London, England

Our cruise ended today in Southampton, England. We had to be off at 8:30 a.m., and were due in Rome that evening. In between, we traveled by train, plane, subway, bus, and the good, old-fashioned foot (i.e. we hoofed it).

Our flight to Rome departed Stansted airport, north of London. Fortunately, we'd planned enough time to make the trip up from Southampton (in the, um, south), and we even found enough time to dash around London on the way.

Of course, this did make for a rather long day. (But a beautiful one. Note the spring flowers just behind Jolene's weary yawn.)

Passing by the parliament buildings, this monument caught our eyes. From the color scheme and architecture, it looked to us like the work of Hindus or Thai Buddhists.

On closer inspection, however, that was not the case. As seen on the plaque, the monument commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Britain, a triumph of peaceful political process that occurred here some 30 years before the United States, with much greater pain and bloodshed, achieved the same goal.
Having recently seen the movie, "Amazing Grace", we were particularly impressed and moved. The movie is worth seeing. Both it and the monument serve as reminders that people who are willing work tirelessly in the pursuit of a just cause can change the tide of history.