Day 2: Mrs. Dalloway Walk

Today was another very busy day here in England.  We started out following the path of Mrs. Dalloway. We walked the winding streets of Westminster where we visited the Dean's Yard and saw the boys from the choir school playing "football". Everyone thought they looked adorable in their suits but not as classy as their high school counterparts.  The original plan was to go inside the Westminster Abbey, but the line was practically wrapped around the building so we decided to skip it. From here we walked down Victoria and saw a statue that perfectly embodied the spirit of Mrs. Dalloway: a woman's face with flowers bursting out of her head (according to us she only thought about flowers and parties and stopped at Subway and Starbucks on her walks).  The next stop was St. James park which was full of yellow-capped school children taking a tour. The view of Buckingham Palace was supposed to be wonderful from the bridge, but unfortunately the building was covered in scaffolding in preparation for the Games and the Jubilee.  From here we followed Malboro St. to Picadilly, which apparently used to be full of gentlemen's clubs. Green Park was next on the tour where we stopped an admired the Bird Cage Walk. (I conjecture that she liked to walk here because of the paradox of being free and yet being in cage at the same time).   In the distance we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham and I gave a smashing reenactment if I do say so myself. We also walked by Queen Anne's Gate and got buffeted by the Oxford Street "tide". To finish off our day a visit to Regent's Park and the British Library gave us a grand finale. The British Library was full of treasures like the Hyde Park Gate News, Woolf's notebook for The Hours,  Jk Rowling manuscripts, the Alice's Adventures that were given to Alice Lodell, Wordsworth, Beehtoven's music, To the Lighthouse and so much more. The Wastelands to Wonderlands exhibit was a great way to end another great day.