Friday the Pope came to London!

We spent Friday on the ‘Hop-On, Hop-Off’ bus, with several stops for more in-depth tourist behavior. We had lunch out, at the Hard Rock Café. Our original idea was to ride the bus around the city on one of the tours in the morning, and get off near ‘home’ for lunch. But, Pope Benedict is in town, and was scheduled to visit the Archbishop of Canterbury (Head of the Church of England) at Lambeth Palace, his home. Lambeth Palace is just about 100 yards from our condo and the streets were to be closed off. There were police with dogs, mounted police, police with machine guns and big crowds. So, we used this flimsy excuse for a meal out.



After lunch, we went to Notting Hill Gate for the famous Portobello Market. It was not as crowded as the last time we were here and there were not as many vendors in the streets. But, last time was on a Saturday and it was the weekend of Carnival, the Brazilian holiday. Then it was a zoo and today was very pleasant. We only visited a third of it, the antiques section, and passed on the produce section and the rest.



The only other place we visited was Covent Gardens market, a permanent crafts fair that we enjoy. It had a terrible fire shortly after we were last here and we wanted to see its resurrection. It actually looks the same, except that the merry-go-round is missing.



The bus stop nearest our condo is right in front of the Archbishop’s palace, so we got off two stops away and walked home. As we were walking by we noticed many demonstrators waving placards. We noticed three signs in particular. One read, “Where are our female deacons?” Another read, “No shortage of vocations, only of opportunities.” The last was a bit odd. It read, “Atheism is not Nazism”. OOPS, just GOOGLED it and the Pope said something earlier today linking the two. We did get a glimpse of the very top of the Popemobile as it left the palace.



Tomorrow we are off to Southampton and the Grand Princess. John is so happy, he will now be able to nap most days!

A quick word on the video and the picture. The picture is just filler, it is Big Ben, the famous landmark belltower. The video is of the kitchen sink faucet in the condo. The manager said 'it's just a bit loose, not to worry'. It is sooooo hard to use!!

Colleen & John