England observations - Tuesday afternoon

It's Tuesday, our 4th day in London. A few observations after being in a foreign country:

-While usually considered a hub of progressive music, London establishments seem to play only music that was recorded in 1985 or before. Examples: Sunday night dinner at "The Princess of Wales" restaurant - Dionne Warwick's Greatest Hits. Sunday night at Piccadilly Circus souvenir shop - Beat It by Michael Jackson. Last night, walking past a middle-eastern restaurant near Wembley - Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. This morning, at breakfast at our hotel - The Boys of SUmmer by Don Henley. I'm not complaining as I love all of these songs and will lip-synch or sing them aloud to Dan whenever I get the chance. Dan is the one suffering. Right now, as I write this in Starbucks - Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics.

-When they say that London is rainy, that really doesn't explain the extremely sudden cloudbursts you get - even though it's perfectly bright and sunny outside. Dan and I got drenched yesterday watching the Changing of the Guard in a mob of tourists. Naturally, the rain stopped as soon as the ceremony was over. Which leads me to..

-the Tourists. Yes, we belong to this group, but I've never been in such multi-cultural mobs as we've experienced here. Today, we went to the Tower of London for a marathon 3+ hour visit, followed by a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. The Tower was something we had to experience and Dan and I both enjoyed it. Same thing for St. Paul's. However, both of these places have lots of very narrow passageways and staircases. IF you get stuck behind a group of, say, French schoolchildren or an elderly tour group, you're a goner. I keep thinking of my mom, who gets claustrophobic in crowds, and even though it comes with the territory of being a tourist, I can't help but think that this would be her worst nightmare.

We didn't post anything last night because we got back from the Pearl Jam concert so late. I'm sure we'll post more of the concert photos (and videos) once we upload them all. Note to Dad - I survived the concert, no need to worry. Dan and I were both tired this morning, but wanted to get to the Tower early, and it was worth it. One of the funniest things at the Tower of London was how tourists were permitted to view the Crown Jewels. After a series of short films showing the Queen's coronation, up-close views of the royal scepter, royal punchbowl, etc...you're ushered into a long, narrow room with the crown jewels in cases in the center of the room. On either side of the cases are "moving sidewalks" like those at CVG. Dan took one look at the moving sidewalks and exclaimed, "this is the best idea I've ever seen!" In retrospect, it's still cracking me up that the experience of viewing the Crown Jewels was so assembly-line-ish. I have literally been dying to see the Crown Jewels since I was 10 years old, so I had imagined it as a much more reverent experience. Seeing the Crown Jewels was over much too fast, so once I jumped off the conveyor belt at one end, I ran back around to the start and I rode the other side a la the Racer. Now that I think about it, Dan and I should have started on either sides of the cases and raced to the end. Opportunity lost.

Tomorrow, we'll probably hit Westminster Abbey and the British Museum. These past days have been verrrrry long days of walking and Griswold-ian sightseeing, but it's great. We wouldn't have it any other way. So much to see here and we're loving every minute of it.

Post-script: TWO Seed shout-outs to Gretchen and Rad - I took a photo of Wakefield Tower this morning with my phone, but it apparently didn't go through. Will try to re-send it. After our visit to the Tower of London, we were famished. We went to Wagamama, where I finished an appetizer and an entire plate of Yaki Soba. Hope all is well back at the ranch!