The "touristy" Thing

I have now been in England just over two weeks and it has been filled with so much. I have met students from all over the world, seen a church that is 1000 years old, met locals, seen a bike race, walked paths in meadows, and that is only one weeks worth - also a week I will share on after this post about London.

I arrived without trouble (about two week ago) flights were smooth, and I didn’t miss my connection, but came close to it. I arrived in London and stayed in Brixton, which was an interesting area a bit dodgy, I am glad I wasn’t staying there alone. But the accommodation wasn’t terrible and the location made it easy to travel into the centre of London. I stayed in London for 3 days and did all of the touristy things. I did a bus tour and saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and everything on the road in between! We got out and toured around St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

SAINT PAUL’S CATHEDRAL:

Have you ever been to a cathedral? Notre Dame de Paris, Milan Cathedral, St. Paul’s, St. Basil’s, St. Stephen’s, St. Michael’s, St. Isaac’s, St. Mary’s, Westminster Abbey, Christ Church Cathedral? They are impressive! I have been to a small list compared to the number in the world but they have never ceased to amaze me. It has the second largest dome, only to the Vatican in Italy. It is a sight to see. I find it fascinating that people are buried in old churches the following is a bit about the famous burials at the Cathedral:

Nelson's Tomb: 
Lord Nelson was famously killed in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and buried in St Paul's after a state funeral. He was laid in a coffin made from the timber of a French ship he defeated in battle. 
The black marble sarcophagus that adorns his tomb was originally made for Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Chancellor during the reign of Henry VIII in the early sixteenth century. After Wolsey's fall from favour, it remained unused at Windsor until a suitable recipient could be found. Nelson's viscount coronet now tops this handsome monument. 

Wellington's Tomb: 
Lord Wellington rests in a simple but imposing casket made of Cornish granite. Although a national hero, Wellington was not a man of glory in his victories. 'Nothing except a battle lost can be held so melancholy as a battle won,' he wrote in a despatch of 1815, the year in which he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
 The Duke was known as The Iron Duke and as a result of his tireless campaigning, has left a colourful list of namesakes - Wellington boots, the dish Beef Wellington and even a brand of cigars. He also coined some memorable phrases. He gave the expression ' . . . and another thing' to the English language and declared 'The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.' 
The banners hanging around Wellington's tomb were made for his funeral procession. Originally, there was one for Prussia, which was removed during World War I and never reinstated.

Sir Christopher Wren's Tomb: 
Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul's, is buried in the south aisle at the east end of the crypt. His tomb is marked by a simple stone and is surrounded by memorials to his family, to Robert Hooke (Wren's associate and intellectual equal) and to the masons and other colleagues who worked on the building of St Paul's. The Latin epitaph above his tomb, written by his son famously addresses us: 'Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.'
 In the same section of the crypt are many tombs and memorials of artists, scientists and musicians. They include the painters Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir John Everett Millais; the scientist Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin; the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan); and the sculptor Henry Moore.

The Chapel of St Faith: Chapel of the Order of the British Empire: 
The original St Faith's was a parish church attached to the old cathedral destroyed in the Great Fire of London. During the rebuilding of St Paul's, this chapel was dedicated to St Faith close to the foundations of the former church and offered parishioners their own place of worship in the building. 
In 1960 this chapel became the spiritual home to the Order of the British Empire. King George V created the Order in 1917, in recognition of the contribution made by women during the First World War. Until then no woman had been eligible for an award, although an exception was made for Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern British nursing. The OBE was separated into military and civil divisions in 1918. Today, award-holders of the OBE and members of their family may be married and baptised in the chapel. 

BUCKINGHAM PALACE & GARDENS:

The next part of the tour we saw the State Rooms (public rooms) of the famous palace. Each year Buckingham Palace is open to the public during the summer months (mid/end of July – end of September). I got lucky; they were only open another six days after I was there. It was beautiful! Of course, we could not take pictures inside the palace, but it was truly immaculate. Each summer that the palace is open they feature some different; this year it was Royal Childhood. So, throughout they had photographs of the royal families with their children, or photographs of them as kids in various rooms (various but only the State Rooms or public places). They did also have a section that showed photographs of the children and then had the outfit also on display, or the same with baby blankets and cribs – most of which were gifts. They did have young George’s baby blanket – gift from President Obama and wife Michelle – for is christening. Little George probably never used the blanket but it was interesting to see the toys the young royal’s grew up with. (George is Prince William and Kate Middleton’s little boy, also the blue blanket can be seen by googling it). After the clothing-blankets-cribs room I saw a room full of play automobiles. Yes, that is right. State-of-the-art child’s play, automobiles, and campers…it was insane. I mean I can’t image how much each one cost! The audio tour may have told us but I got extremely nauseated in the clothing-blankets-cribs room and had to quickly finishing walking through the tour out to the back patio and bathrooms. Can you image “Yea, so today I throw up in Buckingham Palace.” Um, no! That would have been terrible – and also extremely original. BUT I didn’t, I sprinted to the end of the tour and after some tea and a sandwich and sitting around for about an hour I felt better. The Palace has 60 acres of “gardens” as well, which we walked through to exit but didn’t really get to see much of. Mainly I could see a large field, with trees and paths in the distance leading to some exiting places, and a few spots I am sure would be great to get married in, if only that were a possibility.

I have much more to report on but for now I will stop here so this post doesn’t grow to astronomical lengths! I have added in some helpful links below.

To try out the site I used to find my accommodation in London then try this site www.airbnb.com

If you would like to find out more about St. Paul’s Cathedral then visit either of these sights: http://www.stpauls.co.uk or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul's_Cathedral

More information on Buckingham Palace and photographs of the State Rooms that can be found online: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-state-rooms-buckingham-palace

Here is a bit of Buckingham Palace history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace

Also, who doesn’t love a bit more information on the royal family? Well that can be see here: http://www.royal.gov.uk or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Royal_Family

I hope you have a most blessed day,

Carlie J