Final touristy sights!

In a city as old and as large as London, its impossible to see everything there is to see in just 8 days, but I tried to squeeze in as many sights as possible during my mom's visit.

On Sunday we went to Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. The cathedral that stands here today is the 5th church here and was designed by Christopher Wren. The first church to stand at this site was built in 604. The dome of St. Paul's is one of the tallest domes in the world, second only St. Peter's in the Vatican. The cathedral normally costs £10 to enter, which is why I had us go to evensong. Not only do you get to see St. Paul's free of charge, but you also get to enjoy the choir.

I realize I haven't mentioned Hyde Park since my first entry, but since its about 100 meters outside my door, I decided to take my on a walk through the park Sunday afternoon. We went through Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace, then to the Serpentine (pictured), and over to Royal Albert Hall and the monument. It was quite a nice walk!

When we arrived home from Bath, my mom and I took a walk from Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square. In both locations there are tons of street performers and both are excellent places for people watching. We had a nice time sitting out in Trafalgar Square enjoying the music, drinks, and climbing up the lions (my mom did too!).

Monday afternoon we headed over to Tower Bridge, not to be confused with its uglier sibling, London Bridge. We took an elevator up to the top and walked across. You could see Canary Warf and Greenwich to the East and the Eye and St. Pauls to the West. It was a quick stop, and my mom said that she could have down without it. From there, we took a great boat ride along the Thames back to the next sight I'll describe, Westminster Abbey.

We went to evensong once again at Westminster Abbey Friday afternoon. The choir was much more impressive than St. Pauls and was enjoyable to listen too. I'd definitely suggest attending evensong at the Abbey at 5 pm rather than paying £15 to enter for anyone thinking of traveling! Inside the abbey are the royals Henry VII and Elizabeth as well as Charles Darwin.

On my mom's last day we took a "flight" on the London Eye, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it wasn't the sunniest out today, but we were still able to see all of London during our 30 minute rotation. The eye was built for the millenium and originally only costed £5 to ride, but now its about £17.