Westminster by Gaslight

I picked up a London trip for the end of July.  It's so unbelievably hot in Texas that it makes going to work enjoyable because you get a break from the heat.  I finally conquered my fear of Position #4 on the 777 and am now an "experienced galley".  For some reason I have been afraid to fly this position for years and always traded out of it, but I guess some new found confidence made me ready to give it a try and of course I was exceptional at it.  I guess now that I am in year 14 of my flying career, nothing scares me anymore (except germs).

My friends Maureen (Mo) and Nancy were on the trip with me.  Nancy and I had been saying for a while that we wanted to do one of the London Walks the next time we flew together.  I brought the brochure along and on the flight over we decided to give the "Westminster by Gaslight" tour a try.  Mo decided it was interesting and came along as well.

Westminster is one of the oldest parts of London and sits on the north bank of the Thames.  Westminster got it's name for being the minster, or monastery church, west of the city, since the first big structure to be built was the Abbey, where the monks lived.  The area has been the seat of English government for over 1,000 years.  

With the London Walks tours, you just show up and the appointed time and pay your 8 pounds to the guide and you get to join the group.  We had a pretty well sized group for our tour.  

Our guide's name was Fedra and she had a real dry sense of humor which added a unique twist to everything.  She started off giving us a bit of background about Westminster and Parliament.  She was very knowledgeable and even pointed out real unique details about the intricacies of the buildings.  I loved her sarcastic comments.  At one point, some folks had to leave the tour and apologized for departing early and her response was "Don't worry, I am sure it is nothing that 20 years of therapy can't fix"..... I love the sharp and witty English folks!

The neighborhoods making up Westminster are unique because they still use gaslights for street lighting in the evening.  Now they are turned on automatically versus the olden days when a man had to walk around and manually light each one.

The flats in the area go back to the early Victorian era.  Several of the houses are marked for their famous inhabitants.  T.E. Lawrence AKA "Lawrence of Arabia" wrote his book here, but lost the manuscript and had to start all over.  We learned that when he had writer's block he liked to be "entertained" by discreet gentlemen (escorts).... those Victorians were so so seedy.

I really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood.  If I could live in London (my favorite city in the whole wide world), this is how I would want to do it....  I can only imagine the prices!

What I found interesting was that we were just off the Abbey and a bustling part of the city, and yet the neighborhood was so quiet.

A lot of the buildings now are home to MP's (Member's of Parliament) as well as their various political parties.  We passed the offices of the Liberal Democrats (which is a strange title seeing that they really aren't all that liberal in our sense of the word.... the real liberal party here is the Labour Party).

During WWII, when London was facing bombardment from the German air raids, underground shelters were opened up.  Most people went to the Tube Stations, but anyone with an external basement was legally required to make it available so that if anyone was caught out in the open last minute, they could run to a safe place.  Some of the shelter signs are still here, over 65 years later.

We finished the tour back where we started, near Big Ben (the name of the bell, not the clock).  It was a pleasant evening for tour and we learned quite a bit about the area.  It's always nice to visit a new part of city.

We finished the night up with Indian food and good beer and conversation!  I was on the late trip, which doesn't pick up until 1pm so I had the whole next morning to go out and run some errands.  I discovered the summer flavor for my Original Source shower gel, Golden Pineapple and also managed to grab up the last few bottles of the Winter flavor, Black Pepper and Cardamon.  I also found book #3 in the Corduroy Mansion series by Alexander McCall Smith.  Ladyfriend and I are hooked and book #3 is out in the UK, but not back home.

I am looking forward to my trip later in August when I have another 2 day layover.  I plan to see a play with some co-workers and then spend the second day with my college friend Amanda and her little girl.  We are hoping to go see the White Cliffs of Dover!