Monday, April 12, 2010

Monday--Westminster Abbey


Monday was royal history day as told by Hillary, a guide from the London Walks company. LW was a Greg Krehel recommendation and this tour, the Secrets of Westminster Abbey, was one he particularly liked. We met at 10:45 AM outside the Westminster tube station. I took the photo of Boadicea driving her chariot by crossing the street--she's driving her chariot and stone horses at the foot of Westminster bridge.

Boadicea is from way back in British history. Surprisingly, the Westminster Abbey tour spanned a wide time period. From the time the original church was built by Edward the Conqueror through Dr. Martin Luther King and the founders of London's Ballet many notables and non-notable though rich folk are either buried in the Abbey or memorialized there. The three hour tour took us through Radicals' Corner, Poets' Corner and of course an area devoted to literati with the grandest tomb belonging to William Shakespeare. No photos are permitted inside the church but I'll include one of the facades:

Indeed it's a grand structure without and within. It's the church of the Royals where almost all the kings and queens of England have been crowned. We saw the Coronation Chair and heard a detailed and sometimes funny commentary from Hillary throughout the 3-hour tour. I've seen enough tombs and walked across enough memorials to last for a while. It reminded me of the ornate tombs inside Santa Maria church in Florence (Italy, not SC).

By the time we concluded at 1 PM I was starved so I grabbed a hot dog and bag of potato chips from a vendor just outside the Abbey. It felt good to get off my feet while I ate my gourmet lunch and watched traffic and tourists go by.

The afternoon was young so I plugged in my iPod and tuned in a Rick Steves podcast of a Westminster Walk. I headed down Parliament Street to Whitehall heading toward Trafalgar Square, pausing the tour to go to the Churchill Museum and War Cabinet rooms. The museum's board has done a great job of restoring the WWII underground command center along with more detail about Winston Churchill than you can reasonably absorb in a short time. The audio guide was enjoyable. You can punch up numbered audio clips as you walk along the war room tour route.

I continued on the Whitehall walk post-museum. Weather was a bit overcast and breezy. I'm sure the temp didn't go much above 50 the whole day. I wore my polartec gloves and was happy I brought them. Sights: gate that guards 10 Downing Street, Horse Guards, the Coelanth obelisk, other military heroes on horses statues in mid-street along with an impressive monument to the women of WWII.

Stopped by The Clarence pub to wet my whistle--enjoyed a pint of Doombar ale and a bowl of dry roasted peanuts before pressing on.

Past Trafalgar Square I went to Covent Garden for a brief visit. Didn't buy anything there of note. I bought a London fridge magnet while waiting for the tour to begin in the AM.

After Covent Garden I called it a day for tourism and caught the tube at Leicester Square back to Chalk Farm. Once I returned to the flat I noted my pedometer's steps for the day: almost 7,000!

It took me a while studying the oven manual along with an email from Tricia get the oven fired up so I could warm up my Indian leftovers. I enjoyed a glass of wine while they heated up--they were definitely worth the trouble!

I saved a bit of money, too. That's another reason to rent a flat. I fix breakfast daily: cereal mix, banana and toast with butter, peanut butter and lime jam. Mmmmmmmmgood! Last folks in the flat thoughtfully left a box of Earl Grey teabags. A cuppa tea is a great way to start the day.

I'll end today's post with a shot that illustrates the shower is a bit cramped. Water is hot so no complaints from me. Cheers!



1 comment:

  1. Wow that was a lot of walking! I love Boadicea but have never seen that statue. Tombs and more tombs! Creative design on that shower for sure. is there a functional bathtub? You could take baths like Bertie Wooster, and Jeeves brings him his tea in the tub. All you need is a Jeeves...

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