London Tower:

• The Crown Jewels (sorry, no pictures - the reflection of the bling could very well blind you)
• Yeoman Warder (beefeater) tour guide
• Eli's famous quote of the day: The guide was explaining that "since it is Monday, we will only be executing children...girls, actually...from Belgium...who are about ...nine?... years old...??" The little girl in question exhaled a sigh of relief and said, "I'm eight!" At which point, Eli piped up, pointed right at Lizzie and said loud enough for the crowd of about a hundred to hear, "SHE'S NINE!"

(This is the White Tower where Royalty lived for 500 years) (Tudor-style)



Paying Homage to Harry Potter: The impromptu hail storm!

St. Paul's Cathedral:

• "Feed the birds, tuppins a bag..."
• The Whispering Gallery
• Lisa, you'll be proud that even though I missed our Monday morning gym class, I got a workout climbing almost 400 stairs to the top of the cathedral! :)

Fish & Chips:

• Pass the tartar sauce
• Don't think about the $45 spent on this lunch -it ruins the appetite-
• Or that the children are throwing the "chips" to the pigeons...
  
  

"Paul" - a French Patissere that hires only French chefs. Ooh, la, la!



What's that you say? You say I have posted more pictures of my pastries than of St. Paul's? Hey, if you'd had the lemon tart, you'd post 4 pictures of it too! It's possible I felt something divine in that pastry. What an experience!

Globe Theater:

• "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo!"
• The juxtaposition of Shakespeare's Globe Theater next to the Tate Modern Museum of Art is so typical in London
• In our family re-enactment, Eli looks more like he's putting a hex on Lizzie. Those Montagues!

The British Library:
(This picture is from just outside)

Truly, the highlight of the day for me was the Treasures section of the British Library. You can keep your jewels and sceptres, Tower of London - the British Library is where the real treasures are.

• Handel's original Messiah Score in his own writing, opened to the page of "The Trumpet Shall Sound"
• Schubert's "An Die Musik" also in his own hand
• The First Gutenberg Bible printed in 1457
• An excerpt from Jane Austen's Persuasion in her own hand, with her writing table
• Leonardo da Vinci's original sketches
  
  Again, we weren't allowed to take any photography inside. Ah, but it was awe-inspiring. The mood was almost reverent in this section. These were treasures indeed.