London

Monday and Tuesday we toured around London. We started off Monday by taking the ferry from Tower Pier (just behind the Tower of London) to Waterloo Pier. We went up the London Eye, something I enjoy doing every time in spite of the 17 pound pricetag. After that, we met David and headed toward Westminster. We had a picnic lunch in the courtyard of St. Thomas Hospital and headed on to the Houses of Parliament. We were told that it would be a two-hour wait to get into the House of Commons to witness a debate, but only 20 minutes for the House of Lords. As we were running out of time, we opted to do the latter. Then David bid us farewell and we continued on to Maxwell's for dinner. I got a hamburger, something I do quite often at Maxwell's as I don't make burgers just for myself ever. After wandering around Trafalgar Square for a bit, we headed home.


Tuesday, we started off at the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Then we headed back towards the Houses of Parliament where we were able to get into the House of Commons with a relatively short wait. Karen, who has witnessed debates in the Ontario legislature before, was highly impressed with how politely and respectfully the British MPs addressed each other. There was no shouting, no interrupting, but with cordially addressing of "my honourable colleague" (to members of other parties) or "my honourable friend" (within the speaker's party). Questions asked were actually responded to, rather than deflected with some other comment or put down. We walked over to Kensington Gardens and wandered around the beautiful gardens for a bit before going to the piazza in Covent Garden for dinner. The highlight for me was the show that night...we went and saw Thriller Live. Various musicians and dancers imitated MJ's style and moves from his Jackson Five days through to his most recent songs. I realized I (partially) know more MJ songs than I thought I did. It also shed some more light on the man he really was--very well done.

When I get some more time, I'll update what we've done in Paris the last few days. Til then, adieu...