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Published: June 11th 2017
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. - St. Augustine We had a very enjoyable day today touring Westminster Abbey and meeting up with a travel friend for a pub lunch. But first, yesterday. We had a nice late morning (Susan went to church and I had a lie-in and worked on the blog). Later Antony and Lynn picked us up to meet the rest of the family at a restaurant in Uxbridge for lunch. We had an excellent lunch at Rucola, an Italian restaurant. There was a big group of Susan's family: aunt, uncle, cousins and cousins' children.
It was really nice for Susan to see so many of her family she rarely gets to see, and especially to see her uncle and aunt, who are getting up in years.
We didn't get back to Carolann's till 5:30 ish, and we had a cup of tea, and spent a quiet evening watching Coronation Street episodes (perfect!)
Today we had another leisurely morning, not getting up till close to 8:30. We had coffee and toast and peanut butter for breakfast, then walked to the nearby tube station. We
got the District Line to St. James's Park station, where the London Walks tour of Westminster Abbey was to meet. We waited around for a bit but didn't see the guide. There was a family also waiting there, and the father called to check, and it turns out the Walk was to meet at Westminster Station, not St. James's Station. I had gone by the London Walks brochure the guide gave us the other day at the Little Venice walk, which I didn't notice was for the winter season (starting Nov 1). When I compared it to the printed brochure I had, there was a change in meeting place (the summer season met at Westminster Station). Anyway, it all turned out fine as we met the group outside the Westminster Abbey gift shop. I'm just so happy that family was also waiting and called to check. (We have our phones but don't have a data plan so can't use them except when we're on wifi).
The tour lasted close to 2 hours and was really interesting. I enjoyed hearing about the amazing history of the Abbey and seeing the beautiful interior. The guide was excellent and made the place
come alive. No photos are permitted inside Westminster Abbey, but I knew this in advance. I had checked online this morning so I knew no photos would be allowed. But they have a photo gallery online which you can download, which I did, as I knew I would not be able to take photos. So all the photos on this blog entry of the interior of the Abbey are courtesy of their website (www.westminster-abbey.org).
The Abbey was first built in the 11th C, but most of the interior you see is from the 13th C. It is amazing now, and must have been truly mind-blowing for the people of the 13th C. The next time there is a royal wedding (or a coronation) on TV (royal weddings and coronations are held at the Abbey) Susan and I will be able to say "we were there!"
The Abbey was very busy, with lots of people and groups touring, and if they allowed photos it would have been chaos, with people posing and selfie sticks whacking people. I would have spent all my time trying to get photos without a zillion heads (which would have been impossible) instead of paying
attention to the guide and just taking everything in.
After our tour we had a quick look in the very nice gift shop (we got a t-shirt and a couple of Christmas tree ornaments). We then took the tube from St. James to Blackfriars, where we were to meet Carolann (Susan's cousin) and a travel friend who we met on our Cambodia-Vietnam trip two years ago, Chris White (and his partner Sandra). Carolann was there waiting but no Chris and Sandra. We ordered a pint and, after a bit they turned up (they had gone to a nearby very similarly named pub first). We had an enjoyable time catching up with Chris and getting to know Sandra, over several drinks. I wanted a cheese and pickle sandwich but they didn't serve that, so I had smoked salmon cakes, with a salad, which was very nice. Later we had peanuts and their homemade crisps (chips to us Canadians).
We then took the tube back to Ealing-Broadway (the nearby station) and walked the 15 min back to Carolann's. We had a cup of tea and Susan and Carolann have gone to the nearby "chippy" but I am too stuffed from
lunch so I decided to stay here and finish the blog. We'll watch a few more episodes of Corrie when they get back - yay!
Tomorrow we have booked a 1/2 day tour to Windsor Castle for the morning. In the afternoon we will visit Susan's aunt and uncle, then in the evening meet some of the family at a fish restaurant for dinner. Then we fly home the following day - Wednesday. I can't really believe we'll be home in a few days! I'm sad for our trip to be finishing, but it will be nice to be home, and to have time to reflect on everything we have seen and done over the past month.
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Derek Baker
non-member comment
What happened to the camels?