London - Day 3

We're in Paris now, but I want to catch up on London first...The London Eye... We arrived to ride the London Eye on a crystal clear and warm day...We had to wait a little while for Jeanette to get our tickets...Our delegation was divided in half...about 25 people can fit in each 'pod' of the Eye...and there are 33 pods...You can see who was in my pod....The views of London are breathtaking as you go up and around. It takes 30 minutes to make a revolution...The Gherkin...St. Paul's Cathedral...You can see the dome...and then on the left side, between the two spires, you can see the columns to the entrance. It's here that Mary Poppins fed the birds in the movie.
Parliament...Big Ben...the Thames River...We rode the London Eye today...actually riding it before meeting with the MP. All loved it, even a couple who have a fear of heights. It was a beautiful day, clear skies...and you could see so far! One of the jokesters in the group told some of our delegates that you could see the Eiffel Tower if it was clear...and there were a couple of towers in the far distance...and some were excited to see the Eiffel Tower. I told our jokester that this information needed to be corrected! Our group with Patrick Nichols...We met with Patrick Nichols today - a former member of Parliament. He spoke enthusiastically about the USA and the relationship between our 2 countries. The delegate had some great questions for him...and, as I told them beforehand that he would do, he initiated a picture session with the group. Covent Gardens... From this meeting, we headed to Covent Gardens. This is an area with many unique shops...some known shops (Disney Store, Adidas, etc)...and some individuals selling their wares. Plus, there are street performers. Quite a few of our delegation were excited to see a Starbucks! London traffic...
We then drove to the town of Portsmouth, about 80 miles away, where we caught our overnight ferry to France. We had to arrive at the dock two hours ahead of time, just like an airport... We set sail around 11 p.m. The students were 4 to a cabin..."Cabin" makes it sound a lot ... let me repeat, LOT larger than it actually was! We said good-bye to our coach driver...the coach wasn't going across the English Channel with us!
Another new experience for our delegates!