I had a rude awakening this morning when the fire alarm went off at around 5:00. Semi-conscious, I stumbled down eight stories and out of the building; in a few minutes, the fire department had checked out the building and I was able to stumble back up and go to sleep. Unsurprisingly, I ended up sleeping in a little past my alarm because of this.
Despite the later than expected start, I was able to get a good deal done. I first went over to the Tate Gallery and looked at the many British pieces there. Naturally, it was an interesting collection, particularly for fans of British artists and schools like the Pre-Raphaelites, Turner, Blake, Aubrey Beardsley, and Hogarth.
When I left the building, it had started to rain, which was actually quite a relief; it was nice to have a reprieve from the hot and humid weather of the past couple of days, particularly when I was using the subway, which has been miserably hot and crowded lately.
Anyway, I went from the Tate to St. Paul's cathedral. I explored the main building (which was partially hidden by scaffolding because of cleanup work) before climbing to the top of the dome, which had commanding views of the city below, though the platform at the very top was pretty small considering the many tourists who were there. After getting back down, I explored the crypt, which was a bit... un-cryptlike, as it was well-lit and even had a gift shop and 'crypt cafe' at the far end. In any case, it was interesting, and I got to see the monuments of several luminaries, including Turner, Blake, Arthur Sullivan, Nelson, and the cathedral's architect Christopher Wren.
Finally, I went to the British Museum, where I saw much of what I had missed during my previous visit, including the Latin American rooms (with memorable masks and figures that were mosaics of semiprecious stones), the Asian rooms, and the European wing. A room with Greek statuary was still closed, so hopefully I'll be able to go back and see that.
Well, I must be off!
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