Final days in London... and Goodbye

Although there are a wide variety of sites to visit in London, my dad was eager to spend as much time at the museums as possible. As dad puts it, "The British roamed the world and pillaged all the best artifacts, put everything into museums in London, and I want to see them." I told him that the brain can only absorb a certain amount of information and he would get tired of exploring museums but he adamantly denied that this would happen to him. By the end of a couple of days he admitted that he was "museumed-out".

Dad left bright and early one morning, claiming that he wanted to reach the British Museum when it opened. When we met up with him later in the day we asked what time he arrived at the museum and he grinned sheepishly and said, "Oh, somewhere between ten and eleven." We gasped and asked if he got lost trying to walk to the train station. He said he tried taking another route and saw some guys fishing so he stopped to take a look in the stream and talk to the fishermen and it added a lot of extra time to his travel time. That's what vacations are for! Do whatever you want whenever you want and just relax and enjoy the moments and the surprises around each corner.

While dad was at the museum - I mean, chatting with fishermen - mom and I attended the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Does anyone know why this is always on the list of things a person must do while visiting London? No offence to the soldiers (they didn't design the ceremony), but it must be the most boring spectacle I've ever witnessed. If I were to write a tour book about London, attending the Changing of the Guard definitely wouldn't be on the must-see list.


I found it much more entertaining to watch one of the special guests watching the ceremony from the courtyard. See the girl in the white jacket on the left in the photo below? Notice her short, flimsy skirt? It was windy and she spent the entire ceremony checking her hemline and holding her skirt down against the wind. Me and the girl next to me ended up chatting about this spectacle and were quite amused by the young woman's choice of attire. It may have been a warm summer day, but for some reason it doesn't seem appropriate to wear a skirt exposing your upper thighs when visiting Buckingham Palace.

Windy days and short skirts aren't a good combination.

Mom and I met up with dad at the British Museum in the afternoon. I visited the extensive mummy exhibit as I was extremely fascinated by the Egyptian mummification process when I studied it in school.

Animal mummification.

Images of scarab beetles were everywhere.
I've seen the movie The Mummy and now scarabs make my skin crawl.

A panel of sculpture from the Parthenon.

A man sketching a sculpture.

Marble sculpture from about 350 BC.

Limestone falcon from about 600 BC.

The Rosetta Stone.

The Rosetta Stone - created in 196 BC.

Another museum we visited was the Museum of Natural History.

We were impressed with this set of antlers.
The hunter in us is jealous.

The dinosaur exhibit was interesting, but this robotic T-Rex was more comical than frightening.

Check out this video for a truly scary clip of the T-Rex.

Told you it was scary... you're shaking now, aren't you?

I was quite excited to see this stuffed Panda Bear - the closest I've come to seeing the real thing. It did look a little sad, but I still had to get a picture taken with it.

We visited Harrod's department store and our jaws dropped at the ridiculous spectacle. The jewelry and clothing were impressive, but it was the food area that really had us in awe. We didn't even explore the whole store.

Avocado with Lobster: lobster, avocado, smoked salmon, cheese, Russian salad, and aspic
£15.95 each
Yes, they're serious, and people shop here for real.

Pastries, cakes, and chocolates.

Chocolates.

Seafood display.
There are restaurants in each area and you can purchase your seafood of choice and they'll cook it for you right away.

We purchased sandwiches (one of the few things priced reasonably) and went for a walk to find a park and eat our picnic dinner. The sandwiches were a big disappointment, but hey - we wandered through town carrying bags from Harrod's so we felt a little bit posh.

We caught the tube back to Waterloo Station, retrieved our luggage, and parted ways - me to return to Basingstoke and mom and dad to take a final tube trip to reach their hotel near Heathrow in preparation for their flight back to Canada tomorrow morning. I hugged my parents and had a good cry. It's odd to think I really don't know when I'll see them again - I might see them in a few months if I don't find a job, but if I find employment in England then I may not see them for more than a year. I don't like saying goodbye. We stood in a tearful huddle as dad prayed before I went through the gate and caught my train home. Well, my home for now anyway.

When I got on the train I turned on my iPod with tears still occasionally streaming down my face. It's at moments like these that I wonder if I'm crazy to be living over here. Crazy to have left everything familiar. Crazy to step out in such an unexpected way to force myself to learn to trust God for each moment.

The first song that came on my iPod was by MercyMe, a song called Where You Lead Me, and I listened to the following lyrics:

What is life?
A thousand roads, a thousand ways
Why am I so afraid to move
I crossed the line
I'm stepping out so come what may
I give it all cause I'm drawn to You

As long as my heart is beating...
Where You lead me I will follow
Where You lead me I give my life away
Where You lead me I will follow
Forever and a day
Forever and a day

I can't deny Your very presence is my life
And why would I ever turn away
Cause deep inside I know that I cannot rely
On anything less than faith

As long as my heart is beating...
Where You lead me I will follow
Where You lead me I give my life away
Where You lead me I will follow
Forever and a day

This is all I'm dreaming of
To live completely in Your love

So this is life

Where You lead me I give my life away
Where You lead me I will follow
Forever and a day