Hi!
It's been a busy few days! Friday we took a walking
tour thru London's east end with a resident expert
on Jack the Ripper. I had no idea how gruesome
it all was :( We saw the famous tavern the victims
frequented and some of the housing tenements
the victims lived in. One is now an upscale condo
bldg with units that sell for around 3 million
(US dollars)! Our guide was very knowledgeable
and very detailed, and I had a difficult time
listening to all the details. We went with a few
friends, and ended the night with another
wonderful dinner back in our own neighborhood.

We were able to visit the Tate Modern on Tues.
The collection is housed in what used to be an
oil power plant that was closed down in the 70's
when oil prices were sky-rocketing. We saw
part of the regular exhibit and also a show
on Futurism that was excellent. I'm hoping to
go back a few more times and catch the rest
of the exhibits. We had the cutest little English
lady lead our tour, and she was a wealth of knowledge.
After an hour, we'd only seen 3 paintings! Afterwards
we had another great dinner at a little Italian place
in South Kensington. I had the best Lasagna I've
ever had!

Today we took a boat ride along the Thames out
to Greenwich and went to the Observatory on the
prime meridian (0 degrees longitude) and the
clock that coordinates the rest of the world.
Unfortuneatly the Cutty Sark was closes
b/c of an arson fire and is being restored.
We stopped at the Trafalgar Tavern for
lunch, that Dickens wrote about and
knew well!

Much Love!