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)!

Over Hill Over Dale....I Doth Wander Everywhere....

Hello! Tonight I saw 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at a theatre in Covent Garden. Covent Garden is really a lovely place for shopping ( a bit pricey but...) and it was lots of pubs which look really fun (if you make sure to go before 11p.m cause that's last call here). The show was put on by the Royal Shakespeare Co. and I really enjoyed it. There was some use of dolls that was a bit creepy... nuff said. The theatre itself was beautiful, we got sat in the 'Grand Circle' which is the upper upper balcony (where they stick students). While we were surrounded by British High Schoolers the view of the stage wasn't that bad. But I started my blog with the end of my day instead of the begining. After theatre class this morning, Racheal and I decided to get out and go do something. The reason being that the past three days we've been more or less trapped in the flat do "Britain's Great Freeze." It snowed, probably 6 inches or so between Sunday night and Monday afternoon and London (and England for that matter) shut down! They just don't know what to do with snow! They were saying that it hadn't snowed like this in 18 years! People were walking in the snow with their umbrellas, scooping up snow with trowels, posting weather warnings! All of us Midwesterners just smiled, knowing we'd left at least three feet of snow back in the states. So, because of that, Rachael and I went to the British Museum! We saw the Rosetta Stone, parts of the Parthenon, Mummy's..... The British Museum is just so vast! The Field Museum could probably fit in the British Museum with room to spare! We walked around for at least two hours and probably only say 1/3 of what was there. But what I love about London is that all the Museums are free! So I'll be going back! Well, off to bed with me. I'm going for a tour of Westminster Abbey tomorrow!

Cheers!