Leaving London

I am sitting here in my hotel in London and I realized that I haven't sent an update in a while and that it might be a while before I can again. I leave for Kosovo at 4am the day after tomorrow, so I only have one more day here in London. It is amazing how fast time can go, and yet going home is still so far off. Ireland was absolutely amazing. I saw so much, and I can't wait to show all of you my pictures. London has been pretty cool, too, but I wish we had more time to see everything. Today I watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace- which was actually pretty boring until the end when the marching band played the theme from the A-Team for some random reason (that's ok, I like random). After that, we went to Apsley House, which has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since the first one (who fought Napoleon at Waterloo). Now, part of the house is a museum. We saw a whole bunch of the first Duke of Wellington's war trophies , and even the sword that Wellington used during the Battle of Waterloo. It seemed there was more of Napoleon at Wellington's house than there was of Wellington. In one room, there was a whole bunch of sets of china that were given to the first duke or that he claimed as trophies after defeating Napoleon- including the set of china that Napoleon offered as a gift to Josephine when they divorced (she refused it). In addition to being one of the greatest military minds Britain has ever produced, the first Duke of Wellington was apparently a huge art collector, so the entire house is filled with paintings, which was pretty awesome to see. Later, we (my daughter Libby is with me) got on a random bus and actually found our way to the British Museum where I got to see the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles (the carvings and statues that used to encircle the top of the Parthenon). We didn't get a chance to see much of anything else because the museum was closing. But I think that I will have to come back to London for the sole purpose of seeing everything in the British Museum.



I have to mention that a highlight of my trip to London was the evening I spent with Breck Alum Susan Hill ("07). Susan took me to an amazing Indian restaurant, and we spent the evening reminiscing about Breck, and talking about her exciting Business Internship in London offered by Washington University in St. Louis.



London was also a place for the politically minded person during the time I was there. Great Britain held elections and voted Gordon Brown out of office, David Cameron was voted in as the new Prime Minister, however, Nick Clegg, a Liberal Democrat earned enough votes to hang the Parliament, leading to a new coalition government.

Also, people protesting the ongoing genocide in The Democratic Repuplic of Congo staged a demonstration outside of the United States Embassy.


A large protest was held just outside Parliament causing the streets to be closed, and buses to be re-routed. The topic of the protest was unfocused, and people showed up to protest everything from Great Britain's Foreign Policy, to corruption in banking and government.


Overall, the London leg of this trip has been far too short, but at least I will get to spend 4 more days here when my month in Kosovo is over. But for now, I have to sleep. I will be writing you from Kosovo soon.