Claire & I

Chapter Seven: London, UK

 It was my parents who woke us up the next day. Breakfast was included at the hotel, so we had to get a move on if we wanted to make it in time. Claire was quiet, indicating that she wasn't a morning person.

My mother was talking up a storm as she read off of the brochures and told us what we were going to do. "Ms. Hopkins rented us a car to use for the day, but we'll still be walking a whole lot," she told everyone at the table.

She kept going on and on about the monuments and attractions and walking. I was quiet for the most part as I was trying to eat my breakfast as fast as I could. I wanted to see everything, and I wanted to see it now.

"Where do you want to go first?" my mother asked us. Everyone stayed quiet. I turned to Claire who was eating her waffle in silence. "What do you want to do, Claire?" I asked, taking a bite of my bagel.

Claire looked up. She flushed when she realized that everyone was looking at her. "Oh, what is there to offer?" she asked. We all stared her down, especially my mother. She had just gone over almost everything, and Claire was asking for a repeat.

My mother didn't argue even though her face said otherwise. "Well there's the Saint Paul's Cathedral, and there's shops we can scroll through," my mother gave examples. "Oh, we should shop last," I suggested. My parents nodded.

"Anything sound good with you, Claire?" my mother asked. Claire stared down at her breakfast. "You only named one thing," she stated. Silence filled the space. I spoke up, turning to my parents, "I think we should drive around and look at everything first."

"Great idea," my father agreed, "We can walk around after we get a good feel of the place." We all smiled in return.

***

The car was a struggle at first. My mother was on the wheel, and my father's face was white for the first thirty minutes. The United Kingdom's rules of the road was completely opposite from our own. Claire had made small jokes of my mother killing us, but there was no complaining after she got the hang of it.

I kept my eyes to the window. The city was bustling with people from all walks of life, and I couldn't help but smile at all the beauty around me. I wanted to say something, to express the feelings and atmosphere, but no words escaped my lips.

Suddenly, my mother spoke. "Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament!" I looked to the towering structure before me, awed in silence. My parents laughed together like they were in on some joke. It was then that I realized that we were going in circles. "Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament!" my mother repeated as we came back to the building. My father and mother laughed again. I gave them a confused look.

"What are you doing?" I asked, but they didn't hear me. I noticed that Claire's arms were folded. The couple laughed for another minute or so before finally stopping the charades on the third go around.

My mother pulled into traffic, leaving Big Ben and Parliament. "Good times," she said, smiling from her work. "When was that, 1985?" my father asked. They laughed together once more. I gave them a confused look, but I decided it was best not to understand.

After about an hour of exploring, we decided to park the car. The streets were alike to the roads. Everyone was everywhere, and I felt like I was pushing through tight corners and spaces to move around the swarm. I became nervous every three seconds when I couldn't find my family over the flow. Thankfully, they weren't too far ahead, and everyone prefered to stay around me as well...you know.

It was almost impossible to look at everything at once. Not only was I fascinated by the structures and monuments, but I was intrigued by the diversity of people and their creativity that showed. The London citizens had every fashion sense from chic to casual. I wanted to go to each and every person and ask them where they bought their attire. Of course, that was also impossible as everyone was in a rush to be somewhere, and I felt like I was bothering them. Tourist were bad enough, right?