[LONDON LIGHTS 1984] DAY 3

August 2, 1984 - Day 3

Today we woke up to another glorious day, and according to our itinerary, it was the day of our London city tour. We went down to breakfast, and the young Filipina server added an extra slab of bacon on our plates, just because we were both from back home and "nice people." I was a bit puzzled at that, until I realized that some of the folks from home tend to treat our overseas foreign workers as second-class citizens. You know, "I can afford to travel at leisure, and you're just a waitress."

Hunh. If some of those folks stopped to think that the "waitress" is earning something like Php 50 for every British pound in her salary (and could therefore afford to shop in Rustan's if she wasn't sending the money home to finance her siblings' education and build a house for the family), maybe they'd act with some common decency. Or maybe not -- common decency, like common sense, is quite uncommon these days. Traveling experience has taught me that the basics of good manners -- "Please", "Thank you", "Excuse me", and "I'm sorry" go a very long way in terms of service.

Now, that bacon...British bacon is nothing at all like our paper-thin slices that fry up into crispy strips that burn if you remove your eyes from the pan for so much as a moment. The bacon at the Royal National is about 3mm thick, solid meat, all the fat towards the edge. I felt full just looking at it! And there were *two* of those monsters sitting on my plate, plus a small hill of scrambled eggs and hash browns on the side. Cholesterol up the wazoo, and delicious to the last bite.

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The assembly point for the tour was at the hotel lobby, where other people taking different tours with the same company were gathered. A shuttle minibus collected us and dropped us off at Marble Arch, where we were sorted into different transports -- Ma and I wound up on a double-deck red bus, one of the things that reminds you that you are really in London.

From Marble Arch, we went past Hyde Park, from which one could see the Albert Memorial, this intriguing structure of marble and stone, which was built to commemorate the life of Albert, the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria. We had Speaker's Corner pointed out to us; how very fascinating to have a place for the average citizen to literally get on a soapbox and rant about whatever his passion of the moment may be. The only rules that apply, as I recall, have to do with not speaking treason against the Crown, and not defaming other people.

Across the way from the Albert Memorial is the Albert Hall. It's a circular concert hall, and is famous for its concert series called the "Proms". Then we were whisked past the Houses of Parliament, which was in the middle of being cleaned of accumulated grime. I'd always thought the stone was a natural gray color, but it turns out that it's actually a shade of golden beige. Surely the sight of the morning sun on a newly cleaned Parliament Building is something to lighten the spirit. This is where I learned that Big Ben is not the clock tower, but the bell inside the clock tower.

Westminster Abbey was our next stop, and most of it had already been cleaned, the stone warm and welcoming in the sudden shade of the day. St. Paul's Cathedral followed, equally beautiful and impressive, but less intimidating than the Gothic architecture of the Abbey. The former makes you crane your head to look at the sights, the latter invites you to sit down and contemplate the mysteries of life.

The Tower of London next. Awesome. Imagining the historical figures who walked through those forbidding gates -- and whose ghosts may still take a look around at night -- is enough to make a person pause in their steps. By contrast, Trafalgar Square, while full of its own historical associations, is brimming over with life, and not just because of the flocks of pigeons that keep Lord Nelson's statue company all day. The Square sits in one of the busiest areas of London, with people coming and going, and vehicles using the rotonda to get from one street to another.

Into the very heart of London, or "The City", the area enclosed by the original boundaries of ancient Londinium. Here we find the financial institutions that were the foundation of the Empire's fortunes, where money from "trade" (which the aristocracy thought as somewhat beneath them) helped to sustain business and created a prosperous middle class, whose daughters married into the aristocracy, their dowries helping to prop up old and ancient names.

We passed the Horse Guards at their Whitehall residence, then the bus swung back onto Oxford Street. I was literally bouncing in my seat as I spotted names familiar to me from reading any number of books about London: Marks and Spencer (carried in Manila's most elite shopping establishment), Selfridges, and British Home Stores. Taking a closer look, it seemed that the Bally stores were having their sales right on the sidewalks in front of their stores...lots and lots of shoes!

Finally, the tour bus returned to Marble Arch, and it was up to us to find our own way back. We took another bus to Euston Station, and ended up walking two blocks down to the hotel. I am breaking in my new shoes with a vengeance, and they seem to be breaking in my feet in the process. Ouch!