While my parents were here, I was able to spend a lot of time with them, in spite of working a full week at school. They arrived on July 10, and on the following afternoon (a Friday), we went to the Tower of London. Our Beefeater guide had a good sense of humor, and tried to make light of the fact that he is single. All of the Beefeaters have at least 20 years military service, and live within the Tower walls with their families. Our guide had served in a psychological warfare unit, so he seemed especially eager to mess with our heads. Inside the Tower complex, the Crown Jewels are housed, as well as the armory museum, which displays guns and cannon and the armor of some of the kings. Henry VIII's armor was so big, it must have taken a Clydesdale to carry him.

The next day, we went on a tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Salisbury Cathedral. William the Conqueror built a defensive ring of castles around London in the 1100s, and Windsor Castle is the only surviving castle from this group. Queen Elizabeth II prefers to spend weekends at Windsor Castle, referring to it as her “home” and to Buckingham Palace as her “office.” You can tell if the Queen is in a royal residence by the colors of the flag. If the Union Jack is flying, she is not there; if the flag has any yellow in it, perhaps indicating a royal coat of arms, she is there. On the day we were there, being a Saturday, the queen was present at the castle. Once we got into the castle, my parents and I headed for the State Apartments, where the Queen usually hosts foreign heads of state and other dignitaries. We only made it through 2 rooms before the fire alarm went off; we had to evacuate that part of the castle, and were unable to return due to the time constraints of our tour. We were still able to tour St. George’s Chapel and see the Changing of the Windsor Guard.

After we left Windsor Castle, the tour proceeded to Stonehenge. Although a light rain began to fall while we were there, both my father and I were able to get plenty of photos. As the last stop of our tour, we went to Salisbury Cathedral. According to Wikipedia, the first stone was laid in 1220, and main portions of the cathedral were completed in 38 years, a remarkable feat for that period in history. The tower and spire, which at 404 feet is still the tallest in the U.K., were completed in 1320, adding a weight in excess of 6,000 tons to the building. Additional buttresses and inverted arches were installed over the next few centuries to prevent the tower from collapsing. Aside from the spire, the cathedral also contains the world’s oldest working clock, dating from 1365, and its chapter house displays one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta.

On Sunday, we went to the National Gallery, off of Trafalgar Square, where the statue of Lord Nelson looks rather diminutive atop the 100-foot colonnade. The National Gallery houses works from many famous artists, from the early Renaissance to the 20th century. I think my favorite painting was “Belshazzar’s Feast” by Rembrandt, ca. 1635. This painting depicts the hand writing on the wall, and Belshazzar’s alarm. On Tuesday, we saw a production of Les Miserables, which was the first professional musical I had seen since I was a child. Having sung the music years ago in youth choir, I had some recollection of the major songs. Having once attempted, but failed, sometime around the sixth grade, to read an unabridged version of the classic novel, I knew very little about the plot save that Jean Valjean was an escaped con who took Cosette into his care and was constantly on the run from the egocentric Inspector Javert. Although, due to both time and budgetary constraints, this may be the only musical I attend while in London, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.