I get no sleep on the flight over to London and
 realize that by the end of the day, I will have had
 stayed awake for 36 hours.  Upon arrival, I head
 over to a friend's house to drop off my belongings before
 immediately heading out again.
 
 I make a stop at Smithfields market, hoping to stock
 up on some fruits, and unfortunately discover it's a
 meat market.  On to the Tower Bridge, where magician
 David Blaine hangs in a clear box for his 28th out
 of 44 days.  I get a smile from him as I fan my cards
 and perform one of my better card magic tricks, but he
 seems to be more interested in (obssessed) cleaning
 his box.  Needless to say, he's bored out of his
 mind.
  
  I make my way over to Trafalgar Square, and as I
 sit there, the sun actually opens up in London, making
 the day much more pleasant!
 
 My two biggest mistakes from my last trip through
 London was 1) Street hiking most of London  2)
 Skipping the galleries.  I make up for these
 mistakes this time by 1) Buying a worthwhile Tube subway pass
 (allowing me to visit MANY sites in one day), and 2)
 Making time for all the galleries.  But rather than
 walk through all these enormous galleries, I focus
 on what I want to see.  In the National Gallery, I only
 visit the East Wing for the Impressionist paintings.
 
 In the British Museum, I visit the Egyptian wing
 (For the Rosetta stone) and the Greek wing.
 
 I make stops at Piccadilly circus, Leceister Square,
 and Harrods, where I actually make a purchase (a 20p
 piece of fudge :) for the fun of it)
 
 I quickly pass Big Ben, the Parliament, and head
 into Westminister Abbey.  It's great to start, but after
 a while, the repetition of memorials and coffins start
 to bore me - if only there were open caskets or
 preserved cadavars.
 
 As night falls, I meet up with friends, take a
 wonderful walk along the Thames, and cross the
 Millenium Bridge to see what I've been waiting 2
 years for - the Tate Modern!  And it's great.  After the
 tiring trek all day, the Tate wakes me up and I find
 myself spending the rest of the night only on the
 first floor (there are 6).  The Tate has a
 controversial way of displaying art, organizing by
 theme rather than time period, so Impressionist art
 is mixed with modern.  I think it's great, and the
 variation leaves one even more interested.  I was
 particularly fascinated by the "Memento Mori"
 exhibit, which conveyed the theme of decay and ultimate death
 well in a number of pieces.
 
 The night concludes with a dinner at Covent Garden
 and a late night visit to the supermarket.  The
 supermarket is the size of a mid-size convenience
 store, but it has 24 cash registers.
 
 I leave wishing I had time to see a musical... (back
 to my NYC days).  With a day so packed with sights
 and sounds, I easily kill off jet lag.
 
 The next morning, I leave for a day trip to Bath. 
 As touristy as it is, it's definitely a worthwhile day
 trip to go and see the Victorian restored Roman
 baths, complete with hot spring water.  From an engineering
 point of view, the Baths are amazing for their time
 as the baths have intricate lead piping, and even
 luxuries such as heated floors!  
 
 The entire city itself has a remarkable elegance and
 beauty to it.  I avoid the heavy tourist traffic in
 the "designer store" streets and "marekts" (aka The
 Podium).  The traffic is so heavy in these areas
 that there are crossing signs telling one to look both
 ways before walking into a pedestrian street and merging
 with busy shoppers.  A short 5 minute walk from this
 place gets me some solitude and I roam the English
 hillsides, the meandering streets, residential
 areas, and river pathways.  I leave Bath early to head back
 to the Tate for a revisit and stroll through the
 remaining floors until their late closing time
 (10pm).
  
 
 Next: Trieste - Gateway to the Balkans