london!

happy 2005 everyone! I spent the new year's celebration in London, at a club near piccadilly circus. the fireworks near the houses of parliament (big ben) and the london eye were really amazing; maybe some of you saw them on tv later on.
well, I have been a good little tourist, doing lots of fun touristy things. after getting back from scotland on thursday night, friday we went to the houses of parliament and saw the famous clock tower holding big ben. we also went through westminster abbey. I saw sir isaac newton's tomb(?) and memorial and lots of other peoples as well. there was a poet's corner with lots of famous wordsmiths there as well. after that, we headed over to trafalgar square and went to the national gallery. I saw some nice pieces of art there.
saturday took me to the tower of london (although it was closed) and the tower bridge (which was very blue and also very pretty). then I wandered over to the tate modern museum (a modern art museum) which was really really great. I also walked by shakespeare's old globe theatre and then across the milenium bridge. after that I took the tube over to piccadilly circus and walked over to leicester square (where it started pouring down rain - but only for a little while - the stupid tourists all bought umbrellas, but I knew it would stop soon). then I walked back to piccadilly circus and walked down regent street to oxford circus. they have this really nice light display on that street which was great to look at.
sunday we got up early and went to buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guard. it was sooo crowded! and cold! the ceremony was pretty interesting, but I wasn't at the best vantage point. but oh well. after that, we walked over to hyde park which was very nice and also saw kensington palace before heading to notting hill to get some lunch (fish and chips...yum). then we took the tube over to the somerset house and watched people ice skating and falling on their asses (we were going to do it too, but it was all booked up for the day).
today (monday) I went to st. paul's cathedral to have a look around. I climbed up all 530 steps to the top of the dome (the third largest in the world) to get a magnificent view of the city. it was very tiring, but definitely worth it. after that, we took a ride on the London Eye which was also really cool. the weather turned out perfect so I got some really amazing pictures (speaking of which, I have already taken almost 300. hahaha).
the plan for the next two days: tower of london, abbey road, british library, harrod's, a play and greenwich. if I can fit in camden town markets I will do that as well, but I don't know if it will happen. because of the holidays, lots of things have been closed when I wanted to see them, so it made everything a bit more difficult to plan. anyway, I am a master of the underground tube now, so I'm sure I'll be able to manage it.
my favorite thing about london: most of the museums are free.