Westmister Walk

Today was the first sunny day since we've been here. As mom put it, it was glorious. We took our first bus (you know the red double deckers?) to Westminster. There, we saw the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Parliament was gorgeous! It was so intricately designed, and huge. This Parliament was actually built in the 1800's, because the first one was destroyed by a fire. (You would not believe how many buildings were destroyed because of fire, the Globe theatre, our apartments, on and on.) We saw a little of Westminster Abbey, but not much. We saw the remains of Whitehall Palace built by Henry VIII and continued by other monarchs. Only the banquet hall now remains as the rest was destroyed by a (guess what?) fire. We then ended up in Trafalgar square where Horatio Nelson watches over the city on a pedestal with four lions guarding the statue. Frieze's  decorated the bottom of Nelson's tall pedestal. We saw a plaque that marked the center of London, which was really neat. Then we walked to St. James's Park, near Buckingham Palace. It was pretty, and was the first green spot I have seen in a while. There was a lake in the center, gardens placed spuradicly and giant tree's everywhere. Swans and ducks swam on the lake, pigeons scavenged for food, and squirrels ate from people's hands. It was very nice to simply sit and watch all of this going on. Then we went to Evensong  at St. Paul's Cathedral. The cathedral itself was lovely. Mosaics of Jesus Christ's crucifixion covered the ceiling. The dome rose high above us. Statues decorated the interior. Organ music mingled with the choirs voices. It was a wonderful experience