Sep 25 -- London! -- Day 3

We had a long leisurely breakfast. Marcello and Marita got out croissants, and bread with jam and butter and even cheese (an element of the German breakfast Marita said) and we had orange juice and hot tea. We lounged and read newspapers. Nice. Relaxing.

Marco and I went alone then to the Tower of London (actually a sort of castle / fort), a place Marita and Marcello had already visited. We took the guided tour. Our guide was funny in that great British way. Aparently he's not only a guide, but also a guard of the Queen's jewels, which are housed there in the London Tower. He and 36 other guards actually live there full time, right in the castle. They get free room and board. Surprising!

We took a peek at the jewels. Quite shiny.

We hid under a stone arch of the Tower of London for the duration of a quick sunshower and then hurried over to Covent Garden. Here are trendy yet quintessential London shops and apartments made of brick mixed with classic English pubs and a covered market. We met Marita and Marcello then got Persian food.

I'd been there once before. Both times I saw the same guy. He makes money in the street by betting passers-by to ride his bicycle across a 15-foot length of space without falling over or touching their feet to the ground. Sounds easy right?

The trick is that he's rigged the handlebars so that when you turn them left, the wheel actually turns right and vice-versa. He shows the crowd how "easy" it is -- he rolls smoothly and confidently across the line without tipping. Looks like a breeze! Teenage boys and brawny men pay up to show they can do it too. They mount the bike with bravado. Again and again they tip over and lose their money.

As we left we walked towards Leicester Square. We passed a hotel designed by Starck. I love his Clift Hotel in San Francisco. This one had similar odd touches - a long table with chairs shaped like a gold tooth, stools shaped like garden gnomes, a long yellow hallway. But it wasn't nearly as surreal as the one in San Francisco.