Westminster Abbey

Yesterday, after quite the journey into the city, we went to Westminster Abbey. I kid you not--this is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my entire life. The architecture is AMAZING, and to think that they did it without modern technology and such is pretty wild. Photography wasn't allowed inside--as it is still a place of worship--which was a complete bummer because it is so cool. We also did an audio tour of it, and that very much enhanced the experience because we learned all sorts of crazy cool facts.

The Abbey started out as a monastery for monks, but today it stands as a place of worship for the Church of England. It has been used consistently for over 1,000 years! Every King and Queen of England (minus two of them) has been coronated here since 1066, and many of them are buried right there in the church. Buried alongside them are famous writers (George Eliot), musicians (Handel), soldiers (Grave of the Unknown Soldier), scientists (Charles Darwin), and other great men and women from throughout the centuries. I think this stop has been my personal favorite so far on the trip. I literally walked around with my mouth open the whole time.

Afterwards, we walked down the street to Trafalgar Square. I tried acting as my family's tour guide and telling them some sweet facts about buildings and memorials we passed on our walk (ok...so I was just reading them out of a book...but they were still interesting!), but no one would listen to me. Oh, well...their loss. I learned some pretty cool stuff.

At Trafalgar Square, there were a gazillion people there watching the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies which was being shown on this giant screen. It was a lot of fun to watch it there because there were people from all around the world enjoying it as well. The chinese were especially boisterous--waving flags, cheering, the whole sha-bang.

We celebrated by eating chinese in China Town (just a hop, skip, and jump away from Trafalgar). After dinner, my mom, dad, and ab went back to the flat, which meant Mallory and I were on our own in the hustle and bustle of London. We had a pretty swell time people watching, enjoying street performers, and wandering around.