13:15 (1:15PM): Second break of the day, resting my feet before the next London Walk. By coincidence all of the London Walks I am doing, start from the same point outside the Tower underground station.

The Tower of London is so cool! I allowed only a little over 2 hours to tour it, but would have liked at least 4 hours.

Getting an advance ticket voucher was a brilliant move. It save me at least a half hour in lines when I arrived at the Tower.

The Beefeater who gave the tour was spectacular. I did a similar job in college and he was the best I have ever seen.

Just a quick mention of the weather so far - both days have been sunny & warm.

Written at 14:20 Monday at Storey's Wine Bar: Having a pint of Strongbow Apple Cider & waiting for my fish & chips.

The "panorama" London Walks' tour was much better than the Jack The Ripper Tour that I took last night. Tom, a former barrister, was quite entertaining.

We walked round the exterior of the Tower of London (actually many towers, the name comes from the oldest, the White Tour, near the middle), then rode a Thames ferry upriver to Westminster. The weather is beautiful and the ride on the top deck was very pleasant. I took many photos.

At Westminster, we went past the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the end of St. James Park where we saw huge pelicans and Buckingham Palace in the distance. Everything is green, the spring flowers are out and some of the trees are budding.

We finished at Horse guards (a building), just in time to walk over for the "Dismount." I spotted this pub during the walk.

The cider was OK, but nothing to email home about:-) It was nice having cider on tap, something fairly rare back in the United States. Neither the fish or chips are inspiring. Still in is a nice setting.

The Gent's room at Storey's Wine Bar was nasty, even the toilet seat was broken.

Written at 22:30:  Evensong at Westminster Abbey was very nice. In fact, waiting for the service to begin, there were tears in my eyes.

Westminster Abbey is much smaller that St. Paul's Cathedral, but still large. The upper areas and windows are not as dramatic, but the floor and walls up to about 20 feet have many more sculptures and memorials.

The evensong worship service at Westminster Abbey was formal. Even the ushers were in robes. Except for the scripture, the Apostles' Creed and some of the prayers, everything was sung. But there was no congregational singing and I would have loved to sang in there!

The choir consisted of 12 men. They were good on the chants but very good the few times they sang in harmony.

I thought I saw a nun, while leaving. Didn't know the Church of England had them?

I had extra time before this evening's show, so T took the 77A double-decker bus instead of the tube, The bus was full of loud, happy French people.

Waiting for the show, I explored a little of Charring Cross Road and Lancaster Square. Saw a minivan with Britney Spears on her way to a premiere.

The Garrick Theatre is over 100 years old. It is much more intimate than the Lyceum where I saw yesterday's show.

The three young actors did a good job with a show (This Is Our Youth) that is basically just dialog and no action. Jake Glyllenhaal was on stage all but a couple of minutes of the entire show. He seemed artificial at first, but became very good as he warmed up. He reminds me a bit of Kevin Cline.

There was real chemistry between him and Anna Paquin. I would have like to have seen more of the two of them together.

Hayden Christensen was good, but suffers a bit by comparison.

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