Our Last Day in London -- Wednesday June 5, 2013

(As a disclaimer before I start today, you notice that I don't write every day.  We're too busy!  I'm not sure I can hold up with all this activity! Be sure to sign up for e-mail notification so you don't have to waste timing checking the site needlessly!)

Our first week has flown by! We are down to our last day in London.

We decided upon two attractions for today:  Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Since Westminster Abbey was closed for the last two days to the public due to the Jubilee Celebration for Queen Elizabeth, we knew it was going to be crowded.  We arrived to find the ticket line snaking around on both ends--whether you were purchasing by cash or credit.  But the line moved surprisingly fast.

When you go in they give you headphones and an audio tour which I really like.  It gives you a lot of information you can digest at your own pace.  It's really a beautiful building and hard to imagine how old it is.  We spent a few hours here going in and out of all the little nooks and crannies with throngs of people!  I have to say, though, that the crowds really took away the enjoyment for me.  I felt jostled around and part of a herd.

Coming to England I had some naive notions.  As you know, I'm a Genealogy nut! Since Ed has ancestry that I have confirmed who lived in London, I had hoped to 'walk the streets' where they lived.  I envisioned having Ed & Jane go off to visit a museum or a show while I wandered the London streets taking pictures of the locations where they lived. NOT! 

It is such a busy, bustling city I would have no concept of how to get someplace. Can you say 'church mouse in the big city'?  Traffic is unbelievable! And since Ed has many ancestors from way back buried in Westminster, I thought for sure I could find their graves and markers.  Once there, however, I realized I had no chance of that either.  It appears every famous person in the world wanted a placard to be here in the Abbey. 

After a few hours here, we decided to head toward our second goal:  Saint Paul's Cathedral.  We jumped on the Underground and planned to get off close to our destination to find some lunch.  It was very easy going even though we had never been on this line.  We found a little restaurant Dion right next to St. Paul's.

Food was good and we were able to sit outside and people watch while having lunch. Very enjoyable.

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's was delightful and I have to say, my favorite of the day.  It's very majestic looking both inside and out.  St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604.^[1] St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother church of the Diocese of London. The present church dating from the late 17th century was built to an English Baroque design of Sir Christopher Wren, as part of a major rebuilding program which took place in the city after the Great Fire of London, and was completed within his lifetime


Here, to, they give you an audio headset so that you can learn about the cathedral at your own pace. 

Now this structure is certainly a lot younger the Westminster Abbey.  It's also brighter and in many ways seemed more ornate to me.  They offer visitors the opportunity to go up to the top of the structure which has a great view of the city.  However, you have to climb about 586 stair to do it.
This is where Ed & I parted.  I finished up the audio tour while he headed upward.  I then headed to the Crypt to take a look around. I decided to have proper tea in the Crypt Café while waiting for Ed.

We had to weave our way back to Northwood where Jane was picking us up earlier then usual.  Our plan was to print out our boarding passes for our flight to Ireland tomorrow, have a nice dinner in Denham to end our week, and then do most of our packing tonight.

The Swan Inn

Jane suggested The Swan Inn in Denham, England as a nice place to eat.  She was right!  We got there early enough to take a walk down the street passing houses covered in Wisteria.  About a block away was a Church with an ancient (and new) cemetery.  Headstones marked from the 1600's and the twentieth century.  Very interesting.

Dinner was delicious!  But they didn't have Eton Mess for dessert!  Eton Mess has become my new favorite dessert.  We had it the first night we arrived in England at the home of Wendy and Dave and then Jane bought some for my birthday celebration--they both had a little different variations of the same dessert but both were absolutely delicious!

It sounds like it's easy enough to make so that may be one of the things I 'bring back' from our trip!

As of tomorrow, we are on our own.  We'll see whether I made good choices for B & B's to stay in and if we survive driving on the left side of the road!

Thank you Jane!  You have been a wonderful hostess and tour guide!  And your love of the city and of England makes you a great Ambassador!