The City and Bankside

The program has arranged for all of us to have Royal Palace Cards. Earlier in the week the directors went to Hampton Court in the rain to make make arrangements for the passes and get temporary cards.

David, Jeff and Gary at Hampton Court
with their VIP visitor cards around their necks

Today Emily, Madi, Kris and I caught a Circle-Line train to the Tower of London and went in for a visit. Since Kris and I just received our Royal Palace Cards, which allow entry into any of the Royal Palaces (Tower, Hampton Court, Kensington, etc.), we went in too. The woman at Hampton Court who helped us (the directors) with our cards told us to look for Moira who is the first female Beefeater at the Tower. We walked in the gate and there she was. I walked up to her and asked her if she were Moira and she said that she was. So that was historic and a nice coincidence. We took a Warder's tour of the Tower which was fun and then saw the Crown Jewels and other great attractions. When we finished it was lunch time and we went to Pret, bought some sandwiches and accompaniments, and nipped into St. Dunstan's in the East to eat our lunch.

From there we went to Lloyd's of London and Leadenhall Market. We jumped on a bendy bus and rode to the St. Paul's stop. We ducked into Postman's Park so Em could see the hero plaques before doubling back to St. Paul's. It was closed for a function so Em and Madi will have to go back. We crossed the river on the Millennium Bridge and quickly ran into the Tate Modern to see the new installation in the Turbine Hall. Kris and I lingered there while Em and Madi took a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The installation at the Tate is crazy: a huge crack that spreads the length of the enormous Turbine Hall. It is called Shibboleth and was created by Doris Salcedo, a Columbian artist who feels marginalized by European culture. It is quite provocative. It cost £300,000 to install it, so it must involve complete floor replacement at the end of the installation. Mom and I sat by the river until Em and Madi were finished, then we returned home for supper.

A Circle-Line train approaching at the Bayswater Station

Grammy and Madeline on the train

The girlies at the Tower of London

Lunch at the ever-lovely
St. Dunstan's in the East Garden

Leadenhall Market filled with City businessmen
getting sloshed before midday

Maren, be sure to show Finn that Madeline
is riding a bendy bus

The seventeenth-century Temple Bar
(former gateway to the City on Fleet Street) has been taken
out of storage after over a century in mothballs and is now
installed at Paternoster Square next to St. Paul's.
It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

The ladies on the Millennium Bridge on their way to the
Bankside area on the south side of the Thames River

Shibboleth by Doris Salcedo, recently-opened
installation in the Turbine Hall of the the Tate Modern

Kris sitting by the Thames at high tide, trying to make
sense of Shibboleth while we wait for the girls

Tonight, Emily and Madeline have gone to the Sound of Music and have not returned, so they must have scored some cheap tickets. Stephen and Ann are back in London and Kris and I went with them for gelato and a little grocery shopping at Tesco. There will certainly be more adventures to follow, although I am not clear about what is happening tomorrow -- we'll see and we'll let you know.

OXO

D.