Oh my gosh… today has been a whirlwind! It seems like days ago that we departed our hotel for Westminster Abbey (in reality, it was 9am this morning). We’d planned a busy day and it definitely ended up being busy, but in the best way possible. We saw so much today!
Thankfully, jet lag hasn’t been rough so far (its only been the one morning) and we woke up around 7:45 to our alarm. We got ready and headed out to the nearby Paddington Station to catch the tube to Westminster Station, right by the Abbey. While waiting in line (long, but thankfully quick) we met a girl from Calgary that is here in vacation. She was shocked we knew where in Canada Calgary was and we told her about our best friends being from the area. My mom also happens to be heading up there after this trip! She was really sweet and talking to her is probably what made the line feel so quick.
Westminster Abbey was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. The stained glass was so detailed and the number of tombstones were staggering. It was so fun to stand in the place where there have been 38 coronations and 14 royal weddings, including the most recent. We saw the tombs of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Mary I (aka Bloody Mary) along with dozens more that I learned about in my English history classes. Photography isnt allowed inside, so I dont have any pictures to share except for the facade. However, we did buy a picture/information book so we can show family and friends how beautiful the inside is.
After Westminster Abbey we made our way to Churchill’s War Rooms, about a 5-10 minute walk, stopping on the way to take a selfie with Big Ben and puctures inside of the iconic red phone booths (the inside of the one we stopped at reeked of pee, gross!).
The Churchill War Rooms were so worth the time it took to explore. The underground rooms were the secret headquarters for Churchill and his cheif advisors when planning the defense of London during WW2. When the Nazis were defeated and the war was over, the rooms were locked up and left exactly as they were and remained that way until the 1980s, when the Imperial War Museum was charged with making it into a museum. We took plenty of pictures, but they’re all on my real camera instead of my phone, so they’ll have to wait until I’m back in the States to upload them.
After the War Rooms, we enjoyed the weather (about 60 degrees) while walking through St. James’s Park. There were swans, huge white pelicans, and all sorts of ducks and geese.
Our walk through the park landed us at Buckingham Palace. It’s huge and beautiful, but its kind of like visiting the White House in that you walk up, revel in the hugeness and history, take a few pictures and move on. Definitely worth seeing, but I’m glad we didn’t try to fight crowds to see the changing of the guards.
After ooohing and aahing at Buckingham Palace, we walked down “The Mall”, through the Admiralty Arch (pictured below) and into Trafalgar Square. Very busy and there is a statue of a huge blue chicken outside the National Gallery… okay…?
From Trafalgar Square, we caught the tube back to Paddington Station and walked back to our hotel to prep for Wicked.
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theatre was AMAZING! I would absolutely go see the play again. I’d heard so much good about it and it definitely lived up to the hype.
After the musical, we stopped by and picked up a “take away” pizza at a nearby Italian place and returned to our hotel for our FIRST MEAL OF THE DAY! What the heck! How did that happen? Thankfully we munched on some peanut butter crackers to tide us over around 3pm.
So, as you can tell, day 2 was very busy, but so very fun. I cant wait for the upcoming adventures of day 3! We start our morning at the Tower of London where we’ll see the Crown Jewels and the location where some of King Henry VIII’s unfortunate wives saw the end of their days, including Anne Boleyn.
Until tomorrow!
Journeys of jen 