Buried relatives in Westminster and seeing Cameron in Parliament

Last day in London today! Such a bummer to think we are almost done with our vacation. Had a fabulous ending to it all, though.

First, we walked to Westminster Abbey where a cousin of my great grandmother is buried. It was the strongest thing as there are many hundreds of people buried or memorialized there. It was fantastic to see Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Then as I wandered in the Poet's Corner, I remembered my mother and other relatives telling us that we had a distant relative buried at the Abbey....a Henry Irving. As I wondered if I should ask a guide if they knew who he was, I looked down and saw that I was standing right on the name, "Sir Henry Irving- Actor and Manager" How weird is that! that was definitely one of those times that send chills down the spine! No pictures are allowed, but I snapped a pic with my camera. I definitely need to research him. He was a Shakespearean actor and somehow or other was friendly with Dickens. According to family story, he visited Portland in the late 1860's and visited my great grandmother's mother whose maiden name was Mary Irving. It was somehow in connection with a visit by Dickens to the US. Very cool!

We had a great lunch in the Methodist Centre across from the Abbey then wandered down to Parliament. We knew Cameron was meeting with the House of Commons at 3:30 and manged to get tickets to be admitted to the House Gallery. As it turned out, we were able to get into the Gallery and we saw Cameron arguing his position on stiffing the EU live and in person! This was definitely the best, best thing that has happened in the whole trip! Imagine being present for a critical argument in a period of history critical to the continuing existence of the European Union, critical to the state of the world's economy! It took my breath away. We sat and absorbed it all for an good hour and a half. We didn't leave until they were, long after 5 pm. I am still in heaven for being able to see Parliament in action. This is where modern democracy got its start. This is where so many important historic politicalevents happened. You have to be a political junky like me to get it!

So.....on that high note, I pack my bags and look forward to returning home to my Dad and my cat and my bird. Caterina is looking forward to being home and doing nothing for a couple of weeks. She misses Pineapple and Gingerbread.

So.......homeward bound we are!