London's Dungeons and Piers Oh My!

Well, it has been a few days since I posted, but I have been busy. I have now seen Westminster Abbey (went to EvenSong mass), the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Churchhill's War Rooms, the Houses of Parliament, taken a bus tour of the city, watched a man feed squirrels in a park, visited the Tower of London, seen and been on the Tower Bridge, taken a boat ride on the Thames, seen a musical, and ate at a Pizza Hut that looked like a classy restaurant. And I have pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

There is so much to tell, but I think I will try to keep it short this time. On Tuesday I went and saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and I got to say, that was very boring. I don't recommend wasting your time. Then I walked back through a park to go to Winston Churchhill's Cabinet War Rooms. But on the way I got a bit side tracked by an old Englishman that was feeding squirrels. They were literally running up his pant leg to just above his knee and taking the food from his hand. Luckily I caught this on video and will be posting that online soon.

From there I went to the War Rooms were I got to see the tight living quarters of the underground bunker and learn a ton about Churchhill. After leaving there I ate lunch in the museum's cafe, it consisted of sausages and mashed potatoes with red onion marmalade in a thick gravy along with a side of tea. All in all very filling and enjoyable. Then I bought some souvenirs and off I went.

Next I attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Now I have to say this is by far the most beautiful church I have ever seen in my life. The detail put into it is immaculate. I also learned a bit about the abbey from an Englishwoman that I sat next to. She even showed me around a bit when mass was over. One thing I have to say about the mass was that I was not fond of the singing. Don't get me wrong, I usually love church choirs, but they weren't singing songs. They were saying words in a singsong voice. There was no pattern and hardly any rhythm. But otherwise it was wonderful. I will have to go back for the official tour.

After leaving the abbey I noticed that Parliament was still in session. So I went in the visitors entrance and after being scanned, searched, and patted down twice I was allowed to watch the House of Commons in session. They have a large protective shield between you and the members of that house and you are surrounded by guards at all times in there. While there I watched a rather interesting debate on whether or not to add a third runway to Heathrow. There was concern about displacing 4,000 people for the project when they already have a serious housing shortage here. Then several politicians pointed out that they could ease the strain from Heathrow by building several high speed lines to major destinations that it serves. It was an interesting and at times almost exciting debate. And so I was very disappointed when I visited the rather droll House of Lords. In this house there is no protective shield and it consists mostly of severely old men. Though I did get an interesting history lesson about the royals from one of the guards here.

Ok, well I have typed enough for today. I have posted a few images and will try to post the video in my online album before I leave the cafe today.

Cheers,
Patrick