3/17/2007 - Part 2
After I got back from my walk in the Park, I took a nap! (I was all tired out. Partly from Jet Lag, I'm sure!) Then Glennys & I gave up waiting on the credit card that hadn't showed and decided we better get out and see something while we still could as it was already afternoon. So we headed out and hopped on the tube to Trafalgar Square. We had heard that there was supposed to be some St. Patrick's Day celebrations there, but unfortunately for us it looks like they were already over and were in process of cleaning up. There were still a lot of people around (as evidenced by our photos). But we made the best of it and took photos of each other standing on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery in front of a hanging banner (down the way) that proclaimed it was St. Patrick's Day.
This shot is from the steps of the National Gallery, looking south across the Square. Center of the shot is Nelson's Column (with his statute atop).
After our picture posing, we decided to head indoors and check out the famous paintings inside the National Portrait Gallery. It was amazing seeing all those paintings (and we only got to see a portion, since the building was so large and we didn't plan on spending more than a couple of hours there). Finally, we got hungry enough to leave the building and search out a suitable place to get some dinner while exploring the nearby area.
Obviously, our first plan was to find a pub and grab some dinner. Unfortunately, it being St. Patrick's Day and all, we had to quickly nix that idea as ever pub we wandered past was full to the brim with locals (and tourists). Eventually, our wanderings took us to Soho Square (and its lovely garden/park). Just as we entered the Square, we noticed that a church off to one side of the square was calling parishioners to a special Saturday evening (6:00pm) service for St. Patrick's day. The church was appropriately named St. Patrick's Church. (The church is Roman Catholic Parish Church, and according to Wikipedia, it has some extensive Catacombs underneath! Wow!) Glennys asked if I would mind if we delayed our search for food to attend the Mass, and I said of course not! So, we attended Mass, and Glennys afterwards told me that it was the perfect way to end her birthday.
As all the parishioners were filing out after the service we lingered just a bit to take a few photos (which are on my Flickr site).
By now, it was quite dark and we decided we should just head back to our place and look for some food closer to 'home', so we made our way to the nearest tube station, Tottenham Court Rd. Fortunately for us, this station happened to be on the Central/Red line - which was perfect for us as that's what we needed to get to our stop at Marble Arch Station. As the Tottenham Court Rd Station had such interesting tile mosaics, we decided to pause briefly and take a few photos. The Mosaic patterned walls were done by Eduardo Paolozzi in 1984 (you can see his signature and date in this photo!).
And here's a self portrait shot of the two of us
Eventually, we were back in our 'neighborhood' and decided to try an "Ask" restaurant, which had a bit of an Italian flair. Afterwards, we headed across the way to our local pub (The Duke of Kent) to get a pint of Guinness. (How else should you end St. Patrick's Day while in London, really?)
=)
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