Tuesday was our last full day in London. We started our day at the National Gallery, where we saw oodles of beautiful, famous paintings by such artists as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticeli and Rubens (gotta love Rubens, he had a definite thing for curvy girls, if you know what I mean. Another highlight of the National Gallery? The egg salad sandwiches in their cafeteria had bacon in them. Brilliant!
From here, we took the Tube to St. Pauls Cathedral. We loved the American Chapel, and again, the many tombs of the famous Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, Florence Nightingale, Wellington and Nelson. We learned that Christopher Wren designed this church to be very austere and unpretentious, but Queen Victoria had artists gaudy it up with ostentatious mosaics and Victorian angels. Im a big fan of gaudy, so bless her heart for putting some color into that place. We werent supposed to take pictures inside, but somebody else in Photobucket did, so I borrowed their picture. You can see its all tasteful white marble down below, and colorful saints and angels in the upper corners.
Im going to interject a true story of my love for gaudiness here. When DH and I got married, the priest told us that we could not have the huge electric candelabra behind the altar lit during the ceremony. I told my mom, and she went to the priest and asked why we couldnt have it. He said it was too gaudy. My moms reply? But our family LIKES gaudy! Father Jerry caved. Every time we get out our wedding album, I chuckle when I see the lit candelabra in the background. Yay Mom!
After St. Pauls, we decided to take the bus back to the hotel, so we could be above ground and see a little more of London. However, at the transfer point, the sky opened up and buckets of water came down. We ran into the nearest Tube station, but it seemed like everyone else in London did too. It was a crazy crush of people, and I was so glad that I do not have the kind of claustrophobia where you panic when you are packed in with other people.
Water was pouring down the stairs into the station like a waterfall, and some of the stops along the way were closed because of the torrential rain. Luckily, our stop was open, and we were able to go back to our hotel and dry off.
We finished the evening with a trip to Harrods Dept. Store. This store is huge, and is owned by Dodi Al-Fayeds father, so there is a memorial statue of Dodi and Princess Diana on the ground floor, including the engagement ring he had just bought for her before they were killed.
We went to look at the toy section, to see the kiddie cars that cost thousands of pounds, and we looked at the lingerie (no better than Sears, if you ask me), and the designer gowns (which were wow!). Amazing to think that some people can afford these, and have a place to wear them!
Up next, food porn at 186 mph!
You are so totally right about that!
