Last Days in London

Photos for this post: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2266438&l=d98d4&id=11832732

Sun: Attended services in Westminster Abbey. It is again an Anglican/Church of England church; but it is an older building (700 years old). It is an example of the Gothic style, and has a lot (I mean a lot) of people buried/memorialized in it. In fact, it was very hard to see anything of the service, due to how things were positioned. I have to say that I like St. Paul's a lot more due to its openness; I didn't feel confined while worshiping, and there wasn't as many 'monuments' inside the church itself (there are a few, but not as many).

Mon: Went to the imperial war museum. It was a little disturbing - the museum, as my class instructor said, seemed to glorify war while at the same time pointing out the horrors of it. I also found the museum a little hap-haphazardly put together; stuff was not really chronological, but by topic in a general area; the topic itself might be chronological or it might be arranged in some way that only the creator understood. The only really 'cool' thing I saw here was an enigma machine - the code-machine that was almost unbreakable used by the Germans in WWII.
(Photos 1-3)

In the afternoon, I went to the London transportation museum via Trafalgar square (and incidentally finding where the muffin man is from when I made a wrong turn).
(Photos 4-6)
I enjoyed it a great deal, especially since I knew next to nothing about the early subway systems (they are a lot older than you would think; around the American civil war era). This means they were originally steam powered, which is why the older lines don't go as far underground - there needed to be vents to release the steam/smoke from the tube. The original tubes were also excavated from above ground - you dig a hole, put in supports, and cover it up again. It took 20 years to finish the first line.

Later lines were built after electricity was discovered, so it was possible to build deeper lines because the smoke/steam wouldn't require ventilation. Also, additional techniques had been developed so that the next lines didn't take as long to construct - still took time, but they were in use within a few years.
(Photos 5-16)

After the museum, I walked to Buckingham Palace, just to see it. I would have liked to tour it, but as far as I could tell, tours were not offered at any point while I was in London. Then I walked back to where I was staying, making a wrong turn trying to get to a tube/subway station, and consequentially walking several miles out of my way before I could locate where I was on the map (my feet were not happy the next day)
(Photos 21-27)

Tues: Went to the National Portrait Gallery - not a big fan of this just because I don't love portraits in general. I did enjoy the 'competition' exhibit, sponsored by an international company, where people sent in photos and the most original portraits were winners. I think I would like to enter this next year, so when April comes around (the submission/application time), I'll be ready for it.

This afternoon, I went to St. Paul's again, this time for a tour. Along the way, I stopped and took pictures of Fleet St. signs (my sister is a fan of the musical "Sweeny Todd", the story of "the demon barber of fleet street"). I did manage to take a pic of the one barbershop on Fleet St. that I saw.
(Photos 28-32)

Once at St. Paul's, I was shown all around the building, and got to go up to the whispering gallery (due to the shape supposedly you are able to hear someone on the other side if they whisper. I wasn't really able to hear this myself (I sort of could, but it was indistinct; maybe it was just me. I then went outside on the top of St. Paul's. It was a beautiful view, and I took a complete panoramic view of London from the top, to remember the experience. It was a glorious experience, and I could feel God's presence there (not meant to sound cliched, but true).
(Photos 33-49)

I then got to go down in the crypt, which was a little strange. Christopher Wren, the designer of St. Paul's was buried there, as well as the ashes of Alexander Fleming (the discoverer of penicillin), and Lord Nelson's tomb (which incidentally, is directly underneath the dome, at the 'center' of the church).

Weds: Class in the morning. In the afternoon I went back to the Natural History Museum, this time to the 'earth's treasury' section. I was very impressed by the collection of precious stones/gems. I sort of decided I would like to be a collector of stones at some point in the future - not the most valuable ones, but the ones that look the 'prettiest'/most colorful. I tried to take pictures, but my camera was unable to do justice to the stones.
(Photos 50-59)

Thurs: Last full day in London. I took my test (5 short essay questions which I think I aced) and packed up (not easy to do when there are 3 people crammed into a small room trying to pack at the same time). I wanted to go to Chinatown for supper, but no one else in the group wanted to go; in my previous experience, to get the most out of Chinatown, it is best to go with a group and order food family style, then you get to sample more different food than if you went by yourself. Since the group kind of ditched me this evening, I went out for fish and chips as a 'traditional' last supper in London.

Fri: I left at 10 AM for Swansea. I'll write another post tomorrow about the trip and how crazy the last few days have been (my internet wouldn't work here, so no way to upload photos/blog, then my computer crashed, etc...). I'd write the post tonight, but I am tired from getting up early this morning for class, and I have another early start tomorrow.