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Published: August 8th 2007
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St. Paul's Cathedral
Hey, that's the building that they used to show at the end of the Benny Hill Show. I knew it looked familiar. Difficult early morning A loud, annoying beeping wakes us up at quarter before seven. Is that the alarm? Because if it is, that’s obnoxious. Is it real? Will it go away? I get up and pull a bathrobe over my mismatched sleeping clothes (yes, a bathrobe would actually look better than what I wore to bed) while Lee pulls on a shirt and jeans. We walk out of our room and join the stream of people headed along the convoluted hallways toward the staircases. I’m not the only one in a bathrobe. Once on ground level but before exiting the building, the staff tells us it’s a false alarm and apologize for the inconvenience. Combined with yesterday’s freezing to hot water and our late night move to a different room, there is nothing relaxing about staying at this very nice hotel. Sleep takes us for another hour or so, and then we face the challenge of finding laundry services in this expensive city. I am able to find two companies, but there is no guarantee we’ll get our clothes back before going to Cairo, and the nearest laundromat is a 25-minute bus ride away. We’re just going to have to stretch
St. Paul's Cathedral
Meli blending in with the crowd our clothes as far as we can go, and with London being as urban as it is, I’m lucky I still have all my “going out” clothes clean. We’re also on a mission to see a show and have been entertaining Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors, Spamalot, and more. Like with the English football games, we’re unlikely to be able to afford the most popular shows, so we call the ticket offices to inquire about student concessions and half-price same-day tickets. We are advised to show up to the ticket booth at 10am tomorrow to get in line.
Sunday Service at St. Paul’s We had planned to go to the early service, but thankfully, St. Paul’s has more than five scheduled today. The Tube station near the cathedral is closed this weekend for renovation, so with the walk from Bank station, we make it just in time. Tourists are crowding the entryway as they take what quick glances they may at the awesome sculpture, painting, and architecture housed in St. Paul’s. We are staying for the service and are allowed to enter the deeper part of the cathedral. With programs in hand, we make our way to the
Yo! Sushi
Putting in work on the miso. right and are seated in the first row, with full view of the President and her assistants and the all-male choir. It is an Anglican service, which is familiar to me as a Catholic format. Young boys in traditional Catholic dress are at the front of the choir, their angelic voices rising up and up toward the dome and cupola, through the hole at the top and into the sky. Gold. Marble. Biblical scenes painted at the base of the dome. White sculptures in recesses alternating with the scenes. A space created to bring your gaze from the earth you live on and up to the sky where heaven awaits. Light enters the cathedral through the cupola. It is no wonder that they created cathedrals like this. It takes Sunday worship to another level. Hymns, praises, sermon, prayers, and Communion. I exhale with relief after this hour of introspection and prayer, ready to start the day. Of note, I’ve never been to Catholic mass with a female president and female reverend canon. The sermon was about Tabitha.
Stroll through London: St. Paul’s to Piccadilly It is 1pm and we have not eaten, so we head straight to a restaurant
Yo! Sushi
The (pricey) selection rolls by. Green plates are pocket friendly. Not many passed by. across from St. Paul’s. Yo! Sushi is a chain we have seen many times already, and it’s the type of place where sushi plates are placed on a belt that runs along the bar. Plates are color-coded for price, and you can just pick up what you want. The prices, of course, are in pounds, but even if they were in dollars the place would be on the expensive end for small plates of sushi. Monster Sushi in Mountain View has definitely spoiled us (sigh, I miss Alex and the sushi crew). The phrase of the day will be “We can’t afford it.” Luckily, they serve unlimited miso soup for £1.50 and unlimited filtered still water for £1. We share the water, and yes, we’re cheap. The sushi is average and the wasabi weak, but Leroy’s crisp duck hand roll makes up for everything. Salmon is fresh, but doesn’t make the cut compared to Camarote Salvador or Sushi Leblon in Brazil. We are so picky. I fill up on three bowls of miso soup and lots of water. We’ll be hungry in an hour.
Next, we walk on Godliman St (what a great name for a street near the
Yo! Sushi
Crispy Duck and Moromi Miso Hand Roll church!) toward the Millennium Bridge, built to celebrate the turn of the century. Crossing the bridge takes you from the cathedral to the Tate Modern Museum. We took some cutesy pics of the Millennium Bridge then headed along the South Bank, with a perfectly timed stop at Starbucks for banana java chip and soy latte. We walk by the South Bank book market, the Jubilee Gardens with street performers and artists making giant-sized chalk replicas of the Italian masters’ paintings on the street, the London Eye and Waterloo pier, across Westminster Bridge to gaze at the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Then up Whitehall past guards on horses and then armed guards on their feet (but missing the hat) near Downing Street where Tony Blair sleeps. Off to Trafalgar Square hoping to see the Darfur rally mentioned in the sermon this morning, but that had already made way for an Indian festival (Vaisakhi). Step on to Piccadilly Circus, where we finally decided to end our walk and make it back to Liverpool St. in time for the Arsenal vs. Fulham game, even if Thierry Henry isn’t playing due to injury. So, with over 5000 meters on our
Yo! Sushi
Love the canard. internal pedometers and an hour and a half after service, we’re back on the Tube. It was so hot, I was fanning myself with my map, and a guy asked if I was really that hot on the Tube. Yes, I was. It’s my hypothalamus acting up again.
Getting our sports on This time, we hit The Railway pub near our hotel, but their drinks are pricier and they are not a “pie house,” meaning I can’t check that “I ate a steak pie at a pub” box. We watch the first half there, with Leroy trying out a Stella draught and me drinking water (I did say 5000 meters, didn’t I?). At halftime, we walked right back to the White Hart for cheaper pints and the rest of the game. I wanted a pie, Lee wanted to watch the Barcelona vs. Levante match for La Liga, which was to play after Arsenal. Arsenal won. There was a break, so we broke out of the smoky pub and back to our hotel room to watch the NBA and soccer. Dinner was takeaway from Pizza Express, which was really good. I already miss it.
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sOL
non-member comment
whole lot of pics of alcohol
You guys must be having a great time. I'm envious. I'm stuck in the ICU for 2 1/2 more weeks. Will you guys be in Paris from May 26th through the 30th? My tickets are all bought and I'm ready to go. Starr will be meeting me in Rome. At the last minute her job kept her from coming with me to Paris. Holler. sOL