Day two in London was full of touristy delights, brought to me by the wonders of the double-decker hop-on-hop-off Big Bus tour.  My first hop off was at the London Eye.  By the way, if you ever go I recommend paying a little extra for the "Fast Track" ticket, I waited in line for a total of 10 seconds.  Here it is from the other side of the Thames...

 

 
 And a few other shots...

 

My next hop off was for lunch of traditional fish and chips at an authentic British pub, The Old Bell which was built by Sir Christopher Wren...

 

That is not guacamole on the right.  It's something yummy called mushy peas.  Mmmm...  (Actually, it really was yummy, I wish they'd given me some more.)

I made a loop around St. Paul's Cathedral but only went inside far enough to get a flavor for it.  

 I wanted to save my architectural ahhhh...'s for Westminster Abbey.

Imagine my sorrow then when I saw this...

I was an hour too late.  But they'll be open later tomorrow so I have another chance.  There were other disappointments too, Leandro (supposed concierge extraordinaire) was NOT able to secure me a ticket to tonight's opera at the Royal Opera House.  However, not all was lost, I did get to hear a gorgeous Faure Requiem at St.-Martin-in-the-Fields (yes, it's actually spelled with all of those hyphens)...

...where I had a nice chat beforehand with a sweet lady who shared my table in the downstairs cafe, and a nice gentleman from the choir (a bass) afterwards.  All in all it was a lovely day.