On Holiday in London: Part 1

Ah, how nice it is to be touring the city. Finally, a break from work! I had hoped to get Friday the 18th off, but Oliver preferred that I stay while Una was gone. No worries, though, I made sure to take off this past Thursday and Friday. Three straight weeks in Oliver's office, goodness. Fortunately, I also took off this Friday and our last day is Thursday August 7th. That means no more full weeks!

Knowing that I had these days off, I made a plan a few weeks ago (actually, the Saturday right after Katie Beth left) for all the things I wanted to do in London. Basically, if I follow it relatively closely, I'll get to see everything I want to in London. So here I now relate the tales of my touring escapades:

(I know, I know, it's been forever since I posted. I began this post on Thursday but never got 'round to finishing it. Truth be told, I'm getting tired of the computer.)

Alrighty, I began Thursday morning by taking the Tube out to Highgate Cemetery to see Karl Marx's grave. Now, I am by no means a fan of that guy, but he was quite important to world events (read: the destruction of millions of people...). Exiting the Archway station, I unfolded my trusty printed Google map and hiked up a hilly street towards the Cemetery. What a gorgeous morning it was too! A few clouds in the sky and just warm enough to wear shorts. Before getting to the Cemetery, I had to go through a park and while stopping at the map I ran into a couple also trying to get to the grave yard. Through broken English and lots of hand gestures, we eventually figured out the correct path and set out.

The entrance fee was £3 but I didn't buy a map- preferring to go at it on my own. What a great decision! Just a few feet into the Cemetery, I found a small, dirt path leading off into a dense mass of trees, moss, and vines with a few tombstones peeking out here and there. Ten foot wide paved path or one foot wide dirt path? Of course I picked the dirt! And so off I went, jumping over tombstones, swatting at bugs (yes, real bugs! Haven't seen too many of those in London), gingerly stepping over thorns, and breathing the wonderfully fresh air. Sometimes the vegetation was so dense only a few pricks of sunlight made it to the morbid ground beneath. It was so much fun to go 'exploring' in the old, forgotten parts of the cemetery where tombstones are covered with vines and sometimes knocked over. With just a smattering of clouds and a sprinkling of tourists, the Cemetery was a great way to spend the morning.

Exploring was even more fun than actually seeing Marx's grave (though how on earth that could be fun is beyond me)! At his grave, I asked the lady of the couple I'd met earlier who had also made it to take my picture. It should be on facebook. (Speaking of which, I hope I remember to write about my photo uploading marathon at work)

After Highgate Cemetery, I rode the Tube back into central London. My next stop was the Royal College of Music Museum which is right across from the Student Union where I took my class earlier this summer. Because the Museum has such strange hours, most tourists can't get to it. It was neat to see the collection of old instruments, including a bag pipe wall and the oldest discovered piano-type instrument.

Next on my list was the Handel House Museum where George Frederic Handel lived for over twenty years- also the place where he composed "Messiah." I took a Music Appreciation class last summer, so I'm slightly (read: miniscully) more attuned to old music types. Again with walking in the places where these people walked, it was very cool. Took me a while to find the House because it was on a busy shopping street, but no worries. Near the end of the tour, a lady came in to practice Baroque music on the period harpsichord. I kinda like harpsichord music-- it's got a spooky type feel to it.

To round out my day of sight-seeing, I headed over to Westminster Abbey for an Evensong service. Originally intending just to do the tour some day later, when I heard Katie Beth describing the service I thought I might like to attend one. I went to the Wesminster station which exits right outside Parliament and Big Ben to look for some supper before the service began. Hint to all future London travellers: Sandwiches abound everywhere, but the trick is finding cheap ones. Solution? Tesco Express! Basically, mini grocery store stocked with food needing no preparation. So, I bought a chicken sandwich, a banana, and a pint of milk. I love pints of milk! Because the temperature is considerably below 'ice-cold', it's just the right temp for swigging half the pint in one go. And for only 46p who can argue? I took my meal over to the center park that has statues of famous Brits (like Winston Churchill) and watched the London world go by. Ahhhhh.

While the regular choir boys were on holiday, the service was still a fantastic experience. It's quite something to be worshipping with a choir and organ in a structure built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. As a Southern Baptist, I never really attended large, opulent churches, and I even considered them to be something of an extravagance- a worldly display of material treasures. But, it's a different story when using the structure as it was intended. In that form, the beauty becomes a form of worship in itself.

And so ended a wonderful holiday out in London. It was so relaxing and wonderful to get to romp around the graveyard in the morning, see a few things in the afternoon, and worship my Father in the evening. How amazing.