On the way to London, Nicki and Karen decided to go ahead and return the rental car ahead of time so that they wouldn't have to pay to park it when they wouldn't really need it again. As it turned out, it was cheaper to return the car and take a black cab to the airport rather than pay to park it for the few days they were going to be in London. Once we found the hotel, the Holiday Inn right near Gloucester Road Tube Station (just down the road from the V&A), Nicki and Karen went to return the car, and Dominic and I headed over to the Tate Modern because he really wanted to go there and it was on my schedule of things to do.

I'm not usually a big modern art person - I think it's the Victorianist in me - but I did really enjoy this museum. First of all, the building itself is such an experience. The Tate Modern used to just be the Tate, housing what is now the Modern and Britain collections all in one building. When it was decided to give the modern part of the collection its own building, an old power station was selected as the building. It's so perfect for a modern art collection. To get there you walk across the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul's Cathedral and walk down into the courtyard of the museum itself. The courtyard is very large and empty, covered with sandy-colored gravel. It's at this point that you luck up and feel dwarfed by the immensity of the power station's looming chimney. The whole experience of the building's exterior is to make one feel that particular sort of alienation and loneliness that is distinctly modern. After feeling the immensity of the thing, I realized that the courtyard expressedly designed to make one feel so - if it were filled with anything (benches, flowers, grass etc.) you would not immediately look to the chimney. Its emptiness propels you to reckon with the building.

After Dominic and I had been wandering around for awhile, I suddenly realize that we had never arranged a place to meet with Nicki and Karen. I decided that it would work out because 1) they knew where we were, and we were certainly not going to leave the museum and 2) Dominic had his mobile with him, so at least they could call us if need be. So, Dominic and I should wander through the museum and then go to the lobby to see if they were waiting for us. Well, evidently Nicki and Karen got themselves all sorts of worked up about trying find us (ignoring the fact that, if all else failed, we would all be going back to the same hotel), and were madly rushing about the museum looking for us. Luckily for all involved, Nicki remember that Dominic likes Picasso, and we just happened to be in the Picasso rooms when they got there. There I was, looking at a painting, and all the sudden there's this person rushing towards me - I only realized that it was Nicki when she was barely a foot in front of me. Nicki and Karen were so relieved, like we were going to wander off and play in traffic or something. Of course, one must remember, that Nicki usually thinks of me as all of twelve years old or something. I guess that's what happens when you're a decade older than your baby sister, and I do take a lot of worrying after on regular basis.

After we met up, we had a nice lunch in the museum café and then wandered through the galleries that Dominic and I hadn't made it through. We then went back to the hotel, and had a very yummy dinner at this Singaporean restaurant just around the corner. As we walked back through the lobby after dinner, I noticed an awful lot of folks in the lounge area using their laptop computers. As a confirmed wireless junky, I guessed that this meant the hotel had WiFi in their lobby. Nicki and Karen were very excited about the possibility of getting some internet access. But, of course, I had left my wireless card in my Bloomsbury room; obviously, one should not leave home without it;-) However, since we had plans of going to BM the next day, I decided to run back to my room and get it. So, with dreams of wireless dancing in my head, I went to sleep.