about tea?

After St. Paul’s we made our way to Westminster. It was cold and rainy and we found a large crowd of protesters near the cathedral however; we made it! Westminster was EuroTrash Land, Part 2 but with so much history and overall brilliance that I didn’t care at all. The dark Gothic interior had something to offer at virtually every corner. It was a wonderful experience and in no other place did I feel so much of a connection to the past.

Our next stop was the British Museum, a tiny little place with just a small bit of art.

Oh no, I’m concerned. I may have lied to you again. The British Museum is not tiny. In fact, it’s quite large. And it contains pieces such as the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone – as well as a replica you can walk up and touch. And no, I didn’t learn Spanish, French, and Italian by touching the stone.

However, you know what I did learn? I learned that every day is made better with a tea. And fancy ones are lots of fun. We had today’s afternoon tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. A beautiful old building that still had tiny orange trees on each table, Jason and I enjoyed tea, scones, cucumber sandwiches, and cakes. It was a feast!

After leaving the Orangery we walked around the gardens and through Kensington Palace. Both were equally beautiful.

Monday night included a place on the Jack the Ripper London Walk. A former detective for the City of London who has written extensively on Jack the Ripper was our guide and wove us through parts of London where we saw places where each of Jack the Ripper’s victims were found. Aside from it being mighty chilly this was an intriguing experience. Jason even purchased our guide’s book and he, Donald, recognized Jason from his attendance on a walk years before!

The walk and a pizza dinner conclude our third day in London. Check back for Day Four!

- Jen Dean