God Save the King! 

Blimey! These bloody Limeys are driving on the wrong side of the road!

Actually, after 3 days in London, when I got to Paris where they drive on the right side of the road, I was stuck in the habit of looking to the wrong side of the road when crossing the street! Thanks, Brits!

The plague of cities the world over. Oh, sure, they may look harmless, but within that feathery busom dwells the heart of a cold-blooded killer. 

More pigeons! 

Ever seen Hitchcock's movie "The Birds"? 

I knew introducing kudzu to England was a bad idea!

Note: Picasa reshuffled my pictures, so the next 8 or so are out of order. They should come after the Victoria Park segment that follows. I'll rearrange them if I can figure out how to later.

Ah, Parliament. Having nothing better to do until 2:00, I decided to go in to hear a live session of the House of Commons. The guidebook said that Wednesdays from noon until 2:30 the prime minister gets grilled by fellow MPs (members of parliament) in a brutal practice innocently termed "Question Time." Unfortunately, my good friend Tony was no where to be seen and that firebrand George Galloway was testifying before Congress in Washington, so there were only about 15 MPs in the chamber making speeches. Still mildly interesting.

Big Ben. What else is there to say? 

When you said, "We'll fight them on the beaches, we'll fight them in the streets," I thought that was just for dramatic effect, Winston. Yes, here he is, ladies and gentlemen, the great Winston Churchill, Britain's greatest prime minister and probably the greatest man of the 20th century. From his perch here in Parliament Square, he still looks after the city of London.

In the distance behind him, I see another familiar face. No, it can't be....

Why, it's Honest Abe! How'd you get here on Parliament Square with Churchill and other respected Englishmen, ol' friend? The British have great respect for Lincoln because he freed the slaves. The upper classes sympathized with the South in the American Civil War, and the main reason Britain didn't enter the war on the South's side or recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation is because the lower and middle classes in Britain were passionately anti-slavery.

The statue in the central nook at Westminster Abbey is vaguely reminiscent of The Fellowship of the Ring. Can you also find a king, a queen, a pope, a small child, and someone who looks like the Grim Reaper? Who says architecture isn't fun?

On this side of Westminster Abbey, in the niches are a bunch of 20th century martyrs. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are supposed to be up there but I couldn't identify them. 

The outside of St. Margaret's in the center, Westminster on the right, the spires of Parliament visible in the distance behind St. Margaret's next to the tree on the right, Big Ben partially hidden by the tree on the left. They really cram the historical stuff close together for the benefit of the tourists, don't they? Note also the perfect weather London is famous for.

This is the outside of St. Margaret's Church, the official church of Parliament. Note how the church is very.... um.... Romanesque. Yeah, right, that's it! You can see how much I learned in AP Art History!

Welcome to Victoria Park. 

Victoria Park, where I ate my lunch on my first day in London, just killing time until 2:00. (The lunch was a tasty pre-packaged cheese and onion sandwhich; British cuisine is weird.) You can see Parliament in the distance and a strange conical structure in the foreground. Let's get a better look, shall we?  

Believe it or not, this bizarre comical-looking structure that one might think was designed by a 5 year old girl, actually commemorates the abolition of slavery in the U.K. Go figure! 

See? 

I was amazed at how close you could get to the Parliament building. No guards or fences until you're about 15 feet from the wall on the Victoria Garden side. What would stop a terrorist from detonating a car bomb 15 feet from Parliament? That would cause some serious damage. Oh, well, hopefully the snipers on the roof would take them out first. 

I can't remember who these statues are of. Nice shot, anyway. 

View of Parliament from Victoria Park. 

A plaque at Victoria Park, right next to Parliment. 

The statue that goes with the plaque. Interesting how the British have such a public monument for a woman. You won't find any women on our National Mall, no sirree!

A sentry standing guard outside Parliament. 

Geriatric protesters were demonstrating for better government pension benefits outside St. Margaret's, across the street from Parliament. One old lady stopped me for a minute and tried to get me sign a petition. When I told her I was from the U.S., she tut-tutted. "Poor thing. Your pension system is worse off than ours." Thinking about Bush's Social Security privitization plan, I can't help but think she's right.