I awoke early. This was partly because I had went to bed the previous day at 5pm and also that an over-weight gentleman was snoring loudly. After having breakfast I walked over the nearby bridge to the Tate Modern Museum. Sam had said that it was very interesting so I had an expectation.
I couldn’t take photos inside the Museum, but I do recall seeing an exhibition by sculptor Louise Bourgeois. Her work has a theme of femininity and isolation. I wandered around for at least an hour, dodging many school children doing investigative drawing (reminds me of when I was at school) then left to walk along the Thames.

It was wet and windy and my Thai traveling umbrella didn’t survive 5 minutes in the British weather. It buckled and then broke when the wind gusted. I continued down the river past the HMS Belfast to the Design Museum and tossed the umbrella into the bin.

The Design Museum was pretty cool. There were 4 large projection screens displaying 3D ‘fly-thrus.’ A number of building models were displayed on plinths around the halls. All very elaborate. On the next floor there was an exhibition of 2d graphic work. I took a few pictures; it was of mostly advertising and political messages.

Last on the day’s agenda was The Tower of London. I followed a procession of tourists towards the entrance. The White Tower marks the start of the Tower of London's history as both a palace and fortress.
Today, it contains displays of arms and armor from the collection of Royal Armouries.

A little bit of history thanks to Google:

The construction of the Tower of London began during the reign of William the conqueror (1066-1087) and remained virtually unchanged for over a century. Then between 1190 and 1285, the White Tower was encircled by two towered curtain walls and a great moat. The only important enlargement of the Tower after that time was the building of the Wharf, begun by Edward III (1327-1377) and completed under Richard II (1377-1399). To this day the medieval defenses are essentially unchanged, except for the draining of the moat.

I followed the tide of tourists through the numerous armouries . I waited for an age trying to take a photo of a suit of armour behind glass, but tourists kept pushing in front with babies, or small groups would pose and make goofy peace gestures. I gave up in the end.
Across a small courtyard in another building was the display of the crown jewels with rooms of video projection helping to explain what the jewels were all about. Conveyors helped to ferry people around the large display cases, and to stop people from loitering. I couldn’t take any photos inside as it was forbidden to do so.
Afterwards, dinner was a nice change—fish and chips. I had forgotten how much I had missed potato.

This day I went for an eastern stroll alongside the Thames. I was thinking of going up on the London Eye to get better idea of the scale of the city. The prospect was dashed when I saw the queue winding back from the structure. “No- flag that,” I thought.

Instead I carried over the bridge and followed the crowds to Trafalgar Square and then onto Westminster Abby. I was quite interested to see the new—and controversial—statute of Mandela inside Trafalgar Square. Westminster Abbey is a massive church; something out of my art history days at Polytech. Unfortunately, my naivety is going to quickly wrap this section. I humbly followed all the tourists around to inspect the statues and tombs of famous people. The only tombs that I recognized (and remember) were of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Afterwards I spent the day checking out the El Salvador Dali Museum and the buskers along the Thames. Next stop: Canada.