Eyefull of London

Eyeful of London
We did get an eyefull of London last night, and I managed a day of it. We were both whupped from the very full day before. I have more of an adventuresome spirit than good sense, so I was off for a walk by mid morning.
A word about our posh digs here by St Pauls. The Club Quarters is a small chain of guesthouses designed for business travelers. They are located near big centers of business and cater to the needs of business travelers. This works quite well for our tastes, and there are free electronics everywhere and even a serve yourself plastic water bottle and chilled water dispenser by the lift. The kitchenette allows us to have our breakfast and even other meals if we wish, and somewhat offsets the cost of the room in an expensive city like London. In this neighborhood, you can hardly turn around without finding espresso. There are at least three Starbucks within 100yards of the hotel, and a Costa right across the street. We found this place on booking.com-just luck. Since this is a bank holiday weekend, there was no business business to be had, and a few tourists make up some of the revenue. We paid 439 pounds for three nights-very competitive with London hotels and offering us much more.
With this in mind, I checked out the Club Quarters in NYC. I have yet to find the bargain-going for $1050 for three nights in mid-town.
So, I was off and walking, ideally towards a Body Shop nearby, but what I discovered was that this part of London is closed on the weekend morning, and it apprears that the Body Shop has vacated the premises anyway. My body will probably have to wait for Gatwick, or maybe even home. I did indulge myself in a few photos-very nice when there are so few people around.
There was alot of day ahead of us prior to our "flight" reservations on the Eye, but I was still weary from the day before, so I chose to ride the tourist bus and get an overview of the town. It was actually a good choice, as the town was packed on this bank holiday weekend before school starts, and as you might imagine, there were tonnes of kids. The kids take the red bus, so I got the yellow one. Another day with more energy I might have opted for the blue one to take me to Kensington to the V&A, but ideally another day will come.
After the bus tour, Marcia and I got a look at St Paul's. What a wonder it is! No photos allowed. It is newer than the other cathedrals we have visited, so it has a cleaner more sparkly look and no medieval knights in armour. It has plenty of marble dedicated to military victors however, and a crypt full of famous fallen like Horatio Nelson and Wellington. Even Christopher Wren who designed the cathedral is buried there along with other of his family members. Sir Christopher's epitath was written by his son: "Lector, si monumentum requiris,circumspice." If your Latin is as rusty as mine: "Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you."
On days like today it is necessary to recharge both photo batteries and my own, so a bit of down time was in order before dining at local Italian restaurant that was not so pricy and had great ravioli and gnocci. We were prepared to eat fairly light, as who knows what the Eye would do to us.
It was easy to get to the Eye, and I had prebooked fast lane tickets. A few pounds was well worth not standing in the queue, and we got to time our ride at sunset. 30 minutes goes quite fast when one has the city at one's feet. It was a clear night (I had checked the weather forecast) and we saw for miles. The Eye and the Greenwich Observatory all work well for London, as it is not a huge skyscraper city.
So, today is a rather mundane pack up and move to the Hilton at Gatwick kind of day. Maybe the Body Shop will be open.
KG