sunday night

sunday night ten of us (the 6 from st. james, the whites, sarah, and johnny) tried to see love's labors lost at the globe theater. however, when we arrived all the tickets were sold out. so we improvised and decided to take a lovely walk along the river bank and then a jaunt around the london eye. the past few days have been fabulous weather here in london. it was so warm yesterday and didnt get cold enough for a jacket until around 11pm.

along the river bank were street performers, skate boarders, and people enjoying the great weather.

the whites.



dang! i always forget about the up and down pictures! well, here is one of the performers. he's headless.







here i am in the london eye pod. if you look closely, you can see big ben behind me. we timed the trip perfectly and were able to get on the eye around sunset. it was beautiful watching the sun go down over london...well worth the 15 pounds. The other picture is the london eye from a rarely seen angle...sideways....











here's parliament and big ben from the pod. earlier in the week we went on a tour of parliament. it was so fasinating how much of the british legal system we have in our american system. a few things i didnt know...

the house of lords has red trimming everywhere - red benches and the like. this is because red dye was the most expensive back in the day. the house of commons has green trim and seats because green was the cheapest dye of the day.

only those in the house of commons are elected and there are so many members that they all cant fit in the chambers. so some members have to stand wherever they can fit their feet. also, the prime minister is the speaker of the house of commons...

when there is a vote, the members of the house have to actually get up and walk to either the left side or the right side of the chambers (into separate rooms). the left side is a nay vote and the right side a yes vote. they literally vote with their feet!

also, the house of lords and house of commons are separated by a large foyer. and the house of lords is decked out in gold and luxury whereas the house of commons is basically made of bland stone with no gold in site.



here is the group in the pod. from left to right: ben (the domestic one of our house...ben makes sure we are well fed with brownies, cookies, muffins, and the like), vanessa (also a housemate), john (housemate), aaron, janelle, rachel (also a housemate), and me (behind the camera).



a picture of london from the eye. the river thames is off to the left. in the distance is the tate modern and the globe theater is next to that. the tate modern is where we went the other day to see the dali exhibit. it used to be an old factory back in the day.