Day 7 & 8

Day 7

Saturday we were given a tour of Parliament by this very knowledgeable lady.  We were allowed to go farther than the Queen is.  In Parliament, the Queen or King is only allowed to go but so far because of King Charles II.  He tried to rule England without Parliament and when they refused, he tried to have several members arrested. He did not succeed and ultimately, he was beheaded. 

After Parliament, we went practically right across the street to Westminster Abbey. We were going to go inside but you had to pay £ 16 to do that.  

Instead, we just went from there to Pride, which was a gay pride festival being held in London. I saw some very interesting things there.  There was a group of protesters but they were surprisingly small. London seems to be very accepting of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders.  There were several dragqueens in the parade.  

After the pride parade, Molly, Maegan and I went to Covent Garden Market. But on the way there, we saw where the Prime Minister, David Cameron lives.  There we saw the changing of the guard on horse. It was pretty neat. 

After Covent Garden, Molly and I grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant near campus. It was so good. 

Day 8

This morning I was able to sleep in a little bit! It was so great! We went to St. Paul's Cathedral for Sunday service.  It was very different than what I am used to back home. The church was so beautiful.  

(this is supposed to be a panoramic picture but it turned up weird on my computer)

The group, minus Dr. Webb and John Rose! 

After St. Paul's we went to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. That was interesting as well.  Since England does not have a First Amendment like the US does, this is a place where people can go and say anything they want without anyone getting mad. 

When this man wasn't blowing his horn, he was talking about how there are no women prophets in Islam.  He then proceeded to say that it is because Allah hates women. 

Molly, Kathleen, and I decided that we would try to take the bus back to campus.  It took the bus about 20 minutes to get there only for me to discover that I did not have enough to ride. Molly and Kathleen were already on the bus and couldn't get off. I walked to the nearest tube station and put more money on my Oyster card and caught the next central line tube. I took it to Notting Hill Gate so that I could transfer to the Circle line.  I got down to the platform that I needed to be on and I discovered that the Circle line tube was not running today (some service workers are on strike -- tube workers, teachers, etc...).  Luckily, I am also able to ride the District line because that also takes me to my tube stop.  Boy was the District Line crowded! 

Almost an hour later, I was finally home! Now I am about to have dinner and do some reading for my classes!