London, Too

Thursday was our day of touring London with a guide on our bus. I've been to many of the key places in London, so I was glad to get a tour that told more about the different areas of the city and how they are changing. The area where our hotel is located is known as the "Silicon Valley" area of London... so you can imagine the people we've seen commuting by foot to work around here. All young(ish). I won't go over all of the places we drove through... if you've been to London you know and if you haven't you can imagine.

We stopped at the Methodist Central Hall across from Westminster Abbey for a toilet break and hoping to see the inside. Unfortunately, the hall was booked for a conference and so all we did was have a coffee in the Wesley Cafe and use the toilet. This was one place I didn't get to go the last time I was in London, so I was happy to read a little more about it and go inside, even just for a minute. Central Hall was built to act not only as a church, but to be of "great service for conferences on religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic and social questions." It's good to see that it's doing just that... serving its community. I was also interested to know that the first general assembly of the United Nations was held in this very hall. Methodists really do have a global impact.

We did have a bit of excitement as we were approaching Buckingham Palace as something was clearly going on. Our tour guide said, "Someone important is leaving. You won't know who... there will just be a car and then a Land Rover with dark windows." Sure enough, two policemen on motorcycles went passed, then a car, then the Land Rover with dark windows, then another security detail in a van. Hmm. Well, we know it wasn't the Queen because she was out of town.

We continued our tour passed several monuments, through embassy areas, and through areas owned by the Russell family (don't know if there's any relation, but I guess it's possible way back there). Our next real stop was at St. Marylebone parish church to see the gravesite of Charles Wesley, his wife, and children. As we were pulling up to park beside the church, I looked out the window and what should appear but the Latvian flag! I looked again, consulted with Janis and Janis, and found that we had indeed parked right across the street from the Latvian Embassy!

It was good to spend the morning riding rather than walking, and we saw a good bit of London as well. Many parts I remembered walking when we were here for International Business Communications class at McMurry. It is much, much more congested these days... there is a lot of construction going on, as it seems that many of the regulations have been swept aside to allow the new to come in. I hate to see the old go, but I guess it's the price of progress. Many of the heaviest investors and largest property holders here are now from the Middle East.

Back at the hotel, we had a brief rest and time for lunch (chicken pesto panini from Cafe Arena) before heading back out on foot for our 2:30 appointment for a tour of the Wesley Chapel and John Wesley's home. We went through the museum, visited John Wesley's burial site, prayed together in the Foundry Chapel, learned about the larger Chapel area, and toured John Wesley's home. It was a wonderful visit, and I wish we'd had more time there. We closed the place down at 4 PM.

I had a nice final dinner with the Ernsts and Jacksons, and now have a headache... so not feeling much like expounding. I'll let the photos speak for themselves for now and hopefully will have something more profound to say tomorrow as we end our trip and head back home.