On our second day in London, we reunited with Jarrod and Ana to go see some museums. We started the day by going to St. Paul's Cathedral in central London. The entry fee to get in is a little steep but we figured it would be more worthwhile than going through the Tower of London which cost more. The inside of the Cathedral is lavish with designs and the dome in the center is just breathtaking. There have been several churches dedicated to St. Paul over the years built on the site due to London being prone to great fires throughout it's history. The dome was the highest in the city until 1962 and in terms of other domes is only beaten by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. At the top of the dome is an area where you can walk around and its called the whispering gallery. According to the design and the acoustics of the dome, you can whisper something and it be heard clear across on the other side. Of course, there are way too many tourists up there whispering at the same time so you can't hear anything except yourself whispering to a wall. We found a small doorway in the whispering gallery that leads up to the top, where you can also get a wonderful view of the city skyline. The weather was perfect so we were able to take some great photos up there. From there, we headed to the British National Gallery located on Trafalgar Square. The Square pays homage to the victory of the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars. In the middle of the square is Nelson's Column and it is guarded by four lions on each side. The fountain is dedicated to Lord Jellicoe, who I only mention because the name just sounds funny. Inside the museum is a ton of artwork from all kinds of periods and the best part about it is that its free to get in. We walked around for a couple of hours and after our fill of art, we headed onto the The British Museum, which is full of historical artifacts. They house an impressive array of objects from ancient Persia, early Europe, Africa, and a ton of history of Egypt and the mummies. Afterwards, our stomachs started talking to us so we made our way over to Chinatown in one of the large typical double decker buses of London. We passed through Piccadilly Circus, which seems to be like London's version of Times Square. There are a lot of lights and big stores and things to look at and its full of people so that added to the Times Square feel. We found a nice little Japanese place in Chinatown but the waitress quickly showed she had an attitude problem. We posted a picture of someone's dinner because it just looked really neat. What you see is Phad Thai wrapped up in an egg. The dinner was good so we overlooked her attitude problem and didn't leave her a tip in typical American fashion. We headed north to the more alternative section of the city called Camden Town. It was full of all kinds of shops and open air markets and plenty of the more off the beaten path kinds of places we enjoy. We stopped into a pub to have a drink and ended up getting some free t-shirts from a girl who was traveling with a rum company trying to have people in various bars sample their product. The night ended and we bid farewell to our friend Jarrod as he was setting back to the States Sunday morning.
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