Day 2 continued — Tour of Parliament and Pearl Jam

After we visited the British Museum on Friday, we had a tour of Parliament with Fiona Channon, the Deputy Yeoman Usher and Guardian of the Mace (one of the Crown Jewels) of the House of Lords. Fiona is the first woman ever to hold this position in the 700 year history of the House of Lords. We met her in Westminster Hall and she gave us a wonderful tour, starting with the Royal Entrance where the Queen enters Parliament for the Queen’s speech each year. Fiona told us that there are three colors of carpet in Parliament — blue, to indicate where the Queen walks, red, to indicate you’re in the House of Lords, and green, to indicate you’re in the House of Commons. Afterwards we were able to see Big Ben in all it’s renovated glory.

On Friday night, we went to see Pearl Jam in Hyde Park. I’m a bit jealous of my children in that this was their first concert. I think mine was Donny and Marie (they are much cooler than I was as a child). It was a great show. They opened with Better Man and closed the show with Rockin’ in the Free World with special guest, John McEnroe, on guitar. Since 1993, Josh has seen Pearl Jam about a dozen times and said this performance rated highly. Alexander’s only comment about the show was that it was very loud but he thoroughly enjoyed “theWing”, the funfair ride on the grounds that made me incredibly dizzy and gave me white knuckles. Xavier said that listening to Pearl Jam now that he’s seen them in concert is pretty cool.