Happy Victoria Day!

Don't you love long weekends? Who cares if I'm up early doing laundry - I'm not going to work! We did the fireworks thing last night, and it was fabulous! There's talk of getting rid of Victoria Day - why celebrate a dead queen's birthday when we're an independent monarchy?

Okay, I have to admit that the role that the Queen plays in Canadian politics is a bit fuzzy for me. So I just looked it up - interesting. I now actually know what the Governor General is for (didn't realize it was such an important, high profile job). And I didn't realize that when the Queen is visiting Canada, like she recently did, that we refer to her as the Queen of Canada. Sad that my Canadian history knowledge is so limited.

The royal family and the history of all the royal families in Europe fascinate me. If you get a chance, watch the movie "The Queen" - it's out on video. Helen Mirren did an unbelievable job - truly Oscar-worthy. But there are also a lot of clips going back to Princess Diana's death and the outpouring of grief that it caused. I had forgotten what a big deal this was. It was one of those events that I can remember exactly where I was when I heard that she had been killed, and that was almost 10 years ago. I think that I'll visit the memorial site at Pont de l'Alma in Paris when I'm there (only 4 days to go!!!!!)