Westminster and Kensington

I'm a day behind on this record, but let's start with today.

Today began early and we popped out of the Westminster Tube station with an unexpected and breathtaking view of Parliament and Big Ben. We were right across the street from it as we came up a deep stairway. Unfortunately, in order to get inside we would've had to book ahead of time, so we had to content ourselves with snapping away at the outside and staring up at it from the sidewalk. We were not alone. In between those trying to get to work were dozens of other tourists cluttering things up and nearly getting run over.  Anyway, it was absolutely stunning. Did I mention how much I love Gothic architecture? I could stare at the windows and vaulting and gargoyles forever.

We next dashed across the street to Westminster Abbey. We approached from the side and sort of missed the full-on glamor of the front entrance, but I could hardly care. Speaking of gargoyles, the ground-level archways here had a never-ending assortment of dragons curled about the bases of empty pedestal-like protrusions. Each was a different dragon and I hard a difficult time not trying to photograph every one.

Inside the abbey was absolutely awe-inspiring. I think I could arguably link it to my self-"study" of wonder simply because no one who walks into this place is unaffected. Even with hordes of the least considerate tour groups yet, I admit to being frozen in place with awe a couple of times. The view from the organ screen gave me chills. The organ is split (? Or there are two) on each wall adjacent to the richly decorated screen which includes a memorial to Isaac Newton. He was buried in the church. Nearby is a memorial to Charles Darwin, who was actually buried elsewhere. Through the screen was the choir (spelled quire, for whatever reason) with rich, dark wooden seats. I bet the acoustics in here are wonderful. Elsewhere the are long winding paths (ambulatories) which have, over the centuries, been filled with tombs, memorials, and grand statues almost to the point of blocking the pathway. Poets' Corner, on the opposite side, is much more open. It commemorates many English writers, mostly poets. The corner was begun because Chaucer was buried here at his death. Strangely, it was because he had friends in the abbey and worked for the government at the time that he was able to be buried here, not due to any recognition for his writing.  Also, a large number of monarchs were buried here, including Elizabeth and Mary who were buried one on top of the other but with only the effigy of Elizabeth.

 I also (FINALLY!!!) got to see my favorite ceiling: Henry VII's Lady Chapel. Much to my dismay, no photos were allowed inside the abbey. I will have to live with just the memory and some bad black and white photos in an old textbook. They won't do justice to it, I'm sure. There are round, flowery lace-like areas that drop down to end in delicate knobs. Like paper ghosts made out of doilies, only much better. The designs are still crisp and clean and seem to be completely intact.

After Westminster, we explored the more homey palace of Kensington, where we had a lovely proper English tea. But I am too tired to write about that. If I'm nice to myself I'll update later. If not, there is a lot of nice info in the souvenir book we bought. (There's also a good book for the Tower, which was awesome and took most of yesterday to explore. I'll also write about that when I'm not pooped. Ha.) After tea were the gardens and a meandering walk back to the hotel with stops at vaguely interesting clothing shops and the more interesting grocery store. We had wine and cheese and bread and apple and chocolate night! Everything was good except for the wine.... :/