After living in London for nearly 3 years and passing the abbey every day for nearly a year and after a couple attempts to visit the abbey, I had never set foot inside Westminster Abbey. And it was time that something changed about that. So on Friday I booked my ticket online for Saturday...
Forgot to set my alarm clock
I planned to be at the abbey as soon as it opened. Unfortunately I didn't really think what day it would be and trusted my alarm (that is set from Monday til Friday at 6.30am) to wake me up on time. As it was Saturday, my alarm didn't go, so by the time I woke up I had to rush out the door. No time for breakfast or coffee! Not my smartest idea... I arrived at the abbey around 10.30am. Got out around 1pm and eventually didn't eat until 3pm... Oops.
As expected there were two queues to get in, but as I had bought my ticket online, I as allowed to cut the queues ^^
Inside was super busy and no photography was allowed.
Final resting place of Mary, Queen of Scots
I knew that Isaac Newton was buried there (one of the reasons I wanted to visit, besides the fact that it also was a film location in the DaVinci Code) but I had no idea that Charles Darwin, King Edward V, King James I of England and VI of Scotland, King Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots amongst many many many others were buried there! If I'd known that sooner I'd probably visited the place sooner x) There was even a memorial for Baden Powell!
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| Not a bad view from the back garden... |
If Lizzy dies, and yes, I say if because she looks like she's going to out live us all. If Lizzy dies, she will be buried at Windsor Castle though. Apart from a handful of exceptions, which included Henry VIII, every monarch in the UK has been buried in Westminster Abbey. In 1970, however, they ran out of space and any future monarch that dies will be buried at Windsor. How do I know? The audioguide certainly didn't tell me. No, I was a bit confused with the Queen's that were buried in the Abbey so I asked on of the employees to clarify. The woman ended up telling a whole lot more details and information, showing me a picture/drawing/sketch of the inside of King Henry VII's tomb and how King James I and VI is buried in there. Super interesting :)
Singing 'class' with the abbey's choir.
As I was visiting the Chapter house, or at least I think that is what it is called, I ended at a sort of singing class with the abbey's boys choir. Not that I sang, but every other song, the parents and children present were supposed to sing along. Below a clip:
They truely had angelic voices :)
Meeting at Camden Lock... Or maybe not.
After my 2 hour visit to the abbey and impromtu singing class, I made my way to Great Scotland Yard to take some more film location pictures.
From there I walked to Embankment tube station to take the Northern line to Camden as I had agreed to meet up with Audrey. I really wanted to see the market at Christmas, but of course, as it was a Saturday, it was packed with people. We soon realised this and decided to go towards Kentish Town, away from the crowds.
As Audrey lives only a 10minute walk from Camden Town, we decided to just go to her apartment to make a hot chocolate and bake pancakes. I stayed there until 9.30pm. As she lives North and I all the way South East, and with trafic issues along the way, it took me roughly 2hours to get home. I was so tired when I finally got in. And that ends the post as well!
Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara
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