Day 31:

Back from our trip to the North, everyone seems to be in a mad panic about homework assignments. This morning Dave H. and I went off to do one of our Political Science walks through the legislative area of London. The walk was called "Whitehall and the Mall". Whitehall is a big street going from Trafalgar Square to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. It passes many of the administrative buildings of Parliament as well as the Banqueting House (we went there a couple weeks ago and I wrote about it then). The walk took us past many war memorials. To be honest, I wasn't familiar with a lot of the battles or the people involved, but it was neat to see the English pride that they represented.



This is the Horseguard that we walked past. I'm sure millions of people take their picture with them daily, but here I am, next to a huge horse and an angry-looking guard. Ta-da. We walked down the street (past the Prime Minister's residence and Westminster and came back up the next street (along-side St. James' Park), taking us to the backside of where the horseguards stood. Apparently this is where the royal tennis courts, cock-fighting, and bear-baiting used to be. Other than that, we couldn't figure out what the purpose of these buildings or the big square was or is. (You can see the London Eye behind it. It is on the other side of the river Thames.)

To the side of the Horseguards parade ground were the Cabinet War rooms. This is where Winston Churchill gave many of his war-time addresses to rally the people and also where he communicated with the White House. There were also underground accommodations to protect them from air raids during the Blitz.

Finally, the walk took us down the "Mall" to Buckingham Palace. The Mall just refers to the street that goes from Whitehall to the palace. It is red to represent Royalty. We were supposed to see some cool things along the way but got a bit confused and missed most of them.

We did, however, happen upon the guards riding down the street, although we're not sure what they were doing.

Buckingham Palace is just as crowded with tourists as I remember it being. Dave finally asked, "So if we can't get any closer and we can't go in and it's so crowded, what ARE we supposed to do here?" Good question. We took one more passing glance, said farewell to Her Majesty, and headed off to find the closest tube stop.

We made it home by lunch-time and I spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework and updating my blog from the North trip. Tonight we went to the ballet. I arranged getting tickets for everyone and was a little nervous that people would flake, get lost, or show up late and I would end up with extra tickets or get stuck in the lobby waiting for late-comers and not be let into the first act. (Keep in mind, this is all a bit more tricky without the convenience of cell phones.) Luckily all went well. Mallory and I brought Mitzy Holland with us (she's such a sweetheart, about 9 years old) and then the rest of the group met up with us. It was the Mikhailovsky Ballet of Russia performing "Giselle" at the London Coliseum and WOW. I was so impressed. Can I just say how much I love dance? I get so exhilerated watching them execute the movements with so much strength and grace. It's killing me to think of how long it has been since I danced. Hope this isn't a problem when I start dancers co. rehearsals in about a month.