A couple of pretty standard London tourist days on Monday and Tuesday.  We started Monday at the Tower of London when it opened and had a great, gory and entertaining tour covering a thousand years of London history from one of the Yeoman.  Ah, the Middle Ages.  You just can’t beat the fun and frivolity the powers that be came up with during that period of western “civilization.”  After lunch we spent the afternoon touring St. Paul’s Cathedral and environs including a walk over to the Millennium Bridge.  St. Paul’s is probably my least favorite architecturally of any cathedral I have been to but it does have significant history associated with it and is a must for any first time London visitor.  Dinner at the Lebanese restaurant Laya Lina (www.layalina.co.uk).

Tuesday saw us heading to the British Library (http://www.bl.uk/).  Since we are this close, I want Isabelle to be able to say she’s seen the Magna Carta and a Gutenberg bible when she studies them in school and now she can.  I love the Library with its incredibly old books and documents and think it is a don’t miss freebie when you
are in town.  On Tuesday afternoon we went to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre.  I first saw it there in 1990 so there’s a clue as to how ancient I am.

Dinner at Ciro’s Pomodoro (www.pomodoro.co.uk).  Now how do I describe that place.  We thought we were taking Isabelle to a nice little family pizzeria.  She was the only young person there.  It was downstairs, tiny and packed with very interesting looking people with every major celebrity’s picture on the wall with the owner.  Family place yes.  We’re just now sure whose.  The food was terrific.  We’re going back on Friday for the last supper.

The highlight British moment of the two days was the announcement on the Underground that there was “no service on the Central Line because of a passenger illness.”  Had to wonder if someone passed away on the train or if it was something more embarrassing than that.