London, Day 2

Slept in, which felt great. Headed up the street to a little corner cafe for breakfast, then hopped the Tube to the Tower of London. We followed one of the Yeoman Warders for bit, then went on our own. The place is massive and I can only imagine how miserable the conditions must have been for prisoners. They still torture people there today, making them go up and down the never-ending spiral stairways. I'm still dizzy.

From the Tower, we walked across Tower Bridge and along the Thames. Had lunch at a cool French cafe, then made our way down to the Tate Modern. I could spend a week here alone, but really came for the Rodchenko exhibit (constructivsm and Soviet posters and graphic design). It was pretty awesome to see his cut and paste collages from an inch away. You can see the glue, the white-out and the imperfections of artwork done by hand, not on a Mac. Up on the 5th floor, there were some cool Picassos, Mondrians, and an entire room of gigantic Soviet propaganda posters. That made the visit for me right there.

We hopped on the river shuttle and floated up the Thames toward Parliament. By the time we made it to Westminster Abbey it was closed, which sucked. Got a few photos, then walked around Parliament and Big Ben for the madatory photo ops. We walked up to Trafalgar Square for a few more photos, then back on the Tube to the hotel.

We're meeting Mark and Verena tonight and heading to the Blue Elephant in Fulham for some Thai. Should be great. Tomorrow, strolling along Kensington Palace/Notting Hill Gate in the morning, then getting the local non-tourist insider tour of the "real" London from Mark.