English Churches

I’ve really fallen behind posting pictures from my trip to England. Jenn has already posted all of hers, and I’m barely on day three. I blame the annoying cold we seem to have brought home with us. Better to be sick right after vacation than during I suppose.

Anyway, on our second full day in London we decided to see the churches: Wesminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. If there was time, we’d check out Shakespeare’s Globe Theater as well. (Or perhaps it was St. Paul’s that was the optional one.) Anyway, we started with Westminster Abbey and both really enjoyed it, much more than I think either of us expected. Or at least more than I expected. Unfortunately they don’t allow photography inside, so all you get is a couple pictures of the outside my description.

The interior was awesome — totally packed with tombs and memorials to the royalty of England, as well as some other famous personages. Each marker was beautiful in its own right, and they were really packed in. There was barely enough room to walk the tourist path through the place. But more than just beautiful sculpture, there was a very cool sense of a mixture of history and utility. This wasn’t just a tourist site, this was a working church. What really hit this home for me was when we got to poet’s corner, and encountered the Tennyson Society performing a little memorial due to its being the anniversary of his death. I stayed for the whole thing, and really enjoyed just standing there in Westminster listening to a woman recite some of his poetry. It was really awesome.

After that, we headed on over to St. Paul’s, but after poking our heads inside decided it was not worth the cost of entry just to see the view from the top. We wanted to move on, so we crossed the millennium bridge and walked over to Shakespeare’s Globe theater, which sadly was closed. Finally, we decided to just cut our losses and go check out Harrod’s before returning to the hotel for the evening. I’ll save the Harrod’s pictures for another post. For now, enjoy Westminster, St. Paul’s, and a few other sites along the way: