British Isles Tour - Day Thirteen and Fourteen Tour of London

Today was our last day at sea.  We took it pretty easy,   played some games of Speed Scrabble, and packed our bags.  It was hard to believe the cruise would be over tomorrow!   Our last dinner and program—a Violinist, Greg Scott, did an amazing job.
Was it really 12 days ago we took this picture as we came aboard the ship, and now it was time to leave our little home away from home.  But the next morning at 8:00 a.m. after eating our last breakfast aboard, we met our transfer transportation back to London.

This time we stayed at the Doubletree Hotel at 30 John Islip Street.  It didn't have near the charm as the St. Ermin's Hotel we stayed in before the cruise, but our travel director wanted us to have two different experiences in different parts of London.  It was clean and very comfortable.  After we left our luggage there, we took off sightseeing.

 We were headed to Westminster Abbey while it was just lightly raining.  

 

 

 As we walked by the Parliament Building, we noticed people going in.  

 We found out that we could go inside and see a session in the House of Commons, so we definitely decided to go in.

 There were police officers outside . . .

as well as inside.  To enter, you have to go through screening just like an airport.  The Parliament Police Officers were very kind, but definitely were there to keep any problem makers out.  By the looks of their guns, I don't think making problems is a good idea!

We first entered Westminster Hall.  This was like walking through history.

The floor had plaques marking places where important events in the Parliament Building at taken place, such as where King George the Sixth lay in state, as well as the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth.

 These plaques told of important speeches given here by Royalty or Prime Ministers or Presidents of countries.

 This was honoring Nelson Mandela's visit to both Houses of Parliament in 1996.

 And there was even a plaque which marked the spot where Charles Stuart King of England was sentenced to death in 1649.

Absolutely fascinating about this particular king and why he was put to death.   Basically, when he became king he felt he could govern however he wanted to and felt he was only answerable to God.  Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular his interference in the English and Scottish churches, and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent.  They perceived his actions as tyranny.

In fact, from 1642, he fought the forces of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War.  After he was defeated in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament.  Charles refused to cooperate with Parliament, so he was tried and convicted on this very spot where we saw the plaque.

On the morning of his execution, he called for two shirts to prevent the cold weather from causing him to shake and the people would mistake it for fear.  He then walked under guard from St. James's Palace to an execution scaffold erected in front of the Banqueting House.  "At about 2 p.m., Charles put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signaled the execution when he was ready by stretching out his hands; he was then beheaded with one clean stroke.  On the day after the execution, the king's head was sewn back onto his body, which was then embalmed and placed in a lead coffin.  The commission refused to allow Charles's burial at Westminster (where so many other of the royalty are buried), but he was buried in the Henry VIII vault in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle."  The monarchy was restored to Charles's son, Charles II. 

After walking through the Hall where the plaques are on the floor, we stepped up to St. Stephens Porch and through St. Stephens Hall.

We then went through the Central Hall into the Commons Corridor and Commons Lobby where we had to check purses, cameras, and everything basically not attached to us.  We were then led into the viewing area of the House of Commons and watched one representative present a case about offshore drilling.  There weren't a lot of representatives there because of it being a Friday, but it was great to see how their governing system runs.  Only one of the dignitaries wore the white wig, but it was fun to see.

Some of the group were also able to peek into the House of Lords, a much grander house.   Larry stayed around and was able to sit in Winston Churchill’s seat, but the rest of us were worried we wouldn’t get to spend much time in Westminster Abbey, so we went on.

 As we were leaving, a guide pointed out the fountain just outside the doors of the Parliamentary Hall.  This golden fountain was put in to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in June 2003.

 The official coat of arms with the English lion on the left and the Scottish unicorn on the right.

 

After grabbing a Diet Coke in the little eating area there, we started our walk again.

 Our destination now was Westminster Abbey!

 We had seen long lines here the day we went on the hop-on, hop-off bus prior to the cruise, but surprisingly, we had no wait to get in.  Beverly, Joyce, and I stayed together the entire time with our headsets.  We covered every square foot of this Abbey which is unlike any church I have ever been!

 

Westminster Abbey is 700 years old.  The niches above the west gate had been empty since the Middle Ages, but in 1998 as part of its restoration program, 10 statues were added to the Abbey to commemorate martyrs in each continent.    The earliest definition of a martyr meant someone who had witnessed Jesus's life. But with time, the term "martyr" has come to mean someone who, for their faith and beliefs, has suffered death at the hands of a persecutor. 

 Among the martyrs represented in stone are: Saint Elizabeth of Russia, killed in Russia in 1918 by the Bolsheviks, Archbishop Oscar Romero, of El Salvador, and baptist preacher Martin Luther King, both of whom were assassinated. 

 

 The outside reminds me quite a bit of Notre Dame in Paris, but the inside is absolutely unique.  Again, no pictures inside.

 Engraved on the outside are these words:  "May God grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the church and the world peace and concord, and to us sinners eternal life."

What an amazing place!  Sixteen Royals have been married here from 1100 to the most recent, Prince William to Kate Middleton in 2011.  Since 1066, the coronations of English and British monarchs have been held here. A thousand years of English history—3,000 tombs, the remains of 29 kings and queens, and hundreds of memorials—live within its walls and under its stone slabs.  

Most of the kings and queens were buried in the abbey with life-size stone sculptures of the deceased wearing the costume of their station and lying face upward on top of a tomb chest, which actually contained the body.  Some of the aristocrats buried or memorialized there are Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.  Some of the poets buried are Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and Thomas Hardy.  Other poets who have memorials are Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lewis Carroll, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Sir Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, T.S. Eliot, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Henry James, just to name a few.  The grave and monument of the famous composer George Frederic Handel can be seen, as well as Laurence Olivier.   Do you see why you could spend hours in this huge abbey and still not see everything?

One of the favorite places in the Abbey was Henry VII’s Lady Chapel.   Around the walls are 95 statues of saints.  Behind the altar is the tomb of Henry VII and his queen.  Banners of living knights hang above the oak stalls. Elizabeth I and her half-sister Mary I are buried in the chapel along with Mary, Queen of Scots.  Queen Elizabeth I had Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded because of a plot to murder her as queen. 

After you exit the Abbey, you walk along the cloister where you can look out and see all of the surrounding buildings connected.


This rectangular area is called a "garth," that was intended to separate the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went on outside and around the cloister

We then headed for the chapter house which was built by Henry III, between about 1245 and 1253. 

The chapter house is built in a Geometrical Gothic style with a pier of eight shafts that carries the vaulted ceiling.  It is just breath-taking to see.  It was originally used in the 13th century by Benedictine monks for daily meetings. It later became a meeting place of the King's Great Council and the Commons, predecessors of Parliament.

We next visited the Pyx Chamber which dates back to the late 11th century, and was originally the storage room of the monk's dormitory.  The chamber was probably made into a treasury in the 13th century and may have been used as a place for keeping sacred vessels and records, as well as a place for the clergy to prepare for worship when Henry III was rebuilding the main Abbey.  This would explain the presence of the altar there.

 

Walking through the double doors.

 The altar in the Pyx Chamber.

These two large rectangular chests in the Chamber date from the 13th and 14th centuries were evidently made inside the room.  

This interestingly built chest is called a cope chest.

The cope (cloak) chest made in the 1400s, is one of only six left in the country.  It was built for holding the copes which are semi-circular capes for the clergy to wear.  What a great idea to keep them flat and protected!

But the Chamber was best known as the home of the wooden boxes, called Pyxes, where a sample of the coinage of the realm was kept to await the "Trial of the Pyx".  This was a public demonstration to show that the coinage was pure and samples of coins were "tried" by being melted down and the silver content measured. The Trial itself was never held in the Chamber but in the Palace of Westminster.  It still takes place today in Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London.

As the plaque states, "For much of the Middle Ages and afterwards, the Pyx Chamber served as a strong room containing valuables left there by the king.   The thick walls, double doors with six locks, and iron window bars were intended as a safeguard against burglary, particularly after a nearby treasury was robbed in 1303."

It was almost closing time, so they shut the huge double doors . . .

 

 Then the church authority, along with security, came and locked all the locks on the doors.

Next, we came to a room which commemorated the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II.  Elizabeth, now 87, was crowned in the abbey on June 2, 1953, in a ceremony laden with 1,000 years of tradition.  British monarchs have been crowned in the ancient London church since William the Conqueror in 1066.

An actual invitation to the coronation.

She was such a beautiful young queen, and to this day carries that same stately beauty.

It looks like there was only one thing that went wrong that day.  Beneath the picture it reads:  "The ornate golden canopy used had not been stiffened and sagged."  I would never have noticed!

I love this picture.  To the left is Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, Elizabeth II 's sister (far right) watching the ceremony.  (Both passed away in the same year, 2002).  Prince Charles is in the middle looking "weary" while watching the ceremony.  Princess Anne, aged two, was too young to attend.

A beautiful queen who has served so well for 60 years.  Upon her death, Prince Charles would be next in line, followed by Prince William, and then of course, followed by the new little heir born to William and Kate--Prince George.

The final place we visited on this tour of Westminster Abbey was the Museum which is located in the 11th century area beneath the former monks' dormitory.  This was one of the oldest areas of the Abbey, dating back almost to the foundation of the Norman church by Edward the Confessor in 1065.  This space has been used as a museum since 1908.

The beautiful robes worn by the kings and queens were displayed.

A recent addition to the exhibition is the late 13th-century Westminster Retable, England's oldest altarpiece, which was most probably designed for the high altar of the abbey. Although it has been damaged in past centuries, the panel has been expertly cleaned and conserved.

A replica of the Coronation Coach.

Someday people will see the beautiful clothing of Kate Middleton shown in these cases!

Copies of the coronation regalia.

Inside the museum is a picture of the Coronation Chair which was commissioned by King Edward I in 1297-1300.  It was made to contain the Scottish Stone of Scone (which we had seen in Scotland).  It was so exciting to connect all that we had seen.  The sign told us that the Coronation Chair was on display in the Nave by the Great West Door right here at Westminster Abbey.  We knew we had to see that for sure!

So, as we were leaving, we got to see the Coronation Chair itself!  The area at the bottom between the two lions is where the stone sits that will be brought back from Scotland for the coronation of the next ruler.

As we were leaving, Doug stopped to talk to one of the officials at the Abbey.   This had to be right up there with one of the best days of the trip!  I absolutely love how the British hold to so much tradition and make history so important.

I was reminded again about that as I noticed every statue and monument they had along our route home.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a little eatery for dinner that had really good food.

Tomorrow:  We visit the British Museum and the next day we fly home.