peace and concord
This afternoon (and may I say, almost every day begins in the afternoon; the only day I am required to wake up earlier than 11 is Thursdays), Manuel and I went to Westminster Abbey, paid our nine quid each, got our audio guides narrated by Jeremy Irons, and proceeded to spend about 3 hours wandering the grounds, separating for most of it and exploring on our own. I quite honestly have zero adequate words to describe it. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a place that was filled with such a combination of history, religion, royalty and beauty. Besides the breathtaking architecture, the fact that I was in a building where some of the most important people have worshipped, been coronated, been married, and been buried is pretty overwhelming. Suffice it to say that it one building, I saw the tombs/burial places of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, St. Edward the Confessor, Henry V, Hnery VII, Richard II, James I (and about 20 other monarchs and their spouses), Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, George Frederick Handel, Laurence Olivier, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Rudyard Kipling, Samuel Johnson and Edmund Spesnser, among hundreds of other various monks, nobility, relatives of nobility, soldiers, artists and persons of note whom I either don’t know or don’t recall. I’ve seen the chair in which every monarch has been crowned for the last 700 years and seen rooms and wall paintings that date back to the medieval times. Photos weren’t allowed inside the Abbey (I have a couple though, but for the most part thought it was probably quite disrespectful anyway), but outside around the cloisters and in other adjoining rooms I don’t think the rules were upheld, so I still have quite a few photos.
Near the quire
Apparently he was only buried here for a couple years until the monarchy was restored, at which point they dug up his body, hanged it, and decapitated it. Note to self: don’t overthrow a monarchy. It will come back to haunt you.
Chapter Room, where the monks would have a chapter of the Bible read aloud every day
Paintings on the walls of the Chapter Room from about 1400
The Pyx Chamber, where they used to keep the gold and silver against which the currency in circulation would be measured. This room is almost 920 years old.
Quite an impressive list.
The view of Victoria Tower from the College Gardens of Westminster. Parliament is in session.
Please open the oldest door in Britain for me. 959 years and counting. Though I don’t think that lamp is quite as old.
We attempted to go visit Parliament across the street after we left the Abbey, but the queue was rather long so we walked back to Leicester for some dinner. By the time we came back at about 6:30, there was only a short wait to go through security (by the way, the security guards there were probably the nicest people ever), and we were able to go into the House of Commons and watch the British legislative branch in action. Since it was about 7 at night when we finally got in, there weren’t many MPs still around, but the ones that were there were having a rather interesting debate on welfare reform, and we ended up staying about 45 minutes, watching and listening to the MPs and the deputy Speaker discussing whether or not a certain bill would best serve those disabled or otherwise currently on welfare…that was quite a run on sentence, but no matter. I thought it was incredibly interesting to sit up in the gallery and hear what representatives from all over England and Scotland had to say about the matter, and I’m sure I’ll go back multiple times; it makes me feel a lot more connected to the country when I know how the government works and what kinds of issues are currently important and highly debated.
After we had exhausted our brains listening to what much more intelligent people than ourselves had to say on a matter that we are sorely uneducated about, we took the tube back home and I’ve been sitting around and doing some reading for class ever since. That being said, it’s time for sleep now, but I have a couple pictures from inside Parliament before then.
I swear I’ll stop taking pictures of Big Ben someday
Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.
Good night all.
