Today was a day of steps, especially for Cathy. We stood in line at the British Museum for tickets to the special exhibition, The First Emperor, securing an entry time of 3:00. Then we headed to St. Paul's Cathedral, but stopped at the London Silver Vaults on the way, in order to make some purchases (but I'm not sharing what they were). At St. Paul's we climbed the stairs to the Whispering Gallery and looked down into the nave of the church--pretty impressive from above too. After resting on that level we continued our climb to the first outside level. Of course it was pouring rain and the wind was threatening to tear my umbrella out of my hands, but I still managed to take some photos. And our timing was perfect as the low bell, Tom I think, sounded out at 1:oo, the only time of day it plays. Cathy climbed the last set of stairs to the very top, but I opted to wait for her on the middle level because that set of stairs was metal and very wet, making it extremely slippery in my pair of shoes (good excuse, right?). Cathy took my camera with her and took a few photos for me. Going down was a piece of cake compared to the climb up.

We then headed over to Old Bailey, the criminal courts. They did not allow bags of any kind, or cell phones, or cameras. We knew this already and so we did as planned--I waited outside while Cathy went in to watch 20 minutes of court in session. She had to walk up several flights of stairs to get to court 16, and watched part of a murder case. The judge and all of the dozen or so solicitors were wearing wigs per tradition. She said it was pretty cool, so I will go back sometime without all my "stuff."

Then it was back to the British Museum to see The First Emperor. We opted for the audio guides for an extra fee, but it was well worth it. We saw a small sampling of the 7000 terracotta soldiers that were found buried in three pits outside the First Emperor's tomb, dating from the third century BC. Additionally, there were acrobats, musicians, officials, chariots, birds, and more. He spent more than thirty years building his tomb "complex" because he wanted to rule in the afterlife as well. Talk about a big ego. I guess it is conquer or be conquered, and boy did he conquer. He was only thirteen when he became King of Qin, and became the first emperor of China twenty-five years later, beginning the Qin Dynasty. My only complaint was that it was too crowded in the exhibition, but what can you do? It reminded me of seeing King Tut in L.A. in 1978.

We met Gord and had dinner in Chinatown (including the mushroom and bok choi dish pictured here) before going to see Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, and Kate Fleetwood as a wonderful Lady Macbeth. It was a "brilliant" production, although I wish I had brushed up on the play before I saw it, since high school was a long time ago. We then walked through Trafalgar Square down to the Thames. The rain had stopped and it was a beautiful night.

Tomorrow we will try the jellied eels we picked up at Tubby Isaacs yesterday (he said they'd be good for three days--let's hope he's right). Jellied eels, you say? Well when we were in line at his little stall, every single person ordered them. One man bought one order to eat there and four to take home. Apparently they are an acquired taste. How bad can they be? Stay tuned.