Touching History, Seeing History

I have to admit this may be the most excited I've ever been to write a blog. Not because I had such an amazing day. I did. But mostly because my feet are killing me. I'm feeling shards of glass pierce my feet with every step I take and flames shoot up my shin. So I'm excited for this blog because it means I get to sit down for a good amount of time. It will be beautiful. So as I finally relax, I'll tell you about my day. 

It started with Florian and I searching the block around the hotel for breakfast. We decided on a restaurant named "Eat." Yes the period is on the name just like that. "Eat." Stef and I got a lot of amusement from that. We brought our food back to the hotel and planned out the day. Stef was planning on meeting with his friends while Florian and I saw the sights. 

So off we went! The first stop was the Westminster Abbey. We checked the prices and bit our lips for a second. I realized I still counted as a student so it was less expensive. Florian bit the bullet and joined me. In we went to the gorgeous building. Let me just talk about the outside for a second. I know you guys have seen pictures or maybe even seen it in person. But the architecture is breath taking. It's intricate and carefully designed. But what's amazing is they made this tall powerful strong building by hand. It has withstood countless trial and tribulation in full glory. Amazing. 

When you enter you are handed a electronic tour guide. You know when you walk around a museum and see people holding a box up to their ear? Yeah that thing. I've never used it before, but I must say I was incredibly impressed. An entire guided tour through the Abbey. You can choose how much you want to hear about each stop. Do whatever order you want or follow their path. A very useful device that I'm sure made it much much more enjoyable than it would have been without. 

For those of you who don't know, the Abbey is full of tombs or memorials to famous people. As Stef said, "You know you've made it when you're buried there." Not only that, but crowning of the Queen happened there. Royal baptisms happen in the Abbey. Countless famous important people have stood in that building. It's truly a piece of history. I went on a full taking my time personal tour. Florian patiently waited for me to explore every crack and crevasse of the Abbey. I loved every bit of it. 

When I was younger, I read a book called Maximum Ride. In the series, one of the girls discovers she has a power. When she touches an object she can feel and see the emotion of people who have touched that object. There is a scene where she visits a war memorial in D.C. She touches it and breaks down from all the pain that goes through her. I often think of that when I travel. As I ran my hands over the wall over Handel's tomb, or the memorial for Shakespeare, or stared at the very spot the Queen laid a wreath of flowers for her mother, I thought of that. If I had that power, what would I see? Would I see the loving family members weep over the lose of a son? Would I see the exuberance about a new Queen? Would I feel the pain of the struggle of turmoil between royal families? What about any individual person who came into pray about just having enough money to feed their child? Would I see their pain and trust in God? Would I feel their confidence that God has a plan? The idea of overcame me the whole time I was in that gorgeous building. What a concept. For me it's a way to think of what tht building has seen. 

Finally, I dragged myself away from the Abbey, much to Florian's happiness. We started walking towards the Tower of London. It's up the river quite a ways. So we strolled down the riverside to another end of town. Looked at the cool bridges peeking through the low hanging fog.

After looking at the outside of St. Paul's church for a bit, we decided to explore for lunch. We scanned the restaurants. Let me tell you guys. London will find your wallet and in a nice British accent help itself to whatever it would like. Florian and I said not today, London! Off to a local grocery store we ventured. Bought some cheap food, found a bench out of the rain, and Bon appétit! Success! 

It turned out it was good we saved up what we could. Our next stop was the Tower of London. If you've ever been here you know, the outside looks like a cool castle wall. For it to mean anything, you have to buy a pretty ticket and go on in. Florian and I sat in the ticket shop and debated for a shamelessly long time. Partly just to warm up. It was a tinge freezing today. But we decided to do the cost of opportunity. I'm so glad we did. 

So, I'm not going to be your favorite person ever here. I'm not going to give you to much detail here. This is something to experience folks. So I'm not going to go into great detail explaining. Apologies. 

When you enter the gate, you can walk around in the courtyard. There are many exhibits to see once inside. There is the Bloody Tower where prisoners were held captive, the dungeons resevered for torturing, the hall where the Crowned Jewels are held, a museum for the wars of Britian, an exhibit for all the exotic animals that lived in the Tower of London in olden days, and the main building - the White Tower- where people lived and is now a general museum of artifacts from the Tower of London. Ravens flew free around the courtyard watching tourists. Ravens were "gaurdians" of the Tower of London in the late history. Therefore trained ravens continue to fly around the area. Fully adorned gaurds silently stand next to doors. The men and women working are dressed in costumes. It was amazing. Every exhibit showed pieces of history I didn't know and that were interesting to see. Again, Florian patiently followed me through as I slowly meandered through the entire place. In the end, I'm very glad we did it. 

On the walk home my shins and feet hurting, Florian and I rushed back to the hotel. We picked up Stef and left again. My feet protesting we walked to Harrods. Just to explore, starting on the level with all the chocolate and other amazing foods. Very neat to see! We explored the other levels, including the toys, furniture, clothing, electronics, and more. What a great store! But the outside was lit up and we admired that as well. 

After strolling around a bit more we found a nice cafe for dinner. But the most amazing part about our evening was when we got to the cafe, there was the best car parked outside. Yes, it is covered in "diamonds." We of course took many pictures of the bedazzled car. Amazing. 

Then we walked back to the hotel. And this girl put some music on to relax to! A full day indeed. Tomorrow we leave London. We have a plan to head to Cambridge. But we like changing plans. We'll see what ends up happening! To be continued...