Today started off not being too cold but it quickly got to be easily our coldest day here. We started off going to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Wow, this place is HUGE and has so much art, jewelry, textiles and much much more. In all we probably spent about 3 hours here, most of which was spent in the jewelry exhibit. All I can say is I want it all - SO much gorgeous jewelry from such a long time ago (they had perfectly preserved jewels from the 1600s)! From there we decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the restaurant inside the museum (I had roast turkey with potatoes and my mom had roast lamb -- the best "quick service" meal I've ever had).
Our next stop was Westminster Abbey. This place is magnificently beautiful. Words simply cannot do it justice but I'll try. We decided to do the guided tour and luckily we only had 1 other women with us! The Abbey was believed to originally be built in 960 in a part of London that was then an island. King Edward (later named Saint Edward the Confessor) in 1065 began construction to enlarge and richly endow the church. However the building we see today is not that built by King Edward. King Edward was eventually buried in his abbey in 1066. Todays abbey, built in the French Gothic style, was completely rebuilt piece by piece on the orders of King Henry III between 1245 and 1272. During that time the King ran out of funds and in some parts of the abbey it is quite obvious - the ornate detail simply stops with about 100yards of marble arches left unadorned.
About 3,300 people are buried in the Abbey including Kings Edward, Henry III, Henry V, Queen Elizabeth I along with her half sister Queen Mary I (their father was King Henry III, Elizabeth's mother was Ann Boleyn). Although not buried at Westminster there are shrines to great authors in the poets corner including William Shakespeare.
We learned all about the ceremonies that occur during such events as coronation and weddings. Normally seating around 2,200 people during Queen Elizabeth II coronation extra seating was built and over 8,000 were in attendance! Whenever attending services at the abbey (which the Queen does about 3 times a year) she has a special seat in the quire next to where the choir sits. The Queen is the only person of the royal family allowed to sit in this seat and even if she is not in attendance the seat is left empty unless the Dean of the Abbey sits there. Well, can I just tell you that WE got to sit in her chair!!!! The tour guide says he has never allowed anyone to do so before but because there were only the 3 of us on the tour he didn't see a problem with letting us sit in her chair for a quick moment. Now how many people can say that?!!
Over all the tour took about 90 min. but I'm sure we could have spent much longer in there! It is defiantly a must see for anyone visiting London, even if you aren't religious, it's just AMAZING.
The rest of our day was pretty boring after that, we just ended up heading back to the hotel and eating room service for dinner - I was so tired and SO cold. Tomorrow we're going to ride the Eye and hit up Bond and Oxford streets for some shopping so that will be load of fun I'm sure!
-audrey
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