We landed in London on a Friday morning and in our jet-lagged daze, managed to experience a Choral Evensong at Westminster Abbey. The music. Ah, the music. It was an adult choir, but one of the men sang in a range close to soprano. It didn't sound like a falsetto- may have been countertenor - but it was hauntingly beautiful, especially when they sang Psalm 79.

We also went to Westminster Abbey for Palm Sunday and found the experience disappointing. After a long wait in line, we were let into the Abbey only to be held back while people who had used another entrance filled up most of the seats. We were eventually permitted to scrounge for the remaining seats, but could barely hear the service. Our view was pretty much blocked by the rood screen. Attendance was over 1,000 that day. We’re glad we didn’t try it on Easter and very glad that we’d made it to Evensong a few days before.

Above, one of those wonderful serendipitous travel moments. This parade passed us on the way to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace as we walked to Westminster Abbey.

At right, Big Ben, of course. You know you've arrived in London when you're within sight of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey -- and then Big Ben strikes the hour.

The lower left corner of the picture shows the London Eye Ferris wheel, another eyesore erected in the hopes of parting tourists from their money. We don't remember the exact fare but it came out to something over $US 25 per person for one trip. No, thanks.