Terrific Tuesday

After a quick bite to eat we headed toward Regent's College, where Wade & Jeremy Cook are teaching NOC's "Summer in London" courses. Emma and I enjoyed seeing William, a wonderfully flamboyant individual who has been working the front desk in Reid Hall since Wade developed this program in 2005. After Wade met with his students for class, we all walked to the front of the Baker Street Tube station where we boareded the Big Bus Tour. What a perfect day to travel about London on an open-topped double-decker bus! The skies were blue and the temperature reached 82 degrees; this is practically unheard of this time of year. Emma took lots of photos as we drove through Picadilly Circus, Trafalger Square, Westminster, etc. The bus ticket is also good for a Thames River Cruise, so at Emma's request the Watki hopped off at the Tower of London and to board the boat.

While we didn't go inside the Tower (quite pricey, long lines, and we'd visited it with cousins Sherry & McKay a couple of summers ago), we did make a quick stop inside the gift shop and acquired a new book for Emma: Secret Agent Jack Stalwart: The Caper of the Crown Jewels. This was a necessary stop since she's already read The Bridges in London and The Mystery at Big Ben since leaving home Sunday morning. In fact, she's enjoyed those books so much that she was reading while in line at various spots on our journey. In the immigration line the couple behind us conversed about Emma: wife, "Look, that child is reading. There is no video game in her hand and no plugs in her ears. This gives me hope for humanity." Husband: "Yeah, well I bet we don't see it again on our whole trip."

The Thames River Cruise was quite pleasant. We disembarked at the Westminster Pier and walked to Covent Garden to grab a bite for lunch. Restaurants in that area lean toward the expensive side, so we went into a Marks & Spencers and grabbed sandwiches, crisps & water and took it back to CG. It was a nice picnic lunch but would have been better if we'd seen Terry St. Clair, our favorite busker. So far we're 0-2 for catching him at CG, but we'll keep trying; he's worth it!

After lunch we walked through Leister Square to check the half-price ticket booth offerings before deciding to hit the National Gallery in Trafalger Square. Emma completed a family trail, sought out some Van Gough and Degas paintings, and picked up a print to add to the Art Gallery in the hallway of Will Rogers Elementary School back home. Those of you with children should let them play around on the "Noisy Paintings" section of the NG website.

Oops, we're late meeting Wade for lunch in the cafeteria. We packed a good bit into our first full day in London, don't you think?