Last Day

Last night after blogging I went to the Westminster Palace, home of the Houses of Parliament. Finally, after their being busy all day, I got a chance to see British government in action. I went into the House of Commons, the more rowdy and interesting of the two houses. It was nearly 9:30 p.m.; the House closes officially at 10:30. The place was smaller than I'd imagined, and full of ceremony. All of the Members of Parliament weren't there, but it was still fun. My two favorite parts: the dripping irony with which the opposition sometimes addresses the government official speaking, and the Speaker of the House. The Speaker has a thick brogue, and he presides over the whole affair. Near the end, it's his job to close certain business ("the debate") by putting the question. He actually posed about ten questions, and they all went something like this: "As to the....All in favor? (Aye, aye) Opposed--(he doesn't even break, really)--I believe the ayes have it, the ayes have it." Every time. Here are a few nighttime views from Westminster Pier.

For my last day in London and abroad I gave myself the luxury of sleeping in. I've noticed that I'm getting tired, running out of steam on this grand adventure. So I slept an extra 40 or so minutes this morning, and it felt great. I couldn't sleep through the smell of toast, though. Mmm, bread.

My first stop was once again Westminster Pier, for British Airways London Eye. I stepped into a little capsule and went round on this huge bicycle wheel for 360 degree views of London's skyline. The London Eye is the tallest thing around, so you get great pictures. It was impressive and fun. The second half of the spin was not surprisingly less fun than the first. I started thinking about the trip ending. This sort of marks the beginning of the downspin half of my summer, where I'll do more looking back than ahead. I still have the lake, but school haunts: only one month left of this blissful summer.

After my spin, I headed out to market. It was quite an experience. I hit the whole spectrum, from Pinto to Ferrari. I started at Old Spitalfields. The vendors have booths and do their best to display their wares for buyers. Here you can haggle.

Next I hit Covent Garden. Moving on up, this place felt like a Park Ave. It had nice, permanent stores like Lush and Gap along with street vendors and artisans. I enjoyed looking around, as much at the people as the merchandise.


I walked to Picadilly Circus and took the tube to Queensbridge, where the place to go is Harrods. Harrods is Saks on steroids. You're struck by the massive place immediately, and intimidated by the impressive show of luxury cars parked VIP-style in the street, drivers waiting.

There are seven floors to the most elaborate and expensive department store I have ever visited. Lucky for me, they were having their only sale of the year--a huge, up to 50% off sale. The trouble is you're looking at dresses by Valentino, bags by Gucci and Hermes, suits by Armani himself. And the dollar is currently crap compared to the pound sterling. So I look at a beautiful coat, and find the tag: £1010. Wait, it's minus 50%: £505. Then convert to dollars: £1010 or even more now. I was surrounded by beautiful Arabian people who weren't even carrying their bags. They had checked them. I saw a purser pushing out a large crate that you might find at the end of a forklift, full of Harrod's packages. Once again, I was out of my league. That's okay, I'm not sure I want to be in that league. I wouldn't mind having a Gucci bag and shoes, though.

Scary. Waxen Mr. Fayed welcomes people to his store.

Tonight I'm going to grab a quick dinner and finish this trip in true London style--at the theater. I'm seeing Chicago. I wasn't an enormous fan of the movie, but I really like the music and it's London's biggest show. I'll have to post the pictures later, I guess. They are taking too long to upload and I've got to get to the show. Tomorrow morning early, I'm heading home. Thanks to all of you for your comments and for reading. It has been fun letting all of you in on this amazing journey. Should I continue blogging? I'm not sure my regularly-scheduled life is that exciting.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for an awesome gift. Thanks to God for traveling mercies. Home again, home again...soon.