Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is one of the places I most wanted to see in London. So do most other visitors. We got up early to arrive a half hour before it opened to beat the worst of the crowds. Even then it was very crowded.

Photography is not allowed inside the Abbey, but the outside has some wonderful stonework that I can share. This is the western facade. The front (at the top of this post) faces north.

And this is a close up of some of the statues above the western door.

A nice clock.

The Deanery at Westminster Abbey. Here is a link that explains about it a bit.

A statue of Winston Churchill is across the plaza.
We spent about two hours touring the abbey. We saw the Coronation Chair, Poets Corner, tombs of several monarchs including Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, and King James, the nave, the Ladies Chapel, and so much more. We were even there for a brief prayer when everyone paused to listen to the priest and then back to our audio tours. I was especially wanting to see the Coronation Chair as I knew that we would soon be heading to Edinburgh where the Stone of Scone is kept with their crown jewels. Although I wasn't allowed to take a picture of that either, I'll tell more about it later.

As we were leaving we had to swim against the tide of everyone who was just arriving. I'm sure glad we got up early so we weren't in that mess!

Agendas

The Duchess of Cambridge said that, "Babies have their own agendas." Unfortunately our agenda didn't coincide with that baby's and we missed the royal birth by a week. It is probably for the best as I imagine the normal crowds have swelled to impassable in the streets around London.

We did see Buckingham Palace, although it was not as exciting as I had thought it might be. Our trip started near the Westminster Underground when we asked these gentlemen the best way to get to the Hard Rock Cafe. They told us to avoid the rush hour crush on the Underground and to walk for 20-30 minutes across two parks instead. We figured it would take us closer to an hour.

We passed 10 Downing Street. I was disappointed that this was the best view we could get.

We walked along the first park. For a looooong way.

Almost there!

I saw so many statues and can't keep them all straight. This is probably Victoria. Most statues are Victoria.

Here's the palace. It seemed smaller than I thought it would be. And I didn't expect it to be right on the street.

The press was camped out across the roundabout from the palace, waiting for the royal birth announcement.

We continued on our way towards Hard Rock but considered joining the queue to eat at the palace. Judging by those going in, we weren't dressed quite formally enough.

After walking for two hours we reached the Hard Rock Cafe, only to find the queue there was about a mile long. We got on a bus (my inner Mom made an appearance during this decision) and found a restaurant across town. I'm glad we did, because I had a great meal and the chef even brought me the recipe for the mango salsa they put on my salmon. I made it at home and it didn't taste quite the same though. Anyway, that's the story of how we found Buckingham Palace and didn't eat at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Windsor

Our trip to England was jam-packed with lots of interesting experiences and things to see. One side trip we took was to Windsor Castle. The Queen was home, as evidenced by the flag.

I didn't see any guards on top of the turrets, but there were plenty of redcoats on the grounds.

I was surprised to find that the castle isn't just one building, but rather a small village enclosed in a wall. There is a waterfall hidden in all this greenery. Pictures don't do it justice.

People, besides the Queen, live here. This little dog was running to greet his owners as they arrived home.

I imagine it takes an army of gardeners to maintain the elaborate gardens.

The changing of the guard takes place each day with lots of pomp. There was a band marching and playing as well.

And how could I pass up this opportunity?

The town of Windsor is right outside the castle walls.

There is plenty of shopping in Windsor.
We did get to tour the royal apartments, which are amazing! However, photography isn't allowed inside so you'll just have go see them for yourself!

Highlight of the Trip

Our spontaneous guide demonstrating how the original school bell works.

The story continues (you may have to scroll down to read the first part before reading this). While we ate at Ring of Bells (I highly recommend the Juicy Lucy!) our Helpful Gentleman was keeping an eye out on the church when another man arrived to do some painting. He explained that we had come all the way from America to see the church and the New Arrival agreed to show us around and give us a bit of history. It's easier for me to just caption the photos than write out the narration.

Looking toward the altar. This elaborate wooden piece went missing from the church and was later found in a thrift shop!

Another view

Our guide informed us that there was a dragon carved somewhere, but was reluctant to point it out. Oh, my!!! The three men further to the right (and not in this shot) were in an even more compromising situation.

Looking back toward the bell tower.

The Slade family arms. They are kind of The Family at this church.

Carved pews

Our guide told us that the amount of stained glass in the church suggests that this was a very wealthy church at one time. Unfortunately attendance has dwindled and they now share a minister with a neighboring church and only meet here every other week.

The ceiling over the altar area (not sure of the terminology). At one time the walls were just as elaborately decorated.

This is where Granny and Grandpa stood during their wedding ceremony.

A very successful journey indeed! I hope you enjoyed it.

**I just found this and it is fascinating! You really should read it.
***Here is a link to the church's website, giving a bit of the history. It is hard to believe this building has been standing here since the late 1200s!

The Reason We Went

Okay, this is going to be a two-parter because Blogger gets weird when I try to use lots of pictures. And this story is going to have LOTS of pictures.

For background information: I went to England with my sister, aunt, and a family friend. We went in search of the church where my grandparents were married during WWII.  Grandpa was a supply sergeant and Granny was an Army nurse. They were both stationed "Somewhere in England" as Granny always called it. The Somewhere was actually Norton Fitzwarren in Somerset.

We had tried to contact the minister without much luck. But we were undeterred. We left London by rail for the two hour ride to Taunton. From there we grabbed a taxi to Norton Fitzwarren, which was a further 10 minutes. We easily found All Saints Church, with it's gorgeous tower. However the door was locked and there was no sign of a church office.

It was a beautiful day so we were content to wander the surrounding cemetery and take photos of the interesting architectural details on the church.

That could have been the end of the story, but then we met our Helpful Gentleman as we were deciding whether to stay in town and eat lunch at the pub down the street from the church. We asked him if he went to the church (No) or if he knew anyone who could get us in (The lady in the second Close might still clean it). Aunt shared pictures of Granny and Grandpa's wedding and our HG grew very interested in our story.

He recommended we eat at the pub and if he found anything out he'd let us know before left town.
During our meal he came back to the pub twice. The first time he brought old prints of the church from the early last century for us to keep and the second he triumphantly placed a key on the table. We had a way in!

See Ya Later

M contemplates the water level

On my last night before leaving for London, the sun finally came out and we went out to survey the flooding. Unbelievable. This is the worst flooding here in 10 years, and remember that this is with a dam upriver which should help with flooding. We had over 6 inches of rain over the weekend and we are more than 17 inches above normal for the year. I'll be pre-posting photos on the (lately neglected) Chattanooga blog.

Rowing center parking lot gate arms are up, due to weight of water on sensors

As a consequence rowing has been cancelled for at least this week. So both kids are sleeping in instead of up at 5:30.

"Would ya look at that!"

London weather for the next week is sunny, high in the 70s. Yay! See ya later!

From One to Another

I have not been very good about getting out and documenting life lately. We haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I just decided that if blogging starts to  feel like "work" then I'm going to put it on hold. So I've been spending my leisure time reading (A Clash of Kings), watching tv/internet (Doc Martin--thanks for the suggestion Uncle P), and mapping my next adventure (England and Scotland).

Here are a few more pics from the last adventure. These are from Zion National Park. The last day we were on vacation we woke up in St. George, UT with plans to just drive to Las Vegas and sit in the hotel room, waiting to depart in the morning. Instead of that, we backtracked a bit to Zion and had an unplanned day of climbing and exploring. For some reason, our family has the best times getting off the known trails and just wandering. I was mostly interested in how many forms of life I could find on such seemingly lifeless rocks. These are just a few of the 60 pics from that day.

Our fearless guide

No movement on the hills?

Take a closer look!

Not many rivers, but lots of washes. I wouldn't want to be standing here in a flash flood!

Even the most "common" birds seem exotic, in that they are just a bit different than what can be found at home.