Day Six – Covent Garden and the Houses of Parliament
A new day dawned on ISCA, full of aspiration and anticipation as we set our sights on two of London’s gems – a tour of Parliament and an exploration of Covent Garden market. Ultimately, we were bedazzled by the marvels of both! At Covent Garden we watched the many different street artists and performers perfecting their mesmerizing tricks and sets and then we zig-zagged around the enticing trinket, craft and clothes stalls.
Smiling with joy at our new purchases, we then separated off into groups to have lunch in our favorite eating venues. whether it was Shake shack, Waggamamas, Nandos, Honest burgers, Untrustworthy Chickens?! All delicious!
Then it was off to Parliament via a scenic walk along the riverbank of the Thames, packed full of eager tourists soaking up the sun and the sights and sounds of this glorious city! En route we past World War II memorials like the bronzes depicting the heroes of the Battle of Britain in the skies above England and we stretched our eyebrows in awe at Cleopatra’s needle too.
Once inside Parliament we toured the Great Hall in the Palace of Westminster and saw where visitors like Obama and Mandela delivered important speeches. If that wasn’t enough we were soon inside the two chambers where the many new laws (Bills) are discussed, debated, decreed or rejected..in the House of Lords (the Peers) and the House of Commons (the current government and opposition MPs – Members of Parliament. We felt honored to be in those rooms and standing in the very footsteps of so many past greats- we the ISCA ‘would be politicians’ for that while! So a fun day ended back in the Great Hall where we started and unlike Charles I in 1649 we were all free to leave that great place of history and to live and laugh to fight another day on the Isca trail. Poor old Charles was not so lucky…Back at Cranleigh we had dinner and then listened to a great lecture on Shakespeare in preparation for our trip to Stratford on Tuesday!
Tom
