London and Home - not the last post!

The last few days in London were just as exciting as the first. But first and foremost - WE'RE HOME! After missing our flight to Burlington due to (probably) volcano-related delays we had an eight hour layover in Newark and arrived home at 1 A.M. your time, 5 A.M. London time. Being home is quite strange. First of all, I haven't seen Ariel now in about six hours. That seems quite unusual after not leaving her side for 3.5 months. Second of all, the culture feels odd and familiar all at once somehow. When I was in the mall the other day, for example, I couldn't help but notice how American everyone was; it was just little things, like different mannerisms, but it makes a big difference. I also ate with my hands one of my first nights home. No forks allowed when it comes to wings in America.

Remember that we have some presentations coming up! Dates for public presentations will be announced in a separate post.

Now I'll talk a little about the rest of our week in London. We visited the London Bridge over the River Thames (the only bridge downstream from Kingston until 1929) and were surprised at how boring and industrial it looked; it's the latest in a succession of bridges in this spot. It's fairly modern as it is from 1973.
So we walked upstream slightly to find the Tower Bridge, which is an absolutely gorgeous, ornate suspension bridge.

We, later that day, walked to the Westminster area to see Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye.

The Houses of Parliament are where the House of Lords and the House of Commons meet. The current palace was designed by architectural team Barry and Pugin and construction began in 1840 and was only completed after many setbacks in 1870.
There we saw the building's clock tower, nicknamed Big Ben after it's largest bell. It is massive - the third largest freestanding clock tower in the world!



Also in the area was the Westminster Abbey cathedral. It was absolutely giant. One of the coolest parts was knowing that a plethora of coronations had taken place there in the past.

After that we visited the London Eye. I personally think of it in the same way that I think of the Eiffel Tower. It's not incredibly attractive, actually, it's quite the monstrosity, but it's given London a symbolic landmark the same way the Eiffel Tower is now arguably the most recognizable Parisian landmark. We didn't ride, because it was ridiculously expensive just for a big Ferris Wheel. Instead, we went to the nearby Film Museum. It mainly focused on commercially successful movies and actors and housed a huge collection of movie props, scripts, etc...

We took some time to visit Buckingham Palace. We weren't able to see the changing of the guards; there was a special event that day (we are still trying to find out what it was), but we got to see the guards doing their marching routine back and forth in perfect synchronization in front of the palace.

The Tower of London is also very cool. It's very historic. In fact, it's the oldest building used by the British government and houses the crown jewels. Definitely worth a visit.

On our very last night, we saw Billy Elliot in London's West End Theater. It was absolutely amazing. I laughed, I cried; I was engaged the entire time. The dancing was particularly impressive and the music (Elton John) was also beautiful. I definitely recommend it and I'm sure Ariel would agree.



Look out for some more posts...
We've got one coming up announcing presentation dates and one FAQ/summarizing conclusory post on the way!