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diheadline.jpg (56489 bytes)Day 15: The Return Home and Other Tragedies

Di Dies

The last day of my tour ended August 31, 1997: you may have heard about that date, because it is the day Princess Diana of Wales died.  I first heard about it on the morning news in the hotel in London when I was preparing to leave.  At first I thought it was just some fake broadcast, but I slowly realized that it was the real thing.

I went out to the local newsstands that morning to see what they had: most of the papers just said that she had been injured and it was not known if she had died.  I was tempted to grab a couple of Lady Diana postcards, but I felt a bit of a ghoul so I decided not to.  I did grab the papers, though.

All of London was pretty quiet when the news finally came that she died:  it was a little strange.  I grabbed the paper saying that in the airport.  Somewhat of a sad ending to an otherwise great trip.

Bloody Heathrow

A word of advice: I had about three hours to catch my flight when I got to Heathrow: and believe me, I needed every second.  It took forever to get through security, customs, and all that.  They even hand-searched my bags!  Still, you can't entirely blame them: Heathrow is a lot closer to terrorist activity than America is.   Just make sure you get to the airport early, that's all.

I hope I get to go back someday: there are so many things in London that I didn't get a chance to do: see the Natural History museums, visit the waxworks, travel in the London Underground! London was like Rome: I could have spent my entire vacation in just the one city!  Someday, I'll be back.

 

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© 1995-2002 William Geoffrey Shotts. Last update: Tuesday, March 09, 2004