Today was the visit to Westminster Abbey and another place that was new for me. But before leaving the hotel for the Abbey, we had to arrange the shipment home of the first round of souvenirs. There was no way I was carting that amount of **** around Europe so I arranged with the hotel to have it shipped back to Dallas. I have no idea how much it cost us, but I really don't care. The rain had stopped but it was "bloody cold" on the walk to the tube. After we made the switch from the Central Line to the Circle Line two guys got on the train with a guitar and a fiddle and started playing, as Robyn said--only in London. They were really good and Robyn took a short video of them. Unfortunately, she must have turned it off before they really got started. Oh well, we gave them 3 pounds and by the time they finished they had probably collected 20 pounds (or over $30), which is not bad for 10 minutes of singing and playing. It was really funny watching people trying not to make eye contact with them.



When we exited the tube at Westminster stop, I pointed out to Robyn Parliament and Big Ben and she immediately took several pictures. Now, let's fast forward two hours as we are exiting Westminster Abbey-- Robyn asks me where Big Ben is. I point it out and she says, "That's Big Ben?" I told her I had pointed it out when we exited the tube and she says, "I just thought it was some big clock on Parliament" (Big sigh). She felt pretty silly at that point.





As we headed towards Westminster Abbey we saw a large statue of Winston Churchill and Robyn takes a picture. Then she takes a picture of two Bobbies guarding one of the entrances to Parliament. No telling how many times their pictures have been taken. Then Robyn spots the real London Eye- not to be confused with the Windsor Eye.





Westminster Abbey is just flat out impressive. They do not allow pictures to be taken inside so I am posting only pictures from the outside. The first is of the side entrance which is also the main entrance, but not the entrance used for state funerals or weddings (i.e. William & Kate). Look closely and you will see the Idiot Tourist standing there with his hands in his pockets looking like a doofus. There is also a picture of the Nave, which is the main portion of the sanctuary and its main entrance is where William & Kate exited during their wedding.






History alert: Construction of the current Westminster Abbey was started in 1245 by Henry III. It was finished for the most part by 1517 although two of the towers were built in the first half of the 18th century. The number of people buried there is mind-boggling, but I found the most interesting were Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots. Queen Mary, despite what her father had done breaking from the Catholic Church, was a devout Catholic. When she became Queen after Henry VIII died, she reestablished relations with the Vatican. Because her sister Elizabeth was now a reformist, Mary had her imprisoned in the Bloody Tower for several months. In fact Elizabeth was brought into the Tower through Traitor's Gate. After Mary died and Elizabeth became Queen, Mary was buried in a very simple crypt in Westminster. Elizabeth broke off relations with the Vatican and she eventually had Mary Queen of Scots, her cousin, arrested. Mary she was a devout Catholic and Elizabeth was concerned Mary would attempt to take the throne from her.

Mary Queen of Scots was also held in the Bloody Tower but she never left alive as she was eventually executed for committing high treason. When Elizabeth died, she was placed in a very elaborate crypt on top of her sister Mary's very plain crypt. Since Elizabeth died childless, it was the end of the Tudor line and the start of the Stuart line, as James Stuart (her second cousin) was coronated as King James I. James's mother was of course Mary Queen of Scots, so James had his mother re-buried in a crypt as elaborate as Elizabeth's and directly across the Abbey from Elizabeth. That is the history I love to hear about. The Abbey also contains Poet's Corner which has tombs for Geoffry Chaucer, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and Lord Alfred Tennyson, just to name a few. Fredric Handel is also buried there and beneath a memorial to William Shakespeare is the great actor Sir Laurence Olivier. The Abbey also contains the bodies of Isacc Newton and Charles Darwin. I just found this all fascinating.

After we left Westminster Abbey and Robyn had asked her question about Big Ben, we headed over to the Winston Churchill War Cabinet Museum. On the walk over we saw the following statue of Abraham Lincoln and I have no clue as to why it is there.



The Churchill museum was really cool because the rooms had been sealed after the war. Some had all the fixtures removed; however, there were several that were simply sealed "as is" and still looked the same when the rooms were unsealed several decades later. All the rooms were restored to what they originally looked like based on photos taken at the time and the memories of people who worked there.




After leaving Churchill's museum we went to Kensington, where Princess Diana lived, to have tea at the Orangery (which had been highly recommended in several different guide books.) After walking for 45 minutes in the cold all the way around the entire outer wall of the grounds to find this place, we walked in and were told they were closed for a private party. If Robyn had a gun she would have shot some people. We did not go into Kensington but did have tea and some snacks at the tea room connected to Kensignton Palace. Robyn did take a picture of the Golden Gate.




We finished the day by eating dinner at The Prince of Wales Pub. We had fish and chips. The food was decent but the ale was great!




Tomorrow it is off to Salzburg so I may not be posting, but then again, Robyn has the camera at the ready at all times.