Southwark, Tower, Parliament, Borough Market

Yikes! Sorry for the hiatus. I think it's safe to assume that if there is a long period of time in which I don't write, I'm very busy. Such was the case this past week.

This weekend involved very early day trips around London. Friday morning I woke up at around 7am and went down to the Thames to meet my history class for a morning walking tour of Southwark, the area on the south side of the river where a lot of the theatres (including the Globe) are located. The most summary thing I can tell you about Southwark is that it was, and in some ways continues to be, the "bohemian" part of London; back in the day, the brothels and theatres set up shop there, and there seemed to be a kind of coexistence between the government proper on the north side of the river and the artists/vagabonds that ran things on the south side.

After lunch in a pub called The Old King's Head, we walked over the bridge to the Tower of London. Originally, it was a palace called Whitehall. Henry VIII relocated there from Westminster Palace. It's said to be one of the most secure palaces. In the fortress, I saw the chapel, where Anne Boleyn is buried, as well as an exhibit called "Dressed to Kill", which displayed a huge collection of Henry VIII's armor. It was funny to see his progression from fat to fatter as the years went on. Of course, I saw the crown jewels. They were... sparkly. One of the scepters has set in it the largest diamond in the world. I believe it's called the First Star of Africa. Seriously, it was the size of an egg. I suppose what I took away from this experience is just the level of tradition inherent in the British government. I was trying to imagine Obama (or any U.S. president for that matter) being coronated. There is so much symbolism. For example, the display showed film footage of Elizabeth II being coronated in the 1950s, and it's so interesting to listen to what all these people are saying to her as they're handing her orbs and scepters and mantles and swords... "Protect the Empire"... it was kind of a trip.

Saturday was another early start. We all met at Parliament to go on a walking tour. Very informative and very interesting. I saw the chamber of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and again thought it was telling that the tour guide commanded us "not to sit down" in either chamber. As we are not elected officials, it would not do for us to sit in their places. I did find it interesting that the term "lobby" developed here: any British citizen can walk into the lobby of Parliament and request, in writing, for their representative in Parliament to speak to them about any matter. If that MP is in the building, he or she must come to the lobby and speak to their constituent. Imagine trying to do that in Washington!

After the tour ended, I headed south of the river again to explore the Borough Market. This market is open Thursday through Saturday and features miles of food, clothing and knickknack vendors. I was hungry, so decided to sample some British fare. I purchased a pork pie, and quickly realized my mistake. Imagine a cold hunk of porkchop wrapped in a sticky puff pastry. After checking out some of the free samples (these included sheep's milk cheese, pate, garlic pesto, white and black truffle oil, and a lot of Spanish chorizo), I stumbled upon a kangaroo and ostrich burger stand. Having tried a bite of a friend's ostrich burger once before, I decided upon the kangaroo burger, slathered with homemade mustard and other trimmings. It was really delicious, although one of my vegetarian flatmates took offense when I told her, because apparently kangaroos are really intelligent animals. I told her everyone should try everything once. She disagreed.