Entry 6- Churchill Catwalks The Pope-Mobile On A Bike

To say that yesterday was a full day would be considered by most, an understatement. This post may be a little long, but it will be well worth the read... and the watching. "Did he just say what I think he said?". Yes I did, there is a special video clip this post for you special followers of mine.

   My day started out fairly mellow, a bit of a snoozer, some porridge for breakfast, and the world news. I'm still watching the "Fox and Friends" World Channel, because I just haven't tuned my ears yet to hearing the news in English accents. The phrase "over in America today", still gets me every time. As the news finished up, Paul Voge got home and we decided to head into the heart of London so I could see some of the classic sights, and we heard some guy name The Pope was going to be in town. First however, I needed to get a British cell phone, or "mobile" (pronounced mow-bile; This will now be a running series called Talking British With Paul Hester. You can thank me later for protecting you from looking like a goober when you come to England sometime). I am three steps from the store front when a nice young English girl stops me and asks, no begs, no she pleads with me to be part of Blackberry's new marketing campaign for London Fashion Week, called London Fashion Catwalk. Basically they film you walking down a catwalk, and superimpose a crowd around you, tell you a bit about their new phone, and put the video on their website. Naturally I felt I had to help these people out and show them how to work a catwalk. After my stint as a model in Milan I felt it was the least i could do. So without further ado, here is Paul Hester: London Fashion Catwalk 2010 (or Michael Marsden: Fashion Catwalk 2010. That's my catwalk name... actually they just labeled my name wrong). http://www.londonfashioncatwalk.com/catwalk-videos/29-b1041.html.

   I sincerely hope you all enjoyed that, people usually pay for that kind of entertainment. If you have any question about future bookings, or wonder how I get my hair like that, call my agent and First Mate, B.W. Hester. Well, enough about my model life. I got the phone, and we were off. Here in London there is a system called Barclays Bikes. You place a small key-like transponder into a little slot, the light turns green, and you take your bike. Then when you are done, you just dock it at any Barclays Bike station in the city; simply brilliant. With Barclays Bikes under out feet, our first stop was the outside of Buckingham Palace. Paul Voge figured Fleet Admirals Stephen and Loretta Hester aka Dad and Mom would enjoy some classic, some might say "cliche" photos, of their son in front of London landmarks. Paul Voge happens to be an expert in where these shots are taken, so that became another priority of the day.  Forgive my squinting, it was a lovely day in London, even a bit bright and warm at times. From Lizzie's house we continued on to downtown and decided it was worth our while to visit the Churchill War Rooms Museum. I love history, it is actually part of my official studies at school, so this was right up my alley. It was truly amazing to see the tiny, underground space where Churchill stood his ground while Hitler was planning to cross the North Sea and invade Great Britain. There is a six foot thick slab of concrete over most of the war rooms, and could withstand the impact from a 500 lb. bomb. Paul Voge hammed it up with some of the mannequins as seen below. Inside the War Rooms they have the closet that contained
the first direct hotline to the United States President. Many of the rooms were locked and left alone from the day the war ended in 1945 until the rooms were reopened in 1971, so they look exactly as they did when they were in operation. An officer's sugar ration was even found tucked in an envelop, and hidden in his desk drawer, pretty rad stuff if you ask me! From the Churchill War Rooms we headed down to Trafalgar Square where there was many an opportunity for solid photos.

     Many of you have probably seen picture of people sitting on giant lions (which I have begun to believe are the national cat of England), well those lions are in Trafalgar Square, so true to my word, here are a few pictures...

Lions... and Lions, and.... They're All Lions Here. No Tigers. No Bears

That little girl screamed really loud, and I'm trying to get some croissant out of my teeth.

Well, it was about time to do what we had planned or all day; See the Pope and his trusty Pope-Mobile. There was already a large crowd of people had already amassed, get it... mass. Anyways, there were people everywhere, waiting for the leader of the Catholics to emerge from Parliament Building. Guys were selling Pope flags (P.Voge bought one; Such a character haha), Pope t-shirts, Pope hats, buttons, the whole nine yards. Kind of sacrilegious now that I think about it, making a buck off the Pope. You see, Parliament Building is right across from Westminster Abbey, as in like less than 100 yards, but all these people came out to see him drive from one side of the street to another, this guy has quite the pull. Well, Mr. Pope emerged at 6:00 sharp, in his holy robe, and highly guarded Pope Mobile. If not for my long arms, I would have never gotten a picture, but here he is... The leader of the Catholics, Ruler of Vatican City, White Robe White Hair White Soul... It's THE POPE!!!!!

(click to make it big, you can see El Poperino better)

That is all I have for now my peeps. I will write again soon. But I must leave you with one last image. Maybe the most cliche image of all, but I had to do it, and I know there are many who will come to cherish this picture, heck it may even become a running theme. I give unto thee, and leave thee with...

The Red Telephone Booth

Sailing In Circles, But Enjoying The Breeze.