8th April 2024 - London

It seems the regular routine of medications etc has really helped Steve’s knee and we decided that today was the day for Westminster Abbey but we would travel there by bus rather than walking as we normally would do.

Rome to Rio had told us that we needed to catch the 148 from Marble Arch but there are so many buses around and we had no idea which stop we needed to depart from.  We were very lucky as I picked a not in service bus with a friendly looking lady driver and knocked on the door and she was brilliant in telling us where we should go – a choice of two – one to our left but the bus will then head around to our right!  Very friendly and we felt very pleased as you never really know how requests will be received.

Off at Westminster and it was a seamless process as we had already bought our tickets online and went straight in.  Noticed that there was a verger led tour starting in 20 minutes so we stayed in the general vicinity before Cath, the verger, introduced herself and apologized as it is her first tour since returning from gall bladder surgery!  She apologized in advance that she might forget a few things but hopefully the information was in there somewhere!

It was an interesting time where we learned a lot about history and how the building style changed over time and with the different monarchs.  Enough said that it was overwhelming with the amount of history and it was hard to take a lot more information in.  Suffice to say it was a bucket list item well and truly ticked.  Far more impressive than I even thought it would be and I was very glad we had done it.

Cath made Steve move along the seating when we were in a particular area and it turns out she put him in the Australian seat – where the High Commissioner sits when at the Abbey.  Australia, being one of the founding members of the Commonwealth, has a seat in perpetuity.

Steve made Cath and the rest of our tour group laugh when we were in the Scientists area by asking if Faraday had ever complained about being in a cage!  They were quite keen to hear more of Steve’s anecdotes and the Aussie sense of humour.

One thing I thought was amazing was the Cosmati pavement tiling.  Not much remains as older visitors to the Abbey used to break off bits as souvenirs.  The area where the coronation is performed contains the most and best preserved Cosmati tiling and it is beautiful.  We were taken to the tomb of Edward the Confessor and that is devoid of tiling until you are about 2 metres from the floor where people couldn’t reach any more.

After a cup of tea in the Cloister café we headed off again to view some of the small chapels we hadn’t had a chance to see and went up to the Queen’s Gallery (a small extra amount) where photography was not allowed.  A bit of a bee in my bonnet as I can not see why photography is not allowed (understand why flash photography is not allowed though).  There are some of the best possible views of the Abbey’s nave and so many other sections.  I wasn’t even allowed to photograph a label for a sarcophagus so I had to take notes and here they are!

“The Queen's galleries upstairs are amazing. You are not allowed to take any photographs, but they have got some amazing things up here. One of them is actually a sarcophagus that was found here at the Abbey in 1869. Is used for 2 burials, a Roman one about 300 to 400 AD. And then a second burial 600 years later. The inscriptions show that the sons of Valerius Amandinas made it for their father and the skeleton inside dates from 1000 AD and it's probably the Saxon occupant. 

There are also some amazing stained glass panels from 1250-1270 and they are some of the few surviving examples of stained glass commissioned by Henry the Third. They are amazing as you can get up very close to them and see all the details and you can even see where the glass is different thicknesses. Just so beautiful. The Litlyngton Missal manuscript dates to 1362-1386 and was commissioned by the Abbot of Westminster. Beautiful detail with vivid colours and gold leaf. Took 2 years to complete. This was stunning!There were lots of funeral effigies of kings including Edward the Third with a plaster face and made from wood. Most made with wood, sometimes with jointed limbs. Effigies were made to put on top of the coffin to represent the body below. Often fully dressed and carrying the orb etc.  Queen Elizabeth 1 had a full corset made with all usual undergarments with ceremonial clothing on top.The Liber Regalis manuscript from 1382 contains ceremonial instructions and order of service for coronations. This is another stunning piece of history especially as the basic form has been followed for every coronation since. The Coronation chair of Queen Mary Second made in 1689 which is the only joint coronation with King William Third. A new chair was made for the Queen modelled on the original chair still kept in the Abbey.Funeral effigy of King Charles 2 from about 1686 in full height and regalia have some of the oldest surviving robes.”

We headed back to the VSC for a rest before dressing up and heading down in the tube to St Paul’s station where we walked across the Millennial Bridge and had a quick dinner before heading into the Sam Wanamaker Theatre for a performance of Shakespeare’s Othello.  We didn’t realise it was a 3 hour performance and we were just exhausted so we ended up leaving at intermission as we were having micro-sleeps.  The Playhouse is just incredible but it is a bit claustrophobic and the performance was not in traditional atmosphere but set in modern times where the actors were police officers and it was difficult to reconcile the language with the visual information.

Walking along the Thames back to Big Ben woke us up a bit and it was lovely to see the brilliant lights reflecting in the Thames.

An Uber was caught from Westminster Abbey back to the VSC and it was off to bed.