St. Paul's Cathedral

We spent most of the day today at the National Art Gallery, which we didn't have the time to view at our leisure with the girls last year. By the time we made it to our second destination, St Paul's, it was after they had already closed.

Here's Pauline in front of the gate, and again in a French restaurant across the street where we had a nice, relaxing dinner.

Snow?

We awoke this morning to heavy snow. It was too warm to stick, and only lasted a few hours, but it was still quite a surprise. It is still snowing in Edinburgh, though it should stop by the time we get there on Tuesday.

The Girls' Hill

Here's Pauline atop a hill beside a Roman wall dating back to approximately 50 AD. It stands just across the street from the Tower of London, and is just a few short blocks from where our flat was last year. This hill was the girls' favorite place to play when Pauline would take them out for the day.

This is one of the most fascinating things about London; that you can leave your flat, walk a few blocks, and find yourself in the midst of world history. This just can't happen in California.

UK Mexican and The Porterhouse

Sammi, Pauline and I went out for what we had heard was the best Mexican food in London; a restaurant named Wahaca. It seems we weren't the only ones who had heard it was good given there was an hour and a half wait to get in when we showed up at 7:00. So, with time to spare we went to The Porterhouse for a few pints. Pauline has shown an impressive ability to put away the Guinness, as depicted in the mostly empty glass at the left of the picture.

As for the Mexican food, it was really quite good. Nothing that could quite compete with our taco truck, but then not much can. We enjoyed chicken and steak tacos, ceviche tostadas, and of course chips and salsa. They even carried a decent selection of tequilas and Mexican beer, including our favorite, Pacifico. I was a little shocked at paying £3.50 ($7.00) when I can get six for that price in the states, but it was a nice treat.

A Day at the Tower of London

Here's Pauline and the White Tower, the first building among the numerous buildings that make up what is collectively referred to as the Tower of London.

Here we are in front of Tower Bridge as taken from the top of the outer wall of the Tower of London. I've also managed to capture the moment when Pauline could no longer contain her glee.

Above are carvings along the inner walls of the prison cells within the Tower of London. The majority of the prisoners in the Tower were political or religious enemies of England, and over the course of their months-long imprisonments inscribed everything from biblical passages to their own family crests.

The Globe

This is a photo of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The original was destroyed in the fire of 1666. The present theater was reconstructed to look like the original poet's half-timbered and thatched wooden "O." It functions as both a museum and working theater where you can see performances of Shakespeare's plays.

A Day at the Beach

Pauline took a day trip to Norwich this week to meet Sammi, my local friend in the office. Sammi graciously offered to take the day off to spend a day showing Pauline around town. Here they are pictured at the beach on the eastern side of the island.

-JP

Hope You Like Sandwiches

These are pictures of the shelves at a Pret a Manger, which is more commonly referred to as a "Pret." Prets can be found on just about every other corner, and seem to have about as much presence as a Starbucks in the states. They sell coffee, breakfast pastries, soups, and most importantly, sandwiches. The sandwich would seem to be a major staple in the Londoner's diet given the incredible number of sandwiches that occupy the shelves at each Pret. These sandwiches are pre-made, sliced diagonally, and put in display boxes for your perusal. They are just as commonly purchased for breakfast as they are for lunch. Luckily, Sammi, my local friend in the office, has taken me out to lunch to some rather nice restaurants, so I've not had to rely solely on the sandwich, which is what I ate a ton of for lunch last year.

-JP

Westminster Cathedral

Pauline and I went to Sunday mass at Westminster Cathedral today. The cathedral is relatively new given Catholics were persecuted in the early 1800s, and it wasn't until they were recognized as citizens in 1829 that their numbers began to swell, justifying the building of the cathedral in 1895. The cathedral is enormous, but is not yet finished. The exterior appears to be completed, but the interior, especially the ceiling, is definitely not done. There are several small chapels that line the walls of the interior of the cathedral, each dedicated to a particular saint. Many of these await completion as well, although those that have been completed give one a taste of the incredible mosaic tilework that is intended for the remainder of the ceiling. Photographs are not allowed inside, and I'm afraid these two pictures of the exterior don't quite capture the enormous size of the building. The tower is incredibly tall, and the vast and intricate brickwork is staggering.

JP

The Flat

Once again, the firm has put us in a flat in downtown London. I walked to the office today and found that it took me exactly 10 minutes door to door. Not a bad commute.

This flat is located at the Google Maps coordinates here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=172+Aldersgate+Street,+London&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.219929,81.738281&safe=on&ie=UTF8&z=16

The office is at 41 Lothbury, just to the southeast. The flat is very nicely furnished with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. As is typical in British homes, as well as our last flat, the clothes washer and dryer is a single combined unit located...where else...in the kitchen (last photo).

-JP

Boarding the plane

The first photo is of me and Pauline waiting in the terminal for the plane to begin boarding. I needed to take a picture of Pauline so I could send it on to Sammi, a woman who works out of the London office, and whom I befriended during my last visit. Pauline is going to be spending a day out shopping and otherwise being shown around by Sammi, whom she's never met. I'm sure Pauline will have plenty of pictures and stories to post about her visit in a few days.

The second photo was intended to show Pauline having just found her seat on the plane. What I managed to capture in the background purely by accident is a young British boy having just experienced his first Lemon Head candy. Pauline witnessed the two boys talking about how Lemon Head candies were "really quite nice" until the moment the boy attempted to bite into it, only to find it was rock hard, yielding the rather unfortunate reaction in the picture.

The plane had at least 30 or 40 young teenagers returning from a spring break trip to California. Many of them were showing off impressive sunburns, while others decorated themselves with "I love SF" shirts, and other paraphernalia that revealed to us that they had been skiing at Tahoe. We were dreading the thought of having to sit next to these kids on the plane, but given the adage "what goes up must come down," so too did their energy level. Pauline and I enjoyed watching them wake up from their cramped positions while their lower extremities came back from sleep, resulting in agonized looks of pain and anguish.