Second Star to the Right: A Walk in the Park

Today was a very fun day, and was also surprisingly productive as well, the best sort of day to have if you ask me. This morning our entire group made our way over to Westminster for our tour through Parliament. We squeezed our whole group through security and then were broken up to receive tours of the massive building. It was all very ornate and it was so cool to see how all the proceedings work. We didn’t actually see any members of Parliament as they are currently out for recess (thus allowing the tour) but our guide was great at explaining how things work. First we saw the Queen’s private entrance, and then where she would be given the crown to wear during proceedings. We were then shown where the House of Lords meet, which was very fancy and full of symbols about the crown. It’s all very centered on tradition, and is ironic because the House of Lords doesn’t really have any power anymore, that all lies with the House of Commons. The tour took us to that part of Parliament next.

The House of Commons, unlike the House of Lords, consists of members that have been elected to their posts. The Prime Minister is a member of this house and he actually holds more power politically than the Queen does. He is the author of the speech that she reads at the opening of Parliament. The ironic thing about the meeting rooms of the House of Commons is that compared to the House of Lords, it is very plain but still very beautiful. It is also much smaller because they believe that they should all be much closer together, so that they can see each other when they talk. It was all very fascinating and our tour guide was great at giving us lots of detail. We’ve been taught about how Parliament works in class, but it was another thing entirely to see where it all takes place.

The rest of the day was ours to do whatever we wanted. A few of us went back to Borough market to get some lunch. I didn’t actually buy anything, but got filled up on all the many samples. So many samples to eat! And then I tripped and fell on a hobo. Fortunately he was a nice hobo. I realize now that I should have given him some money. Bother. Sorry hobo.

Everyone else decided to go to Camden market to do some more shopping, but I had a lot of homework to do. Our teachers here are very laid back and most of our assignments are open as far as due dates go. The bad part about this is that some people might just put those off. So I spent a good three hours getting essays written and books read. I managed to get a lot done, and I think I may even be a little ahead of the game now. As much as I wanted the last week here to be a nightmarish week of doing homework all the time.

In the evening I went with Sarah, Paul, Emilee and Matt to go on one of our London walks for our London Walks class. We have a book of walks throughout the city and we are supposed to do four of them before the end of the semester. I hadn’t done any, and decided it was about time to get a few of those done. We walked through Kensington Gardens right as the sun was going down and it was beautiful! The book we use has a map that we are supposed to follow and sites to see, and I was surprised at how much I hadn’t already seen in the park. We walked past a embassies from all over the world, saw Kensington Palace, saw my good friend Peter Pan again, and even saw the house that J.M. Barrie lived in. His house is about three blocks away from the Center and I didn’t even know it was there! This place is just full of surprises.

Paul and I grabbed some pizza from a local pizza place and we all made our way back to the center. Paul even managed to separate the shower door from the bathroom door. They got stuck, and he unstuck them. It was a glorious moment. I feel great having gotten a lot of homework out of the way, and even better that I can do it and still have a great time as well!