The Abbey

Today I'm going to the Tower, of London that is. I'm waiting while the others wake up and get ready, our ambitions for leaving early having dwindled. On Thursday we went to Westminster Abbey with Sarah (our teacher). We all love Sarah, she wonderfully British and all knowing. When she doesn't know something she tells you she doesn't know-which is the sign of a truly intelligent person. We waited outside the west entrance in authentic English weather (rain of course). Except the rain here isn't like the rain at home. It rarely comes down in sheets, no big fat undignified drops hammering the roof tops. It's more of a delicate mist. The rain so thin that I have to squint to see it through the window. That's not to say it isn't equally wet and cold and requiring of an umbrella.



When Sarah arrived we walked around the outside (regardless of the rain) and talked about the structure and it's history. Westminster Abbey was built by four different monarchs, in pieces. As one died the next would build (literally) upon the status and grandeur of the last. Sarah pointed out the Buttresses and the Flying Buttresses, and the use of them enabled the builders to have the walls made up almost entirely of windows. The windows arched, drawing your eye up and up and up.



Stepping inside the Abbey is an indescribable experience. The nave is long and narrow and high leading to the shrine of Edward the Confessor (also a Saint). I felt so small standing there looking up, surrounded by columns. The structure itself dares a person to doubt that there isn't something grander and bigger than themselves.



There's no pictures allowed in the Abbey though there are the inevitable few that sneak a picture and are exposed by the flash.



We wandered over the tombstones in the floor, worn smooth from countless steps. At one point a person could pay to buried in the Abbey, but then it changed to just extremely important people and of course royalty. We past the tomb of Elizabeth I and Mary I, buried together. Of countless kings and bishops. It was surprisingly quiet, even with all the visitors-most holding audio tours to their ears.



I lingered at "Poet's Corner" and stared with awe at resting places of Byron, Dickens, Shelly, Kipling...


.......... Well, I'm back from the tower, however the electricity is out in my flat soooo do to my battery being .... no good, I can't stay on my computer long. Look for updates on Monday (when the Electrician comes)!