St. Paul's Cathedral

I remember seeing a picture of St. Paul's in elementary school and thinking, "Hey, they copied our state capitol building!" (meaning the one in Washington DC). Good thing no one burst my bubble that St. Paul's is actually the original. To me the dome stills seems a little odd that it's on a church, since it's so similar to many state capitol building in the US. It's a pretty amazing church though. 

Can't beat the view from the top. 528 steps. 

The masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren. It's been an anchor to the London skyline since 1700. I love visiting buildings like this because they truly are monumental in modern times, but then to remember that the are hundreds of years old. Some of the great stories we heard of the history when we visited included the fact that during air raids of World War II a bomb actually broke through the ceiling and landed on the cathedral floor, but they were able to deactivate it before detonation. The blast would have destroyed the entire building. This church has meant a lot to a lot of people over the years. 

Modern architecture in an old city

This was a really cool area of London. An old power plant has been converted into the Tate Modern art gallery. It's a pretty amazing repurposing of a building. Nearby are the Borough Market and Globe Theater. All this is connected back to the main part of London by the Millennium Bridge. The bridge was completed to usher in the new millennium back in 2000, but had to be closed 2 days later for an additional 2 years because it moved back and forth too much with foot traffic.

Couldn't resist a video from Harry Potter.

Pretty amazing stuff with free admission

The central court of the British Museum. 

There definitely are some advantages to ruling most of the world for a long time in the semi recent past.                You get to collect from every civilization and culture of the world. Some highlights: the original statues and relief sculptures from the Parthenon in Greece, entire roman Temples reconstructed, amazing carvings and statues from Assyria, gigantic busts of egyptian Pharaohs, and the Rosetta Stone. 

Another great museum was the National Gallery of Art. I learned gained some art appreciation during an art history class in college, and it was actually pretty cool to see some of the pieces we studied. 

Besides enjoying the lions of Trafalgar Square in front, these were some of our favorites inside: 

The Virgin of the Rocks by da Vinci

Coastal Scene by van Rysselberghe

Bathers as Asnieres by Seurat

The Arnolfini Portrait by van Eyck

The Fighting Temeraire by Turner

The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio

Picnic in the Park

It's been fun watching the Olympics and reliving some of the places we enjoyed in London. Hyde Park is truly one of the best metropolitan area parks that we've ever been to. After attending church at the Hyde Park Chapel, we spent the afternoon eating, riding bikes, napping, people watching, and enjoying the scenery of the park. On a Sunday afternoon there are literally thousands people there.