Jan. 5
We woke up early and took a long Underground ride to the Westminster Abby stop. Once out of the tunnel, we were greeted with more fog and chilly temps. The surrounding area was quite interesting, especially since we were early and crowds were minimal.
The entrance to Westminster was not even open yet. We stood in line for just 5 minutes and were some of the first people inside. From the outside the Abby is massive with flying buttresses and an impeccable restoration. The stones on the outside have visible patchwork, but inside, things look untouched. We discovered many tombs and monuments to some of England's finest scholars, writers, musicians, and political figures. I knew that this was a massive church, but did not know that there was this huge amount of history inside. Some of the names and monuments that stuck out to us were Purcell, Handel, Newton, Churchill, Wilde, Dickens, all the kings and queens, Jane Austin, and Chaucer, just to name a few. The Churchill site is right when you enter the main doors to the church in the center of the floor. This stood out to me as maybe the most important place to be buried. I guess if he failed in WW2 the whole place might have been leveled by the Nazis? We didn't enter this door as a tourist, but as a formal procession, this is how you would enter. On the right side of the main entrance, there is a prominent FDR monument as well. Pretty cool.
After taking our time in the Abby, we walked onto Waterloo Bridge to get a good view of Big Ben and the Parliament building. From this different angle the sights were impressive. I took a few pictures and we headed to Buckingham Palace. I'm glad we didn't hurry for the changing of the guard, because it did not happen today. But, we still saw a few door guards with the cool furry hats. We took a long walk through St. James Park and found a place to sit and eat. Surrounding us were several types of birds. Some I had never seen before. They were all causing quite a racket and it was cool to watch the people interact with them.
From Buckingham Palace, we went to a Trafalgar Square. We took a little break here just to people watch for a while. I found the security guards entertaining. They had to continually ask people not to feed the pigeons and climb on the giant lion statues. On the north side of the square is the National Gallery. We thought it would be a great idea to go in and see what it was all about. This is another "free" museum with a recommended donation. Nice. We were able to see some paintings by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, and many others. Amazingly, you could get very close to these impressive pieces of art. After 2 hours in there, we decided to skip out on a real lunch and wait for dinner. By doing this, we had some time to hit up the British Museum once more.
We walked from the National Gallery to the British Museum. It's not exactly close, but we didn't want to pay another 2.60£ a person to go a few blocks. Once inside, we went upstairs to catch a glimpse of the stuff we missed out on the previous visit. I wanted to see the early European and Greek displays. There is WAY too much to see. We ended up in the clocks and coins areas, which I found intriguing. The displays were first class with great lights and were not cluttered. I have been trying this new museum technique that doesn't always work. I find a cool area and know that I can't read everything, so I just slowly cruise through and stop at only a few things. It's OK to miss some items. You just have to know that someday you will come back and check it out again. Or, at least tell yourself that.
We were feeling exhausted after all this walking and museum touring and were in search of dinner. We didn't want to go all out on a pub quite yet. That was something we wanted to do tomorrow, so we settled for McDonalds right by our hotel. McDonalds restaurants were all over in France and in London so far. We normally don't eat McDonalds at home, but like to eat at them in other countries because of the weird items on the menu. Maybe this was a good idea to try one of them? It turned out to be a strange experience. I ordered a Big Tasty burger, which used to be sold at home. I never had one in the USA, since we eat at McDonalds maybe once every year or two. I have decided the burger was discontinued in the USA for good reason. The sauce on it is a fake chargrilled flavor and it is giant. I had problems understanding the cashier, and he spoke English. The music was loud and had a tinny sound. It was difficult to get the burger down, but at least the fries were good.
The evening was spent typing blog posts in the room. I found this a much needed thing to do while letting my stomach settle from the bomb I put down the hatch. Rumble. Rumble. Then I couldn't sleep and ended up watching an entire Nicholas Cage film. That was proof I could not sleep. Once again, good story, horrible actor. I needed the rest, but it just wasn't in the cards. Tomorrow, we plan to hit up the Tate Modern and walk all over the city. Then, the next day will be travel back to the States.
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