Sunny Day in London

First of all, when we arrived at our flat ( which is apparently more properly called a "terrace end house"). It was quite dark as it was 1 am!  The consequence of arriving that late was that the subways weren't running (New York is the city that never sleeps; here they apparently still do).  Anyway, that resulted in a fairly expensive train ride to Paddington instead of Piccadilly because I got my P's mixed up followed by an even more outrageous cab ride.  Our cabbie was nice and thought we were quite adventurous and maybe a little nutty to stay with strangers instead of at a hotel.  But so far that experience has been wonderful. Our room and private bathroom are very nice, and the king size bed is very comfortable. Terry and I stayed in a hotel in London 20 years ago that cost much more than this but was comparable to sleeping in a camping trailer.  Here are pics of where we're staying:

We woke up early, had a great visit with our hostess and then headed to the Tower of London.

We heard more German spoken here than any other language.  Then we sat down by the Tower Bridge and heard some southern accents behind us.  Met the girls, and they had all lived in Johnson City.  One had graduated from Milligan College. Small world! They are here to do ministry, which I appreciate much more after our experience later.

We tried to do a bit too much today. I wanted to take full advantage of the sun.  After the Tower, we visited Covent Garden:

And then attended Evensong service at St Paul's Cathedral.  

That was one dead church service! But hey, the bulletin said their communion wine was free trade and the paper used was all recyclable, so it had that going for it.  It was a beautiful church, but it made me very sad to see that the gospel is not preached or apparently believed. We are hoping  to hear something different when we visit Spurgeon's old church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday.  It's very near to where we're staying (and it's pictured here in the background).  

Interestingly, we saw. Group called "London Repent" later that evening - along with some pretty sites down by the Thames 

I would write more but we need to leave soon or we'll miss the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.