Monday 28th July 2008

Day Fifteen - (Parliament), British Museum, Covent Garden

An easy trip up to London this morning and we were ready to get a look at the Houses of Parliament.  Today was Peru's National Day and our friends from Newton College gave us small Peruvian rosettes to wear and badges. After a short talk about the history we awaited our entry to the buidling designed by Augustus Pugin in the 1830s.  Then to our great disappointment we were informed that Houses of Parliament were had been closed due to flooding and would not re-open until further notice.  This was a real blow as we were looking forward to seeing inside.  Plenty of other disappointed groups were in evidence as we began to walk around Parliament Square.  The only comfort we had was the beautiful hot weather that shone down on London.

We walked to a park just on the Embankment and had an early lunch, then boarded the coaches for the short journey to the British Museum.  The Museum is world famous for its collections of all sorts of great antiquities.  The Greek and Roman galleries alone are worth spending some time looking at.  The Parthenon Marbles are quite a sight as is the Rosetta Stone, carved in 196 BC and containing writing in both Egyptian and Greek.  The Museum has a host of other galleries - too many to mention here!  It was great to be able to wander around and take in the beauty of the past.

After the museum we walked down to Covent Garden and there everyone was given some time to have a look at the shops and entertainment in what was once London's fruit and vegetable market.  Today the Garden is a vibrant and exciting destination for shoppers, diners or just those wanting to be entertained by the many street performers.  It was a good way to end the day after our earlier disappointment.  Back on campus after dinner we were shown some Peruvian dancing in order to celebrate the national day.