Day 4 in London

Wallet experiment: Day 1
Jeans and Sweatshirts consecutive streak: Day 4

We awoke to another rainy morning today. I am starting to get used to it, to be honest. Liv is going in this morning for a minor surgery so I am hoping I will be able to hang out with her again before we leave. We are going to head back into the London Bridge area to explore the Tate building.

Summary of the day, once we returned home:
We walked across the Tower Bridge, the one from Peter Pan, and as we got closer to what Loyd thought was the Tate, it became very clear to us that we were in the business district of London, as everyone around us was wearing suits and ties and there was a Starbucks on every corner. We stuck out like sore thumbs in our jeans and sweatshirts. The architecture of the buildings was incredible modern and cool, we snapped a quite a few pictures of them. Loyd pointed at the building he thought was the Tate looked a lot like an office building. Then we arrived at the office's base and realized he was right - there was no museum it was just a very cool office building. We laughed it up and decided to explore the area some more to find cool buildings.

We back along the Thames River and snapped a few pictures of the Tower Bridge. We crossed the disappointing London Bridge one last time and stopped by a small convenience store to grab a Red Bull and figure out what else is around us. Turns out that the Tate Modern Museum was only a few blocks from where we stood. We decided to head that way so we could check it out. I have to say, it is a lot of fun to tour with Loyd because we keep everything light, never stressing about anything in particular. As we wandered towards the Tate, we notices a small sign warning of pickpockets. We thought they should add at the bottom: "By the time you read this sign, your wallet has already been stolen...sorry!"

The Tate Modern was very interesting. It is called the Modern because it only displays modern art and is one of many different buildings located all over London - which collectively, make up the entire Tate. Some of the displays we found simply odd. I am sure Tamar could have explained to us the significance and meaning behind some of these pieces, but as a whole, they were lost on me. I was reaffirmed in something I already realize, I am absolutely a traditionalist when it comes to art - especially the Impressionist movement.

On our way back to the train we stopped into the Prison Museum. Tacky in a word. The displays were half-hearted at best. We could not stop laughing as we walked through this absolutely horrible museum. There was a sign by the exit that said they cater corporate events...wow, that's one party I would love to witness.

We made it back to Livia's house using the train and bus without a problem. By our 3rd day in London, we had practically mastered their public transportation system. A.K.A. - We rock :)

We spent the rest of the evening with the Benisty's and had a really interesting political debate with Livia's father. He was incredibly engaging and easy to talk to. Livia's mother prepared an amazing chicken, beef and kebab dinner. It was outstanding. We spent the rest of the night packing up our stuff and deciphering the things we were going to send home. I sent home about 5 pounds of toiletries and clothing. Doesn't sound like that much, but it made a huge difference in the bag. I got to bed around 1 AM with an alarm set for 4 AM...fun times

Overall - our time in London has been tremendous. What a great place to start our adventure, I am looking forward to what the rest of this trip has to bring.