Jon In England: The mate was a mighty sailing man...

The skipper brave and sure.

Five passengers set sail that day

For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

7/16/10

Reviewed notes and readings for International Entertainment law and Media law. Decided to take another free 3 hour walking tour from the same company that offered the one I took in Edinburgh. We met at Wellington Arch across the street from Hyde Park. Learned about Sir Arthur Welsley and Earl Grey as we passed there homes and from there headed through Green Park along constitutional hill to Buckingham Palace. Apparently Green Park used to be filled with flowers but the queen had them all cut down in the sixteenth century because the king would go sleep with prostitutes after saying he was going on a walk to smell the flowers. Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which was a madhouse) while the tour guide explained the significance of the ceremony. Apparently the keys are carried by royal guards from St. James Palace to Buckingham Palace as some kind of outdated security measure. Learned a little about the queen and the palace's history and about the only successful break in. Apparently if the queen lives until 2015 she will be the oldest reigning monarch in English history.

On a side note, I really don't understand this obsession with the queen. Why have a head of state who has a meaningless title? Who wants their tax dollars going to some family living an outrageously extravagant lifestyle? But I digress...

Next we saw St. James Palace, which looks like an old industrial brick building. We then walked along Pall Mall (where the queen and royal family go shopping) and passed a Crimean War memorial that had a great statue of Florence Nightingale who I never knew became a politician after her nursing career and lobbied parliament for more sanitary medical facilities. Onwards we went to Trafalgar Square where you can see a new statue of Nelson's ship in a bottle as well as the national gallery. Also, today there are far fewer pigeons in Trafalgar Square due to a politician who saw them as a nuisance and tried several ways to get rid of them but eventually ended up putting contraceptives in their bird-food. Pretty cruel. We then walked under Admiralty Arch to Horse Guard Parade where you can see where the royal horses are kept. The tour then winded its way to Parliament Square where you could see St Stephen's Clock Tower (not Big Ben which is the name of the clapper inside the bell), Parliament, the House of Lords and Westminster Abbey (which is from 1048 and since William the Conqueror in 1066 all coronations, royal weddings and funerals have been held here) all of which no trip to London would be complete without seeing. All the while we were being told the stories behind these places. Most interesting was that of the failed Gunpowder Plot.

I went back and studied for what remained of the afternoon. That evening I went to Notting Hill and had some great Mexican food at a place called Taqueria and danced the night away at the Notting Hill Arts Club.

It was a good day.