London snapshots

On Saturday, Feb. 21, I traveled down to London with a group of artistically minded friends for a day of sightseeing at the Tate Modern art gallery and at St. Paul's Cathedral. We climbed the steps of St. Paul's as high as we could, enjoyed the exhibitions at the Tate, and finished up with a pub dinner and drinks. It was a gorgeous sunny, warm day and we soaked in the beauty of the capital.

Winter sunshine on the Thames, from the Millennium Bridge

When we were preparing to go out for a meal, my friend Ronnie said, "There's a pub just down the road from St. Paul's that looks all right."

"Really, what's it called?" I asked.

"Ah, it's probably Ye Olde London Pub or something like that," Ronnie said, and we all snickered at those tourists who would want to find a place named that. We set off in a large laughing, chattering group towards this pub, but I stopped short when Ronnie shouted, "Steph, you're not going to believe this! It really is called "Ye Olde London Pub!"'

"No way," I said. "You just made that up."

But sure enough, the sign said "Ye Olde London Pub."

"OK, so you knew it was here," I told him. "Nice one."

Ronnie was laughing so hard he could barely speak.

"No, I didn't," he said. "I just tried to come up with a cheesy name that would appeal to tourists, and here we are."

We trooped into Ye Olde London Pub and had a blast.

Ronnie, his wife Sam and our friend Kristen point gleefully at the sign reading "Ye Olde London Pub" (which sadly is not in my snapshot)

View of London from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral

This sculpture look familiar? It's an oversized styrofoam (polystyrene) version of Alexander Calder's "Flamingo," the red steel sculpture that stands in Chicago's Federal Plaza. It's part of the fascinating multimedia exhibition TH.2058 by Dominique Gonzalez Foerster, now on exhibit at the Tate Modern.

St. Paul's Cathedral by night