England

Flying into London, over the pole, flying in a big jetliner. Well not quite over the pole, just Greenland and Iceland

This is letting down into London. I took the picture, put away the phone, and what did we pass over? A big castle just on the final approach into Heathrow. Oh well.

Got off the plane, filled out my entry card, and cleared customs. The took a peek at the entry card the women next to me was filling out. Country of origin: Sudan, Profession: Financial Analyst. Of course.

Next stop, the Heathrow Express direct to Paddington Station.

A quick transfer to the District Line and I am off to the Sloane Square station and Linda.

I walk out of the underground and my phone beeps with a text from Linda, "Where are you?"

There is the hotel across the street!

Sloane Square is in a fancy part of Kensington, at the start of the King's Road shopping district and with a museum right on the square. That night Linda and I walk around, getting as far as Harrod's. Turns out we are in Harrod's the last evening that is owned by Mohamed al Fayed, (father of Dodi al Fayed, late of Princess Diana fame). Later that night the sale is finalized to the Quatari royal family for 1.5 billion pounds. There was a life sized wax works statue of al Fayed in the center of Harrod's. Highlight? The food court!

How fancy a part? Look what gets parked on the street. (Lamborghini in front, Bentley behind.)

But I am not a fancy car fan. I catch the first sight of one of the great cars that Europe has that we don't. The Fiat 500C.

(More on cars later.)

We picked an interesting time to be in London. The elections were held and the Tories were expected to trounce the ruling Labor Party. Instead neither party got a majority and so both parties were forced to seek a coalition with the upstart Liberal-Democrats. After 5 days and much drama the Tories did make common cause with the Liberal-Democrats. This newstand shot shows the diversity of the British press.

10 Downing Street is in a small half-block stub across from Parliment and on the backside of Whitehall. TV camera crews were all over and crowd was outside the gates to the streets. Bleachers were set up for the press inside Downing Street right in front of the famous doorway. There were also raised tents across the street from Parliment for the talking head interviews.

In photo: Talking heads debate future of the Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition.

We also toured Winston Churchill's WWII underground command center. It was also a museum of Churchill's career. He started out as a very progressive/radical politician, and got more conservative as time went on. We toured it on May 10th, the 70th anniversary of the day Winston became Prime Minister, May 10th, 1940.