The title of this post is taken from my favorite Taylor Swift song of the same name from her latest album, Speak Now. Not only does the song's title appropriately evoke December since we are currently in the final days of that month, but it also evokes a universal story and theme that particularly resonates with me as this year draws to a close. Although "Back to December" addresses a male significant other in the wake of a breakup, as portrayed in Taylor Swift's video for the song, the lyrics can be applied to any kind of friendship or close relationship, and expresses the hopelessly wretched feeling of wishing one could take something back that seems irreversible:
"...Your guard is up and I know why -- So this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you, saying I'm sorry for that night... And I'd go back to December, turn around, and make it alright -- I go back to December all the time.
These days, I haven't been sleeping, staying up, playing back myself leaving -- And I think about summer, all the beautiful times, I watched you laughing from the passenger's side... I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't -- So if the chain is on your door, I understand..."
The lyrics of the song also convey the importance of appreciating those close to us whom we could easily take for granted, and of "speaking" (the theme that threads the songs of the album) that appreciation to our loved ones, as Taylor Swift demonstrates in her video for the song when she drafts her "poem of apology" which she slips into the boy's jacket pocket. The video also effectively depicts the desolation of the speaker's feelings through the December snow blowing into the house -- notably from outside the bedroom WINDOW -- and through the boy being left "out in the cold", so to speak:
"BACK TO DECEMBER" VIDEO -- TAYLOR SWIFT
Finally, the sentiment expressed in the song of desperately wishing one could go back and change things, or make things right, or do things over, particularly resonates at the end of a year or at the beginning of a new one when the so-called "resolutions" are made. Such "resolutions" can all too soon be forgotten, or broken unless consciously scribbled in a notebook, as Taylor Swift shows us in the video.
So, to all my dear family and friends that read this blog post: here is my conscious scribbling of the resolution to "speak" my appreciation and gratitude for you and to you in the coming year, or as Taylor Swift puts it, to "go back to December all the time."
I am often reminded -- by strangers and friends alike -- how small I am, and how young I look.
Two and a half years ago, when I visited Emily Dickinson's Homestead in Amherst, Massachussetts during a week-long writing retreat, the tour guide at the homestead singled me out to illustrate to the rest of the tourists, how tall -- or more accurately -- how small Emily Dickinson really was, standing under 5 feet, and fitting into a child's size lace housedress that she wore daily until her death at age 56.
More recently, upon my return from England two months ago, I visited two doctors in one day -- visits that left me feeling quite "otherworldly" when they were through, half because of what was taken from me during the first appointment, and half because of what was said to me during the second, as I reflect in my Facebook status later that evening:
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This morning, I felt Edward Cullen's presence as the doctor took 6 viles of my blood for tests...and then felt Frodo Baggin's presence when, a couple hours later, another doctor told me, "Your just tiny all over!" What world am I in, praytell?
Immediately picking up on my Frodo Baggin's reference, a friend commented onmy status:
You're not a hobbit trust me..You must be a fairy princess :-)
I replied:
...Just like in the John Keats movie BRIGHT STAR, when Fanny Brawne (small girl that she was) tells Keats about the Fairy Princess engraved on the wall in the room that they share, and he responds: "Is the Fairy Princess you?" Have you seen that film??
BRIGHT STAR TRAILERS:
U.S. Trailer
European Trailer
Bright Star "Fairy Princess" Clip
Still, the Frodo Baggins' Hobbit reference inevitably returned on several occasions...
Around this time, Elijah Wood, the young-looking, diminuitive actor who played Frodo in The Lord of the Rings films, gave several late-night interviews, first to Craig Ferguson during which they mostly converse about places they've been, even engaging in humorous banter about visiting Florida:
Craig: Have you been to Florida? Elijah: Uh, I have, yeah. Craig: What's your favorite part of Florida? The tip? Elijah: The...airport...
(laughter) ... I'm not a big Florida fan. Craig: Really? You don't like the warm weather & old people? Elijah: Uh, you know what? I've not spent enough time there...I've never been to Miami & I've never been to South Beach, so I think those are super...
Craig: Oh, great...
Elijah Interview with Craig Ferguson
So, I lamented:
"OH GREAT, FOR SURE!!! I think all hopes I had for him are now officially dashed :( And I so wanted to have a chance to become, in essence, Natalie(a) *Wood*..."
The second interview Elijah gave added a ring of truth to our jokes about me being his female match since the actor barely has time to get comfortable in his chair before Conan O'Brien launches into the subject of Elijah's apparent inability to age:
Conan:You do not age...and for a while it seemed kind of cool -- now it's just getting scary to me. Elijah: (laughing) Conan: (To audience) Have you noticed that this man does not age at all? (Audience Applause)
Elijah, seemingly used to such remarks, self-deprecatingly goes along with Conan's observations, and evokes two other literary characters that he was never cast to play -- Dorian Grey and Edward Cullen (the 108-year-old vampire that is physically frozen at 17, the age he "changed"):
Elijah: It's weird...I'm like...I'm 30, Conan. ... Conan: You're 30? Elijah: I'm 30! Conan: Wow. Elijah: I freak people out constantly about this. I look like I'm 18 still, believe me, I look in the mirror every day. I try and grow my facial hair. It doesn't grow out fast enough...it's pitiful. Conan: Right. It's going to be creepy if I talk to you in 40 years and you still look exactly the same...(laughter) and I'm a skeleton. Elijah: What's that character with the picture in the attic?
Conan: Dorian Grey.
Elijah: Maybe I'm Dorian Grey...
Conan: Yeah, there's a picture of you somewhere aging...you're getting younger and younger. You might be a vampire! Elijah: That's true. I do hang out in Venice alot...
Despite Elijah's impressive and light-hearted handling of the subject, Conan manages to markedly return to it again toward the end of the interview, joking:
"I just realize why you look so young -- you're cloning yourself!"
All joking aside, though, Elijah's interview reminded me of a striking scene in the Masterpiece Theater adaptation of Charles Dickens's gorgeous novel, Little Dorrit, when the tiny, selfless heroine, Amy Dorrit, seeks work as seamstress to pay her father's insurmountable debts, and goes to interview with the intimidating Mrs. Clenham. Upon first beholding her, Mrs. Clenham's butler exclaims:
"You're very small, ain't you!"
Not missing a beat, Amy replies:
"Yes, sir...I am strong."
Skeptical, the butler eyes her up and down and insists:
"You look a shrimpy little thing to me." Moments later, when Amy meets Mrs. Clenham herself, the elderly woman sits forward in her wheelchair and observes:
"Why, you're a child!"
Again, without hestitation, Amy replies:
"I'm 21, Mrs. Clenham. I know I am small, but I am quite grown up."
Little Dorrit Part 1: Amy meets Mrs. Clenham
Little Dorrit: Scenes from Episode 1
Little Amy's experience going for the interview with Mrs. Clenham captures the essence of why I identify so strongly with her character, a fact never more so apparent to me than in the past week because...
Last Saturday, October 15, I interviewed for a full-time Tenure Track English Instructor Position at the college where I currently adjunct and tutor part-time. When I entered the interview room, I expected that the members of the hiring committee, particularly the College President who hadn't formally met me yet, would no doubt observe my small stature and youthful appearance...And, from their initial looks, I believe they did...
But, to my own surprise -- perhaps because I expected it -- this did not seem to intimidate me, and I was able to answer their questions without wavering, just as Elijah Wood (a.k.a Frodo) and Amy Dorrit had in their interviews.
A few days later, the College President formally offered me the position! So, I am set to begin as a full-time instructor in January! In an e-mail of congratulations, one of the committee members wrote, "Your interview was impressive, indeed."
Whether Hobbit, Fairy Princess, or Little Dorrit, it does seem that, despite appearances, I am quite grown up, after all...
Today, after spending 4 excruciating years behind bars in Perugia, Italy, and with the unbearable prospect of spending the rest of their lives locked up for a heinous crime they did not commit, Amanda Knox, and her former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, were at last acquitted and set free by an Italian appeals court which, in their decision overturning the convictions, vehemently repudiated the prosecution's baseless, slanderous, and malicious accusations against the innocent Amanda and Rafaelle that threatened to destroy their lives.
My mother, sister, and I have been emotionally invested in this case from the beginning -- first, because of our Italian roots (my father was raised and spent much of his adult life there, and my mother still has family who live there) and because the event took place in Perugia, where Jennie and I -- like Amanda -- went to study Italian at the Universita' per Stranieri during our first years in college at Bryn Mawr. Somewhat forebodingly, at the urging of our mother, Jennie and I left Perugia after only a couple of weeks, and instead, spent the remainder of our summer abroad in our father's hometown of Riva Del Garda at the base of the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy.
Like most who heard about the brutal murder of Meredith Kercher in late 2007, and subsequently the strange behavior of the young couple who were seen comforting each other outside the apartment Amanda and Meredith shared, we were initially taken in by the sensational reports that were coming from Italy, which portrayed Amanda and Rafaelle as something more sinister than young lovers. But, as we followed the case more closely, and learned about Amanda's merciless and coercive 48 hour nonstop interrogation by the Perugian police, in which she was was asked by investigators to, in effect, imagine a scenario in which she were present inside the apartment as the crime was taking place, as well as about the ruthless and corrupt prosecutor named Guiliano Mannini who had a decades' long history of building prosecutorial cases against innocent defendants who had nothing whatsoever to do with the crimes they were accused of committing, we soon became absolutely convinced that neither Amanda nor her co-defendant, Rafaelle, were remotely connected in any way to the killing.
Our belief in their innocence was further confirmed by the fact that none of Amanda or Raffaele's DNA were found anywhere in the room where Meredith lost her life, and that another man, a drifter named Rudy Guede, who attempted to flee to Germany after the murder, was shortly thereafter apprehended and convicted of the crime since his DNA was found all over the room where Meredith was killed. Furthermore, the unwavering loyality and determination of Amanda's family and friends through her arrest, to her conviction, and finally throughout her appeal, firmly testified to the fact that a girl raised and beloved by such a close-knit, generous group of people could never have even conceived of killing an insect -- let alone another young woman who was, by all accounts, not only her roommate, but her friend.
Still, prosecutor Mannini (despite being himself indicted on corruption charges during Amanda's first trial) with the inital aid of the Italian media throughout the first trial, deliberately ignored the blaring lack of evidence and set out to paint Amanda and Rafaelle as deplorable human beings deserving of a life sentence, complete with months upon years of daytime solitary confinement. Mannini's perverse pleasure in prosecuting the two young people (going so far as to say, "Lucky for Amanda, we don't have the death penalty in Italy!'') and sending them away for the rest of their lives, rather than admitting his own mistakes, combined with the Italian media's sensational coverage of the original trial which depicted Amanda as wild and promiscous, and lead to the unjust conviction of both her and Rafaelle two years ago, made us lose faith in our ancestrial homeland. We were crushed by the news late in 2009 that Amanda and Raffaele had been found guilty and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
But today, following an emotional, and at times painful, 10 minute statement from Amanda in which she articulated in fluent Italian throuh tears and short breaths that she "insists on the truth -- that she and Rafaelle are innocent -- a truth which must be recognized and defended," and following another equally compelling statement from Rafaelle, in which he declared that "Amanda is a sweet, beautiful, and shining person" and pleaded with the judges to set them free, our devastation, and, more pressingly, the devastation and torment endured by Amanda, Rafaelle, and their respective families, came to a just end.
While we still mourn for the senseless loss of Meredith Kercher for whom justice would not have been served had two more innocent young people's lives been stolen from them, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family who will never have a chance to bring their daughter home, we are so grateful and overwhelmed with joy at this vindicating outcome for Amanda and Rafaelle. We pray that Amanda can now return to her life in peace and that she can enjoy every moment of her newfound freedom with her family back home in Seattle.
First, though, Amanda needs to take care of herself -- start eating and sleeping again, and perhaps see a doctor to be checked for her physical health -- because she looks truly ghostly and worn out. She needs to feel the grass under her feet (as she told her father in the days leading up to this decision), the sun on her pale face, and recuperate at home with her loved ones. She needs to step "outside the window," so to speak, and rediscover the hope for life she once had before her self-described "suffering" began on that dreadful day in November 2007. I pray that God will bless her in her recovery.
Today, the 4th of September, is my Mama's birthday, as well as the 20th anniversary of my Daddy's death. In order to simultaneously celebrate & commemorate these twin occassions, below are a collection of photographs and videos that are special to us, along with my own comments on them, as a gift of love and appreciation for my parents.
FOR MAMA on her birthday:
FIREWORK by Katy Perry -- Mama, I chose this video as the first in your collection because I know how much you lovethe song, and because I thought that it evokes today's date as the 4th of the month, even though the month Katy Perry sings about is July, instead of September! I also liked how the video is one big celebration with, of course, fireworks -- which is fitting for your special day :) Finally, the scenes of the young girl stuck in the hospital room remind me of the many times you stayed with me during my numerous hospitalizations as a child, which I am very grateful for.
FLOWER BOUQUET AT CATHEDRAL in Bath, England -- Mama, this photograph of a bouquet of mostly pink and purple (our favorite colors) flowers, or "fiori" (evoking our Italian family name), in Bath's main Cathedral seems like another perfect celebratory tribute for your glorious day! I wish I could bring you such a bouquet of flowers myself :) <3
MAD MEN SEASON 4, EPISODE 7 "THE SUITCASE": DON LECTURES PEGGY -- Mama, I include this brilliant scene from my favorite episode of Mad Men in your birthday collection because Peggy Olsen's character, and the way she interacts with her mentor, Don Draper, here seems to be so similiar to how you were as a young woman, and how you developed your relationship with Daddy, who was also a mentor for you. I also know how much you love this show, particularly the connection it gives you to the revolutionary era of the 60's which remains so poignant for you.
MACHIAVELLI KITCHEN & DINING ROOM SHOPS in London, England -- Mama, when I walked past these "Machiavelli" Kitchen and Dining Room Shops near Covenant Garden during the London tour, I knew I had to photograph them for you!! I thought of the many times you have recounted the painstainking 10 years you spent writing your book on Niccolo Machiavelli, which you were still working on while you were pregnant and laid up in bed with Jennie and me! Maybe one day, you can visit these shops in London and tell the clerk that you are a reknowned Machiavelli scholar. I imagine the clerk would then give you all the kitchen and dining ware you want for free! :)
MAMA & ME (AS A BABY) HAVING A LAUGH -- Mama, we look so very blissful together in this photograph, don't we? Another perfect sentiment for your special day...
SECOND CHANCE by Shinedown -- Mama, this is the second favorite song that we share. I know how much you admire Brent Smith (the lead singer's) crystal clear voice, and I thought that the story of the video fit this day because it is about second chances. The video is also about a young girl mustering the courage and the "one and only voice" to become independent of her parents and fulfill her highest aspirations in life. I think that is something we can both closely relate to on many levels :)
LINK TO "SECOND CHANCE" Video with Improved Audio --
THE THREE MUSKATEERS AT CHRISTMAS -- Mama, looking at this photograph of the three of us at Christmas makes me smile, and I hope it will make you smile on your birthday, too! Again, we look so "incadescently happy", as Jane Austen would say :)
SHATTERED by O.A.R (Of A Revolution) -- Mama, here is the third song we both never seem to tire of! I remember you telling me about an interview you heard on the radio with the lead singer and how he is so close with his mother, and attributes his success to her. I like how this song takes the Shinedown song one step further, and says that although "goodbye" might be a "second chance", it's "always back to you."
CHRISTMAS WITH BEN -- Mama, I thought you would appreciate a memory of the three of us together with the (relatively new) addition to the Fiore family: BEN!! Isn't he such a good and beautiful sheltie??
For DADDY on this 20th Anniversary of his Death:
LA VITA E BELLA (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL) directed by and starring Roberto Benigni -- Daddy would have loved this Academy Award winning 1997 film about how a father uses the power of his imagination to protect the innocence of his young son during the Holocaust of World War 2. The gorgeous musical score and its brilliant juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy adds to the film's enduring spirit of hope against all odds -- something daddy would have closely felt and understood having lived through that period in Italy. I imagine daddy exclaiming "Bonjourno, Princepessa" and "Abbiamo Vinto!" with Roberto and the young boy after watching the film.
TRAILER:
CLIP: "BONJOURNO, PRINCEPESSA!"
SALOME/JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST by Titiano -- As a Roman Catholic and lover of the arts, Daddy would have appreciated this postcard depicting Titiano's famous painting which we got at Rome's (his home city where he grew up) Galleria Doria Pamphilie when we visited several years ago. I wish I could send the postcard to him in heaven! <3
ROMAN BATHS in Bath, England -- I also wish Daddy could have been with me when I took these photographs of the Roman Baths in the city of Bath! Even though this wasn't in his city, he would have appreciated the history of Rome present in another country.
127 HOURS directed by Danny Boyle and starring James Franco (based on the memoir BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE by Aron Ralston) -- The young adventurer, Aron Ralston, as well as the actor, James Franco, who portrays him in the Academy Award nominated film based on Ralston's memoir, both remind me of Daddy as a young man for different reasons.
The young Daddy would have shared Aron's passion for the mountains, and, had they ever met, they would have had a great conversation about mountain sports, and the 10th Mountain Division, who according to p. 152 of Aron's memoir, "are named for infamous battle of Riva Ridge in Italy" which is where my father lived as a young man! Daddy would have also strongly empathized with Aron's near death experience in Blue John Canyon in 2003 since Daddy had a similiar near death experience as a young man when he fell through the ice while skating on a lake with some of his friends in the Swiss Alps. And he would have liked the medical aspects of the Aron's story as portrayed both in the memoir and in the film, since he originally was studying to be a doctor before his accident on the ice!
The conversations between Daddy and James Franco would have been just as lively, but would have centered around their mutual scholarly interests as professors (Mr. Franco is going to many schools in order to become one!) and literature enthusiasts! I imagine Daddy would have taught James Italian :) The pivotal scene when Aron envisions his future son would have resonated strongly with Daddy since little did he know as an adventurous youth in Italy that he would come to America, get married, and have twin girls later in life!!
"Color bursts in my mind, and then I walk through the canyon wall on my own this time, stepping into a living room. A blond three year old boy in a red polo shirt comes running across a sunlit hardwood floor in what I somehow know is my future home. By the same intuitive perception, I know the boy is my own. I bend to scoop him into my left arm, using my handless right arm to balance him, and we laugh together as I swing him up to my shoulder...The boy happily perches on my right shoulder, holding my arms in his little hands while I steady him with my left hand and right stump. Smiling, I prance about the room, tiptoeing in and out of the sun dabbles on the oak floor, and he giggles gleefully as we twirl together. Then, with a shock, the vision blinks out. I'm back in the canyon, echoes of his joyful sounds resonating in my mind, creating a subconscious reassurance that I somehow will survive this entrapment. Despite having already come to accept that I will die before help arrives, now I believe I will live. That belief, that boy, changes everything for me."
--Aron Ralston, Between a Rock and Hard Place, pp. 290-291.
DADDY'S PASSPORT PHOTO -- YoungDaddy looks so handsome and distinguished in this photograph for his passport to come to America. Although Daddy was born in Pittsburgh and had dual American & Italian citizenship, the passport officials got his name wrong -- they recorded his name MAFDI instead of MAFALDO, so he had to sign at the bottom under "Firma nel Titolare" using the name they gave him.
INCEPTION directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio -- I imagine Daddy's arrival in America to be echoed by the powerful ending scene of Inception when Leonardo DiCaprio's character supposedly wakes up from the dream, walks through the airport (accompanied by a brilliant musical score), and upon arriving home, is reunited with his two small children -- unsure whether he is still in the dream world or he is now in reality. But, his grip on reality doesn't matter anymore because he's able to see his children, which is his whole reason for the dream journey. I think Daddy would have been intrigued by the concept of this film and its striking conceptual similiarities and references to Dante's Inferno. He also would have been proud of Mr. DiCaprio, a fellow Italian.
TRAILER
CLIP: ENDING RETURN TO CHILDREN
DADDY WITH MAMA IN FLORIDA SHORTLY AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE -- Daddy looks so perfectly happy with Mama :) Talk about a "Second Chance"...
NEVER GONNA BE ALONE by Nickleback -- If I could send Daddy a video that shows how much I have missed him these 20 years, this would be it...
DADDY WITH HIS LITTLE PRINCEPESSA -- I could stare at this photograph of Daddy and me for years! A beautiful memory <3
A month less two days ago, July 17, 2011, it was my 2nd day in LONDON. That morning, I went on a 3 hour walking tour of the city with my internnational summer school group which began at Covenant Garden near our Travelodge Hotel at Drury Lane. Although it was early morning when we set off, it seemed as though The Night was over London with the waves of dark clouds that broke over us in two concentrated intervals during the tour. Our umbrellas and water jackets were no match for the downpours, and since we stuck in the wide open, we became soaked through and through TWICE (no doubt a cause of the virus I would suffer from once in Exeter a week later).
Of course, little did I know then during our grand tour of the city, with the rainwater sloshing in my boots, that the REAL Night over London would arrive on August 6 -- the day I left the city to return home to the U.S. Although the sky appeared peaceful and the sun shown early that morning as I rode in the Gatwick Express train to the airport, the London streets were darkened by the Riots that broke out across the city.
The title of this post comes from the song "Cemetries of London," the 2nd track from Coldplay's most recent album entitled Viva La Vida, which I brought with me and listened to during the final week of my month in England when Madhurima Das -- a kind, maternal Indian woman in the program with me -- lent me her headphones (since I had idiotically forgotten to pack my own!) Here is the song, along with 34 photos from my 3 hour tour of London on July 17!!
CEMETRIES OF LONDON (Coldplay, Viva La Vida)
LONDON TOUR PHOTOS -- July 17th, 2011
Our tour guide, an intelligent, enthusiastic, and jolly fellow, reminded me keenly of the rugged mill worker Nicholas Higgins (actor Brendan Coyle) in the BBC's gorgeous 2004 production of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South:
NICOLAS HIGGINS (ACTOR: BRENDAN COYLE)
SCENE FROMNORTH AND SOUTH (2004)between JOHN THORNTON (ACTOR: Richard Armitage) and NICHOLAS HIGGINS (ACTOR: Brendan Coyle)
OUR LONDON TOUR GUIDE:
Our London Tour Guide narrating the sites at Brook Street, with Brenna Lash (a current Bryn Mawr Student) and several other attentive Exeter participants in the background
Our London Tour Guide holding up his signature yellow umbrella and his coke bottle, with Exeter participants Jacob Flowers (left) and Raman Sharma (right)
Our Tour Guide with his open yellow umbrella in front of the "Royal Wedding Entrance" of London's Buckingham Palace
During the tour, I seemed to be obsessed with Hotel Entrances (perhaps because they symbolized potential sanctuaries from the rain):
London's Savoy Taylor's Guild Hotel Entrance
London's Charing Cross Hotel Entrance
...And Darkening Street/Station Entrances:
London's Westminster Tube Station, with bustling Londoners and the church in the background
London's Transport Museum, near Covenant Garden (the start of our 3 hour walking tour)
London's No. 10 Downing Street (aka The Prime Minister's Street)
But, even Big Ben and St. James could not keep my Taiwanese friend Eileen Chen and me sheltered from the approaching rain:
Eileen and Me at London's Big Ben, with the first wave of approaching rain clouds behind us!
Eileen and Me in St. James Park trying in vain to dry off after the first torrential rain downpour!
The tour continued through the Park, a Parade, and at a Theater:
The bridge and the lake with the ducks in London's St. James Park
A Brazilian Commerative Parade with gathered onlookers in the middle of a London Street -- just one of the many "random events" our tour guide pointed out to us!
London's Adelphi Theater where Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies was in production. This photo was specifically taken for musically inclined twin sister, Jennifer, whose favorite musical is its prequel The Phantom of the Opera!
...And took us to a number of Monuments and Statues:
The Commander and Chief of the British Army Statue
The Women of World War II Monument
The George Canning Statue with a London tourist holding a map and a "I love London" bag sitting on the steps in the foreground
The Base of the Abraham Lincoln Statue
The full view of the Abraham Lincoln Statue
London's Consolate Building Entrance with Engraved Women Statues above the doorway
Seated Female Statue at the "Royal Wedding Entrance" of London's Buckingham Palace
The George Washington Statue with a seated young couple conversing in the foreground
Our tour concluding with stops at Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square (with the famed National Gallery):
A quite sideways view of the Main Entrance of Westmister Abbey
The Main Door of Westmister Abbey with dispersed crowds of tourists in the foreground
The right side of Westminster Abbey with the Clock Tower
A view of Westminster Abbey with a gracious Exeter participant from China smiling for the camera!
The "Welcome" and "Visiting Times" Signs on the Entrance Gate at Westminster Abbey
A crowd of tourists with umbrellas in front of London's Buckingham Palace
The "Countdown to the 2012 London Olympics" Sign at the Entrance to Trafalgar Square with a crowd of tourists gathered
The Pillar against the darkening London sky in Trafalgar Square
The Lion (left) at the base of the Pillar in Trafalgar Square
The Lion (Right) at the base of the Pillar in Trafalgar Square
A view of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square with a dispersed crowd of tourists
A view of the National Gallery and the Fountain in Trafalgar Square
The Fountain and the Pillar in Trafalgar Square (I love the way the fountain water contrasts against the darkening sky)
