London, Part 3

[kenjari]

Today was another full day. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.
We first went to Westminster Abbey. It's very large, and crowded even on a Monday morning in November. I was surprised to find out that it is almost more of an enclosed graveyard or mausoleum than a church. There are so many monuments and graves that they almost overshadow the architecture and stained glass. However, the Abbey is still a church, for all that. While Matthew and I were there, the vicar offered a short prayer from the pulpit.
There are many beautiful and fascinating graves. There were more effigies than I'd ever seen before in one place. There are also many monuments and burial places of extremely well-known literary, musical, and historical figures. Handel is buried there and has not one, but two additional monuments: a statue near his grave and a carved relief in the nearby wall. Vaughn Williams is there, too, as well as Elgar. Many of the best of English writers are buried there: all of the Brontes, Janes Austen, Deorge Eliot, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Shelley, Keats, and even Siegfried Sassoon.
And then there are the royalty. Elizabeth I has a large ornate tomb with a wonderful marble effigy. She shares it with her sister Mary I (who doesn't have an effigy, though). Mary, Queen of Scots is there, too, with a large tomb and marble effigy, even though she was executed. Most of the other monarchs from the pre-Elizabethan periods are in the central shrine to Edward the Confessor (he's there, too). The Edwards and Henrys are there, except for Henry VII and his wife, who are in the spectacular Henry VII chapel. Unfortunately, the public is not allowed into the central shrine because of its great age and delicate condition. Luckily, the Henry VII chapel is open. It's incredibly beautiful, with gorgeously carved wooden choir stalls, and wonderful stained glass windows and marble statuary.
Westminster Abbey is a place both beautiful and rich in history. So much has happened there, both life and death. And the artifacts of these events are there to be seen. Edward I's coronation chair is on view - it's still used for British coronations. I have to admit, though, that the place can be hard to fully enjoy. First, because it's full of other tourists. Second, because there is so much to see that it's nearly overwhelming.
Next, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. They are doing restoration and cleaning, so we could only see part of the facade and half of the dome. Nonetheless, it was wonderful. St. Paul's is early Baroque architecture and decoration. It is huge, vast, and majestic. It's much more spacious than Westminster Abbey; perhaps this is why it's less crowded. Most of the graves are in the basement crypt, so the church itself is less of a mausoleum.
St. Paul's has lots of columns and arches, and bright mosaics on the ceilings. Even the organ is ornate, with statuary on tope of the case, and gilded front pipes.
Plenty of important people are buried in the crypt. Lord Nelson gets pride of place. with the most imposing tomb right in the center, as well as two additional monuments. Sit Arthur Sullivan is there, as well as painters Frederic Lord Leighton, and Alma-Tadema. Florence Nightingale is also there. St. Paul's has also has many, many war memorials.
we finished up our day with a visit to the British Museum, which is packed full of cool stuff. We were a bit tired by the time we got there, and quickly got more tired, but we still enjoyed the museum.
We didn't neglect to see the Rosetta Stone, but it was almost an afterthought to all the cool stuff we saw. I particularly liked seeing the Sutton Hoo treasure, which I have read about many times. The museum has a lot of other early European artifacts from both the Vikings and the Celts. There is also a fine Egyptian collection, with several mummies.
We were particularly lucky in that one of the special exhibits at the British Museum was a collection of Japanese swords and daggers, accompanied by Japanese woodcuts. so many beautiful weapons! And I learned that there is terminology for the wavy lines along the edges of folded steel blades.
As with the Tate Modern, Matthew and I were a little too tired to fully experience and enjoy the British Museum. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend it. It has so much great stuff, most of which is ancient, and lots of information about the collection.
We also ended up doing a lot of walking today, which allowed us to see even more of London. We walked past Parliament and Big Ben, which are beautiful. We got to walk down Fleet Street, but we didn't see any barbaershops. We did, however, see the Royal Courts of Justice, which are housed in a large and beautiful medieval building. We alked around Bloomsbury and Covent Garden, too, both of which are attractive, artsy areas.