Finally, some hard core toursim

The parents are in town and it's good to have them here. The last 36 hours have been a whirlwind of accomplishments - getting them home from the airport, shopping for groceries, making/cooking dinner while they get settled and then today - out of the house by 9am for a day at Westminster Abbey and Parliament, with dinner in Soho.

We took an extremely worthwhile tour of Westminster Abbey in the morning, walking over the graves of many a famous author and scientist, had a gastropub lunch at the Bell and Compass near Charing Cross, then back to the Houses of Parliament for the afternoon. We were able to sit in on House of Commons and House of Lords debates. Me, Miss Non-Political, found both of them very interesting. Even though the House of Lords is a more posh environment, I was most intrigues by the House of Commons discussion about developing eco-friendly towns and the role of the central versus local governments. One MP even gave props to the Americans for a change with regards to the way States are taking compliance with the Kyoto protocol standards into their own hands and pushing the Federal government towards a more proactive stance.

We crossed Parliament Square, back to Westminster Abbey for what would have been Evensong, but instead was a full church service to celebrate Ascension Day. Coincidentally, I also attended church last Ascension Day, while I was traveling in Paris and randomly was in Notre Dame Cathedral at the right place/time (only up early enough for the 8am service because of jet lag). My parents and I were excited about the opportunity to attend a service at Westminster Abbey and we assumed it would be in the section of the church that was the 'people's church' and not formally part of the Abbey itself. To our surprise, we actually got to sit in the quire itself, right behind the men and boys choir who sang during the service.

After the service, we went to L'Escargot for dinner, a French restaurant I discovered when Brea was visiting. From the wine list, we had the 2003 Les Tourelles de Longueville Bordeaux wine I originally tasted at Oxo Tower a few months ago. Here is a wine blogger's review of it. Tomorrow is another busy day of City bus tour and the Tower of London, so I'm off for just 6 hours sleep....

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Friday was a ridiculously early start to get on a tour bus with other Americans to see the city I live in. I am grateful to do touristy activities while I live here, at my leisure, but I get my fill rather quickly. We saw the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the latter half of the guard change at Buckingham Palace, and took a brief cruise down the Thames. All in all, a worthwhile morning, and our tour guide was good. After we all took 2 hour naps at home, we spent the end of the day and evening cooking dinner and watching Da Vinci Code for a quiet night in.

Saturday was a late start, and we just managed to see Borough Market, walk along the Thames, and walk around St. Paul's before coming home to change for dinner, and head out to an Italian restaurant in Chelsea.

Mom and Dad are now off to Edinburgh for a few days, while I get back to normal life at the office for the rest of the week. Then we take off for Paris and Slovenia for a 5 day trip over the bank holiday weekend.