LONDON SIGHTS
Mary Ann: Wow!! London has been such a great surprise for me. Truthfully it’s not ever been a place I’ve longed to see, and, as we planned our trip, I really couldn’t imagine how we were going to fill our time here. But I sure was mistaken on both counts. London is an international city, full of diversity as well as wonderful history and culture. Every day is a pleasure, and it seems that our list of what we want to see and do gets longer instead of shorter as time goes by. So here goes with my Top Ten favorite sights to far:

1.Big Ben. I’ve seen pictures, but I had no idea how….well, BIG…Ben is. And wonderfully handsome with the gold face and intricately carved stone column. Three times we were lucky enough to hear Big Ben’s deep, resonant chimes call out the hour. I was really awed by the grandeur of the structure as well as the setting. Which leads me to my Number 2 favorite London sight….

2.Parliament. The stone work, the iron gates and the leaden windows fit together beautifully to create this huge complex of buildings which sit majestically along the Thames River. I especially liked the two lions holding scepters in their mouths as they guarded the entrance marked, “Sovereign’s Entrance”. And, oh yeah, the great black statue of Richard the Lion-Hearted on horseback.

3.Westminster Abbey. This church was first built in 1066 for William the Conqueror’s coronation ceremony. Every king and queen since that time, except 2, have been crowned in this spot. It was also the place where Princess Di’s funeral was held. And, as if that weren’t enough, it contains the graves of 3000 monarchs, writers, and other famous people including Chaucer, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens.

4. Buckingham Palace. This well-known palace sits in the middle of a beautiful park, is enclosed by huge black iron fencing with gold decorations, and is enhanced by a lovely large fountain commemorating Queen Victoria. The British “Bobbies” stand guard at the front gate and very seriously pose for the many picture-taking tourists.

5. The British Library. Think about all the important written documents in the history of the world, then think about them all being together in one room. That’s the British Library. We’re talking Magna Carta, THE Guttenberg Bible, the original King James Bible, Handel’s first rendition of the Messiah, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and originals of Beethoven, Bach, THE BEATLES, Charles Dickens, Dead Sea scrolls, and Leonardo DaVinci’s sketchings. WOW!!!

6. John Wesley’s Chapel and Home. John Wesley founded Methodism in the 18th century and his conversion and later life all happened within a square mile here in London. Besides seeing the chapel where he preached, and the site where he was buried, I especially enjoyed touring his home, which was re-created as it was during his lifetime and gave a very personal look at the life of a typical Londoner during that time.

7.“The Circuses” and Squares. The famous circuses, or squares as we’d say in the States, include Leicester Circus, which is in the heart of the theater district, and Piccadilly Circus, which looks like a small Times Square with flashing billboards, some theaters and shops all around. A square which IS a square is Trafalger Square, a huge “roundabout” filled with vehicles and skads of people hanging out on the steps of the National Gallery and St. Martin of the Fields Church which border it.

8.The Parks. In spite of the fact that London is densely populated, there is lots and lots of beautiful green space, and expansive parks lie right in the heart of the city. We have especially enjoyed St. James Park which surrounds Buckingham Palace; Kensington Park which contains the memorial to Princess Di; and Regent’s Park with its beautiful lakes and gardens. This has been a perfect month to be here, with flowering plum and cherry trees; daffodils, primrose and camellias abloom; and birds all a-twitter with spring fever.

9.The Thames. We spent a whole evening walking along the before it splashed a rosy glow onto the buildings of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The riverside was busy with tourists, street actors miming famous paintings or throwing batons of fire, and vendors selling sugar-coated peanuts. The river itself was filled with kayaks, and riverboats and floating restaurants, all lending themselves to a picture-perfect April night.

10.The Londoners themselves. The thing we enjoy the most is people-watching and London is a delight. We marvel as we sit at a pub or a coffee shop and look out the window at the parade of folks walking by. Every person looks totally different from any one else who’s just gone by. It seems like every color, nationality and religion is represented here, not just in a “token” way, but as an assimilated and meaningful part of this society. Of course, since we don’t live here full-time, we don’t know all the difficulties of so much mixing of people from all over the world. But, as a short-term visitor, we delight at the wonder of this rainbow of humanity and hope that it foretells of a future when we can work and live and play side-by-side in peace.

11. OK, OK. I know I promised only 10. But the Tower of London is really cool and the Yeoman Warders tell about all the people who got their heads cut off there, like Anne Boleyn and Thomas More and Sir Walter Raleigh. AND you get to see the crown jewels