London Adventures

The morning of our third day in London, Jesse went for a twelve mile run around London while I had a business meeting (you can decide for yourself which one of those two activities sounds more fun).  After lunch, Jesse and I went to the National Gallery museum, which was right across from Trafalgar Square.

The National Gallery contains quite an extensive collection of paintings over a lengthy period of time.  We saw paintings from a number of artists, including more famous ones like Monet, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh.  

We went to visit the British Museum the next morning.  We knew that we could only cover a small portion of the museum and decided to focus on their impressive Egyptian exhibit.

Of course there were mummies!

We even got to see the Rosetta Stone.

We were also able to squeeze in Jesse's obligatory McDonald's trip in between the British Museum and the Shakespeare play.

One of the neatest things we did in London was to see a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theater.  We watched the Taming of the Shrew, which invariably led to a number of jokes at my expense.  Still worth it!

We finished the day with a birthday dinner for Jesse!

Our last day together in London began with a trip to my favorite London historical site: the Tower of London.  We were treated to a very interesting tour by a very knowledgeable Beefeater (ceremonial guardian of the Tower of London).

We saw the crown jewels and explored the white tower where they have an extensive display of armor and military artifacts.

Of course, we had to take a picture of me in front of the spot where Henry VIII cut off Ann Boleyn (and Catherine Howard's) head.  Funny?  A warning to be an obedient wife?  Not sure!

We were also able to get a nice view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.

We made a quick (blink and you would miss it) stop in Picadilly Circus to go to Lillywhites to buy memorabilia from various Premiere League teams for Jesse and his dad.

Our next shopping destination was decidedly more upscale.  We joined Nelson (my boss/friend) at Harrods, where we had a long and fancy lunch and perused expensive watches and clothes.

One of the many things we had to do while we were there was see a Premier League game.  We got tickets to the Arsenal v. West Ham game.  They played at the West Ham stadium and we sat in the West Ham section, so we rooted for West Ham so as to not get beat up (and discretely hid Jesese's Arsenal shirt that he bought earlier in the day in his backpack).  

It was a lively game and although Arsenal won 3 to 1, West Ham put up a good fight at the beginning of the game when they scored the first goal.  

We had a good time in London, and were blessed to be able to make the trip!