Monthly Archive for March, 2005

Today we toured Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, great day for it as it was a little overcast and chillier than it’s been up till now and both churches were bustling with clergy preparing for Easter services. Neither of them allow photographs inside the building so we’re only able to show you the outside but I think you’ll find them gorgeous anyway.

First Westminster;

• First monks settled here in 960.
• Our friend Willy who built the Tower of London was crowned here in 1066
• The present church was started by Henry III in 1245
• The latest addition to the Abbey are the West Towers added in 1745 so Sara you’ve got 499 years of renovations ahead of you if you want to match the Abbey’s record

Inside we saw the Tombs of various Kings, Queens, poets and other notables. I think the most intriquing was the tomb that Elizabeth I shares with her half sister Mary I. They weren’t exactly buddies in life but Mary’s son James I put his mother in the same tomb as her half sister once he became King. Not sure who he was trying to punish but the place certainly didn’t feel like they slept easily together.

Dad, Dylan Thomas’ epitaph reads: “Time held me green and dying/Though I sang in my chains like the sea . .”

After the Abbey we walked past Parliment and cajoled a passerby into taking our first picture together…

Then it was on the Tube to St. Paul’s. St. Paul’s is a baby compared to Westminster having been begun in 1675 and completed 35 years later. It’s huge; 157 meters long, 76 meters wide and 111 meters high. Keep the height in mind. Here’s what it looks like from ground level.

Again we can’t show you any of the inside but it’s all very ornate and the main dome which stretches all the way up those 111 meters is inspiring.

Inside on the main floort the other highlight for me was the tomb of Arthur, Duke of Wellington and the memorial for Horatio, Lord Nelson.

After looking at various plaques, monuments and tombs to the ‘great and good’ we climbed up 259 steps to the Whispering Gallery. Here we saw the fantastic painting on the dome of the cathedral close up. You’re also supposed to be able to hear a whisper from the other side because of the great acoustics but between shouting kids and a crew who are restoring the paintings we couldn’t get it to work.

Up another 378 steps you come to the stone gallery. This one is an outside gallery and we were able to take some pictures here.

We climbed another 259 steps to the Golden Gallery where we took alot more pictures, here’s a few of the highlights.

We then climbed back down (which is 13 extra steps at 543) for a total of 1083 stairs (so far). We then descended into the crypt where we saw Lord Nelson’s actual tomb, Florence Nightingale’s tomb and the Winston Churchill memorial gates.

After all these steps we descended into the Underground (we were way to tired to count how many steps down) and grabbed some dinner.

Tomorrow it’s off to Stonehenge and Windsor at 7:40 in the morning so we’ll sign off here.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Our more observant readers will be wondering “where the heck is George?”. Well at Westminster we took him out but the first thing he saw was this; He was so frightened he refused to come out for the rest of the day.

P.P.S We’re going to have to skip Gretna Green; much as we’d love to see Scotland our next stop is Brussel and then Amsterdam before heading south.

Today we thought we’d take the hop on hop off double decker bus tour around the major sites in London with an eye to covering ‘everything’ quickly and then going back to see certain things in more detail starting tomorrow. Unfortunately almost as soon as we boarded the bus George pulled a loaded bananna and demanded to be taken the the Tower of London . The bus driver turned out to be a former SAS man and disarmed George quickly and got us back on track. We saw all of the major sites and managed to get pictures of many of them, some of them even good pictures. This is one of the not so good ones, not because Ali doesn’t look great but because I managed to cut off the top of the statue which looks like this, . The statue is known as the Eros statue though it’s supposed to be an Angel not a greek deity. Next stop Marble Arch, the backside of Buckingham Palace , and Little Ben. Ali also got a great shot of his big brother; Big Ben . Past the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and into Trafalgar Square. Where I being a dutiful son took a dozen or so pictures of Nelson’s Column, the best of which is unfortunately this; . Finally we went to Canada House where the bobbies had released George into the custody of our ambassador after his unfortunate behaviour in the morning. This evening we took in Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in the West End. All and all a real busy day so we’ll sign off here with a quick thanks for all of your great comments and wishes.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

Just a quick note to say we’ve arrived safe and sound in London and checked into the Hotel Russell, a great big Victorian place built in 1900. We took the train from Heathrow to Paddington planning to change there for a train to Russell Square. Unfortunately they found a “suspicious package” at a station on the line we needed and shut it down. Anyway this led to Ali’s first ride in one of those fantastic London cabs. Not sure why they haven’t caught on anywhere else. We’re going to unpack and take an orientation tour. Best to you all and thanks for your good wishes.

Mark & Ali