Well, the 24th anniversary of my 29th birthday passed without international incident, although there was that one moment in Harrod’s when I tried to hold up the ladies wear department (finding myself just a little short of the $3,200 they wanted for the blouse I tried on). Dave isn’t going to deny this, I think, when I tell you he spent much, much longer in Harrod’s than I did. Megan you are going to be sooo excited when you see the tiara!

What was really WAY more interesting than an afternoon in Harrod’s was the morning at the Westminster Abbey. They got stuff over here that is old. I mean really old. Kings and Queens that fill the history pages also fill the chapels in Westminster. Poets, playwrights, scientists and soldiers. Remarkable. But the architecture just makes your heart soar. No doubt you are right Dr. No, we really should find the cheapest possible way to build everything in Calgary, because, who will care about art and beauty and holiness and Calgary in a thousand years? Imagination should be banished because investing in grace and awe just throws good money after bad. And you are totally correct, future generations will continue to pay for what we build today. But here’s the thing, Londoners and Parisians, and Romans and Viennese have always believed they lived in eternal cities. And they have always known there is a price for that. In Calgary, we just believe we are herefor today to make a buck – and that privilege, apparently, should come for free.

Hey, that soapbox reminds me, I also saw Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park.

Photos posted come from three different millennia – all constructions found in London:
Cleopatra’s Needle; Westminster Abbey; Millennium Eye.