This morning we awoke to a glorious fall-like day. The sun was shining brightly and the
temperature was close to 70 °.
After breakfast we headed
out to see some more of London.
Our hotel is actually at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 (we don’t even have to go
outside to get to and from the flights or to the underground). It’s a lovely place and so quiet that
you can’t hear the planes at all.
Our first stop today was the British Museum. What a wonderful place it is! We spent most of our time in the Egyptian,
Assyrian and Greek galleries. Some
of the artifacts on display are as old as 5000 years and yet the carvings
and workmanship are so exquisite.
Seeing the Rosetta Stone is a highlight, but unfortunately the photos
didn’t turn out because of the glare from its case. We spent a lot of time looking at the Elgin marbles that
came from the Parthenon. We’ll see
that building when we go to Athens in 2 weeks. Hopefully we’ll be able to visualize the things we saw today
in their original location.
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| Marble Horse from the Parthenon |
After visiting a few other galleries and a special exhibit
it was time to move on. We decided
to try walking from the museum to Westminster Abbey (third times a
charm!). Along the way we found a
pub for a pub lunch and, of course, a pint of beer. The lovely weather had brought everyone outside and the
streets and restaurants we passed
were full.
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| Our visit to a pub |
As I said, third times a charm. We got to the Abbey and were just in time to join a tour
conducted by one of the Dean’s Vergers.
He was a wonderful guide who
gave us so much information about the history of both the Abbey and
Britain. While I had been there before, I
didn’t until today have an appreciation of all there was to see. In addition to historic events, our guide was able to
tell us about some more modern occurrences such as William and Kate’s wedding last year. Our guide was the clergyman who
escorted Prince William and Prince Harry out from the side chapel where they
were waiting to the main altar for the ceremony. I shall have to find a video of the ceremony and see if I
recognize him.
By the time we finished our tour, it was close to 5 PM so we
decided to call it a day We’ll
be back for a couple of nights on our way home, so we’ll try to see some of
what we missed this time around.
We decided that London is a place we could spend days in and just
scratch the surface. It has made
it to our list of favorite cities.
And today we walked nearly 8 miles again. Good thing we're flying tomorrow. Our feet need a break!
And today we walked nearly 8 miles again. Good thing we're flying tomorrow. Our feet need a break!
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