Today, we went to the South Bank of the Thames for a Sunday walk. We had a nice time, walking across Waterloo Bridge, shopping for used books at the stalls under the bridge and just outside the National Film Theatre (I bought Robert Harris's "Fatherland" for £2 (about $3.60), then walking down the bank.

We wound up at the Tate Modern, where this was the last day of The Weather Project, a giant installation replicating the midnight sun inside the former power station and created by Olafur Eliasson.

We had a nice lunch at the museum's ground-floor cafe: white bean soup and parmesan bread for Diane, fish and chips with mushy peas for Jay, butternut squash soup with mascarpone cream and a Thai vegetable curry for me.

We went up to the fifth floor for the great view of St. Paul's Cathedral and the City on the North Bank. Then we left the museum, walked along the Thames to the London Bridge tube stop and headed for home.

A little chilly, perhaps, but all in all a nice day out.

Jay, Diane, Jay and I went to Fifteen, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's East End restaurant. The tasting menu dinner was one of the best meals of my life and stretched over three hours.

Fifteen is a short walk north of the Old Street tube stop at 15 Westland Place off City Road. The restaurant, the subject of a documentary last year, is staffed by cooks trained by Jamie and friends and drawn from the ranks of unemployed youth. Profits from the restaurant go to Oliver's Cheeky Chops charity.

We started with scallop crudo -- a scallop ceviche with yuzu lime, pomegranates, fresh coconut, shiso cress, crispy ginger and coriander shoots -- and a West Mersea oyster with scallop crudo. After that, came a salad that included special mozzarella and broccoli di rape. Next was one large, perfect ravioli containing an egg yolk and fava beans and covered with a balsamic vinegar-based sauce. It was wonderful.

We had pan-seared sea bass, line-caught sea bream and then some tutti fruiti sorbet to cleanse our palates. We had a wild mushroom risotto, Snowdonian (i.e., Welsh) lamb and, finally, dessert -- a panecotta flavored with grappa, a dab of white chocolate topped with a thin chocolate cookie and a deep, deep chocolate tart (my favorite of the three).

Joann accompanied her dinner with the wine tasting menu, meaning she had a small glass of wine with each course. Diane and I settled for two big glasses of wine -- one white, one red. The sommellier's recommendations were on target (We learned he is an American!).

After dinner, we took the tube home. The next day, Joann went back to Philly. It was the perfect dinner for a great visit from a great friend.