third trip to London

Recently we have been enjoying some very fine weather, I could venture out of doors in only a jacket or sweatshirt, not so any longer. On Thursday we went to London for Armistice Day, and it was frigid! First we had a walking tour. Apparently I chose the wrong group. Our tour guide said it would be nearly impossible to see the Queen, so when the parade did go through, we were in some alley behind parliament. And he didn't even notice the 11:11 two minutes of silence until 11:12. The guy working the power drill behind us never noticed it ... Anyway, he was clearly wrong because a kid in the other tour group not only saw the Queen but captured her on video!! And the lucky dog also got to see Tony Blair!! Now that doesn't happen in the US- "Oh look there goes George!!" So with Armistice day the streets were crowded, there was a protest going on against fox hunting and everyone was wearing these poppies. We took a break for lunch, it must have been a day for bad decisions for me, instead of heading to McDonald's with some of the girls I thought I'd try a nice little restaurant in the park with Rachel and two other girls I don't really know. It was not only very expensive, but I didn't recognize anything on the menu. I ended up with raw salmon. Well you can't knock it til you try it, and now I feel very free to knock it. And so with some very bright pink, raw salmon chilling in my stomach, we went to the Cabinet War Rooms, where Churchill and his men ran World War II. It was very interesting and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting London. Churchill and his men worked down there for 6 years, unbeknownst to Hitler and even Americans and Britains. The day the armistice was signed they tidied up their desks, turned out the lights for the first time ever and went home. The Rooms stayed just like that until they were re-opened in the 1980s for tourists. So we got to see them just as they were when they were vacated- papers lying about and all. The map room was very interesting. You think about the war in Iraq, and how we must have maps of that while we're fighting, but these were maps of the entire world- with pins everywhere! Anyway, we had a little bit of time before the bus left so me, Sally, Marty, Erin and Jen took a quick trip to the British Art Musuem, where we saw the Rosetta stone, the remains of an entire temple, and pieces of the Parthenon (not quite sure why they're in England). I attempted to work on my paper, but because of a very early morning, I soon got too tired and fell asleep.