Becki and Nanci’s European Adventure

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Todays goal was Westminster Abbey! I’ve been to London four times in the past 4 years and haven’t made it there yet. That was number 1 on my to-do list!

We decided to take a taxi because to ride the big bus would take too long and we wanted to arrive early. I also decided to take a guided tour because I thought we would learn more about some of the secrets of Westminster abbey.

When we arrived, there was a line to get tickets that doubled and tripled around the queue and I figured we’d never get in. So I stood aside order tickets online, but the earliest entry was 11:30. I showed my phone the guard who let us enter. When we got to the ticket booth, I explained that we were there early, because but we thought we had a 10 o’clock tour, however we had no confirmation. We were told no matter go in anyway. So your time ticket really doesn’t hold you to that time.

Now you can wander around Westminster Abbey and go just about anywhere you want to go and much of it is self-explanatory, but we chose to take the guided tour and I’m so glad. Our tour started at 10:30 and it included about 20 people. It was only an additional ten dollars to take the guided tour.

The tours are led by the Westminster Abbey vergers. This is a group of nine people who are trained to assist the clergy. They serve as greeters, guides, event planners and can spend their full career at the Abbey. Our verger, Benjamin, has been there 30 years. He was a delight! He was funny, interesting, and shared many stories and personal experiences.

Benjamin worked William and Kate’s wedding. (If you look online you can find a you tube of him doing cartwheels following the ceremonies) He worked the Queens funeral and Charles’ coronation! He was able to get us into places that weren’t open to the general public. It was truly worth it to take the guided tour.

Westminster Abbey once was an abbey housing Benedictine Monks in the mid 10th century. It got its first grand building when King Edward the confessor wanted to build a royal burial place for himself. He sure did!! It was finished and consecrated just 5 days before his death on January 5, 1066.

King Henry III decided that the Westminster be rebuilt using the gothic style. There is in place you can look up and see where the two different styles meet.

There are 3300 people buried there which included king, queens, poets, musicians, actors, military, and other famous persons. Some are not buried there but have a stone marker to honor their lives.

Every coronation of every monarch since 1066 has occurred at Westminster Abbey. The most recent was King Charles this past May. No monarch has been buried there since 1760 because of space limitations. There have only been 16 Royal weddings held there.

It is a most incredible place memorializing George Fredrick Handel, Sir Issac Newton, Mary Queen of Scots, Lawrence Olivier, William Shakespeare, and so many others. I’m so glad I finally made a visit.

Once we left there we walked to the Big Bus stop and rode it a few stops to The London Eye, the big Ferris wheel that has great views of the city. We learned not to ride in the afternoon because the sun is in your face when you’re trying to take pictures of Big Ben!!

We boarded the Bi Bus again and ride to St Paul’s Cathedral. By that time it was 4:30 and we had a choice to make. I had traced my mothers ancestors back to a marriage in the 1500’s at St James Garlickhythe Church. I wanted to visit there and St Paul’s but only had time to visit one. We chose St James.

While we didn’t find anyone to talk to at St James, we did get to walk around inside and take some pictures. Sadly I forgot my paperwork, so I can’t tell you their names. I’ll have to update that when I get home. St James today isn’t the structure in which my ancestors were married. That church burned down in the great fire of London in 1666 and was rebuilt and reopened by 1692. I’m so glad I got to visit!

By that time we were worn out and were so happy to hop on the Big Bus and head back to Paddington. We were getting along great until we got right beside theRiver Thames just where Big Ben came in to view and we stopped. We inches along for almost 2 hours before the traffic began moving again. We were still many stops from Paddington. They finally stopped the bus and separated us by what section of town we were staying

We finally made it back to Paddington around 8 pm. We were starved! We stopped in at a steak house, ate dinner, and headed home to The Balmoral House!!

Nite all!!

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