From Abbeys to Towers

Friday

            Friday morning we woke up early to beat the crowds to Westminster Abbey.  We were successful and we had the Abbey mostly to ourselves, which was nice.  Westminster is a beautiful old cathedral, but at times it feels like a museum as almost anybody who was important in his or her life is buried there.  Some of the more well known include: Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Bloody Mary, Queen Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell, Laurence Olivier, and several others.  There is an entire section of the Abbey dedicated to famous writers that is called Poet’s Corner.  Chaucer was the first one to be buried there and was followed by George Eliot, T. S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, Dryden, Edmond Spenser, Ben Jonson, Robert Browning, Samuel Johnson, Tennyson, Henry James and many more.  There are also several more authors commemorated there such as Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Thackeray, the Bronte sisters and countless others.  We saw the chapter house where the monks would gather each day to hear a chapter read from the Bible.  Westminster is also where every monarch has been crowned since 1066, and they have been using the same coronation chair since then which we also saw.  In addition, the tomb to the Unknown Soldier is there.  It is also a popular location for Royal weddings: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were married there and more recently so were Will and Kate.  Furthermore, we ventured into the museum that had several artifacts such as Lord Nelson’s uniform and Queen Mary’s coronation chair (William and Mary are the only monarchs in Britain’s history who ruled jointly). 

            After seeing the Abbey, we went to the adjoining church called St. Margaret’s.  This was traditional for the more ordinary people and was later used by the House of Commons during the Puritan Revolution, as they disliked the high church practices of Westminster.  Milton attended church there and was also married there.  Winston and Clementine Churchill chose it for their wedding as well.  The church felt more like a place of worship as it had fewer tourists, no monuments, and an organist playing the organ in the background.

            Our next stop was the Tower of London.  To get there, we took a boat ride down the Thames!  We saw the famous London Bridge (which is an ugly concrete bridge. Rather anti-climatic).  Our tour guide pointed out many sites of interest and gave us some classic British humor in his commentary: “See that building? (Parliament)  That houses Big Ben.  The bell is supposedly cracked.  As are most of the people who work there.”  This was given in typical British deadpan style.  I personally rather enjoyed it. 

            Upon arriving at the Tower, we also saw the famous Tower Bridge (it is the famous one with two towers.  It is NOT London Bridge, which it is usually mistaken for).  Currently, the Tower Bridge has Olympic Rings hanging from it.  Once we got into the Tower we saw the White Tower first.  The Tower first functioned as Castle for the Normans when they invaded England.  It later held armor, and of course political prisoners who were tortured.  We saw a reconstruction of the various means of torture: the rack, manacles, and scavenger’s daughter.  If you want to know the specifics of what each of those do, I suggest you Google it. They were gruesome.  We did see the famous ravens that are kept on the grounds.  There was a prophecy during Charles II reign that if the ravens escaped, the kingdom would fall.  As a result, they are watched very carefully.  We saw where the prisoners were held and the graffiti that they etched into the walls (they had a lot of time on their hands and the graffiti was very elaborate).  On a less gruesome note, we saw the Crown Jewels, which are housed in the Tower.  To see the Jewels, you go on a moving sidewalk that slowly sweeps you by each jewel.  They were gorgeous, so sparkly they almost looked like costume jewelry. 

            After the Tower, we did our laundry at the local laundry mat to ensure that we have clean clothes for our upcoming Southern Excursion that begins Monday.  Dr. Ryken called this a “socially redemptive activity”. 

            Friday night, a group of us went to see the show 39 Steps, which is a play version of the famous Hitchcock film.  I’ve never seen the film, but the play was hysterical.  Four actors played over one hundred roles, which was extremely impressive.  They also made numerous references to other Hitchcock films and spoofed many old film clichés.  As a lover of old films, I really enjoyed it.  It was a great end to a wonderful day.