Now, to London

Note: some formatting errors I can't fix. I should know better than to play with buttons.

We spent our last two days in Ireland at Jigsaw Cottage. Truly as beautiful as the website. Charming. We had fresh duck eggs for breakfast and read in their sunporch. Great food, nice room, quite rural. A wonderful location to finish the trip. Look at the pictures on-line and be very jealous.

We revisited Glendalough and St. Kevin's Church. It was nice to explore on our pace, plus we could retake pictures we lost with that fucking camera. Damn memory card. Had one last beer in one last Irish pub, and spent a quite evening reading. I've been reading "Vanity Fair," and it was more entertaining then I anticipated. The characters were so flawed, but I was rooting for them in ways I never imagined when the book begun.

After a two hour delay in Dublin, we arrived in London. Our hotel was easy to find, a few blocks from Victoria Station in Belgravia. A comfortable mattress, God save the Queen. We ran to the Tate Gallery and had a lovely 30 minutes to look at art. At first I thought I was quite clever, "Oh, we weren't charged entrance fee because of the time, smart us." On the way out, I saw that the museum was free. Not so clever.

It was a rushed two days, limited because the first day was Sunday, and the churches are closed for tours due to services. But we saw all the big stuff.

The British Museum: The Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles.

The National Gallery: Leonardo Da Vinci's "Madonna of the Rocks," much discussed in The Da Vinci Code. Van Gogh's "Sunflowers." Monet. Picasso. Raphael. Titan. Michelagelo. On and on. St. Martin of the Fields: Small, amazing concerts, great cafe in the crypt.

• The Tower of London: Beefeaters, Crown Jewels, and Anne Boleyn. Fascinating.
• Jack the Ripper walk: The Original London Walks. At least 200 people waiting in the meeting area. We've lucked out with the best tour guides. And yes, we still don't know for sure who Jack was.
• St. Paul's Cathedral: My favorite part of London. We had time before our Big Lunch, so we rented the walkmans for the audio tour. Beautiful doesn't come close to describing the cathedral. It's luscious. Stunning. Inspiring. Amazing history.
  Big Lunch and Jamie Oliver's (the naked chef) restaurant Fifteen. More later. Worth every penny, and it was MANY pennies.
  Westminster Abbey: Kevin really wanted to visit and we almost didn't make it. After lunch, we rushed back to Westminster to find that tours were finished, although we could wait in the alternative line and MAYBE get in. We stood off to the side to discuss it, then went to the back of the line to wait. Our heaven-sent security guard watched us and said, "You were here first, you get to the front of the line." And we did. And we got in. This guard is our favorite person in London. William the Conqueror, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Geoffrey Chaucer. All buried here. Sir Isaac Newton also has a monument, also featured in The Da Vinci Code.
  
  I adore London, but the best part was sharing it with my best friend.