Sunday Sightseeing in London

After breakfast and checking out of St Martins Lane, I went for another walk around London. It was a gloomy day in London - grey skies and on-and-off rain all day long. First stop was Trafalgar Square which was only a few blocks from the hotel. According to the guidebook, this square was named after Britain's most revered naval hero, Horatio Viscount Nelson, who fell at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (the most pivotal naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars).
Behind Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery with lots of famous works of art.
From Trafalgar Square, I continued walking down Whitehall and passed the Horse Guards and 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister Tony Blair lives).
Five minutes later, I reached Westiminster Abbey which is easy to recognize due to its medieval architecture and Big Ben which is the clock tower at the eastern end.
Big Ben actually refers to the bell in the famous clock's chime but everyone refers to the clock tower as Big Ben.
On the other side of the River Thames is a huge ferris wheel called London Eye which rotates at one revolution per 30 minutes. The line was too long so I only took pictures from the ground.
Here's closeup of the London Eye - see the people standing in the glass egg-shaped containers of the ferris wheel.
I walked along the riverfront to the Tate Modern Museum - it started to rain harder so it was time to seek some shelter. Daddy and I recently saw a Woody Allen movie called MatchPoint which showed a few scenes in the museum so I was interested in checking it out. One of the main attractions besides the modern art was an exhibition of metallic slides from an artist named Carsten Holler.
There was a slide from every floor - the higher up, the faster the slide. The free tickets for the slides on the upper levels were fully booked by the time I stood in line. Oh well.
The collection at the Tate Modern was impressive, especially the 5th Floor. Daddy would have enjoyed walking around - my favorites were the pieces by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollack and Picasso. Around the museum, I found these signs on How to Work Better which I found amusing.
It was still raining outside - luckily I brought a small umbrella in my bag. I walked across the Millenium Bridge which is an ultra-modern foot bridge made of metal - since it was wet, all of the kids were shuffling their feet or sliding around which made loud whoooozing noises. Here is a shot of the Tate Modern Building from the bridge.
On the other side of the Thames River was St. Paul's Cathedral which used to be the highest building in London. Now the dome of St. Paul's is dwarfed by the skycrapers in the financial district (though these buildings all seem short compared to the skyline in Manhattan).
After a quick bite of noodles at Wagamama (Daddy and I ate at this Tokyo-based noodle chain on our honeymoon in Sydney), I walked back to St Martins Lane so I could check into another hotel called The Metropolitan. This hotel is located along Hyde Park and the rooms are much bigger. I have a room on the 9th floor with a nice side view of Hyde Park. If it's not raining tomorrow morning, I plan to go for a run. For now, a nap on a rainy Sunday afternoon sounds like a good idea.