If I open a virtual machine, how do I get back to the Parallel's menu without closing/suspending the machine? If I double click on the Parallels application, it brings up the "Start Menu" for the windows instance. What if I want to suspend the instance and bring up another machine (perhaps a Lion instance).
You are in Coherence view mode. Probably with Crystal mode enabled for the virtual machine. Hold down the option key and click the || menu to see the other Parallels menus. Or use the || menu to exit Coherence mode. The || menu is on the right side of the Mac menu bar, left of the Mac OS menu icons. Experiment with the Crystal mode option in the Coherence settings of the virtual machine configuration.