Back in London! We are on the last leg of our trip, after traveling for 5 weeks. By now, we've seen 8 countries, driven through 7 of them. Glad to not be driving in London (it's the wrong side of the road...)!
One of the first days, I decided to do the tourist thing, and hopped aboard the double-decker tour bus. It's a good way to get to see the main attractions and a general layout of the city, if you don't have a lot of time, and too tired to walk (as I was). It felt good to just be a tourist. This is a view of St. Paul's Cathedral from the bus.
Cool seal for the City of London
Security near #10 Downing Street, the prime minister's home. Are they eyeballing someone suspicious?
Detail of Westminster Abbey - the grand church near the Houses of Parliament.
Of course, that's Big Ben!
View of the north side of the Thames. I love the "egg" building, owned by the Swiss RE insurance company.
Here I am, waiting at the Underground!
THE WEDDING
We had a wedding to attend - a good friend of Kevin's was getting married at the Cannizaro House, in Wimbledon. We arrived a couple of days early and discovered a huge park behind the hotel. There, was the Cannizaro Music Festival, playing various acts throughout the week. The final show was a music tribute to ABBA, the 80's Swedish pop group, but unfortunately, that show was on the evening of the wedding. Guess I'll have to watch Mama Mia, again.
The Cannizaro House was completely booked with guests (including us) attending the wedding, and was reserved solely for the wedding activities.
This was the wedding of Frode and Emily. Shown here is Emily escorted by her father. Invited to the wedding were guests from 31 nations, and the wedding had an international theme. The bride, part Japanese, and the groom, Norwegian, looked quite striking in their native clothing. The entire family of the groom wore their Norwegian finery, as well as the bride's Japanese relatives fully decked out in traditional kimonos.
Blessings from various faiths were given, from Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Athiest presenters.
The wedding started at 2:30pm and we left the party at 9:30pm, when the dancing was about to start. (And the cake had not yet been cut!) We had heard that the bulk of the guests left at 4:30am, and the last to leave at 6am! The bartender told us he couldn't take it anymore, and left at 4:30, telling the stragglers to help themselves to the bar. It sounded like a nice party and lots of fun, but after 7 hours, I was ready to kick off my shoes and change out of my formal attire. Such party poopers we were...
Flying back to the US in the morning, and looking forward to heading home. It's been a great trip, enjoyed almost every moment of it (except for being sick), and look forward to seeing more in the future.
(look for future blog posts of previous trips I've taken -- yes, confusing, but there will be more!)
No comments:
Post a Comment