Today we took the Tube to Westminster Abbey! It is beautiful! We marveled at the building's intricate details and I loved seeing where Will and Kate were married! We took a bunch of pictures out in front, but unfortunately they don't allow photography inside.
The Abbey is an interesting place. It functions as a Christian place of worship as well as a place for royal weddings, coronations, and funerals. We took a tour of the Abbey which turned out to be really fun and informative! We got to see the coronation chair and many spectacular stone memorials. Our tour guide explained the history of the Kings and Queens of England that have been buried here. We got to see many of their elaborate memorials and crypts.We also go to see where Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and Isaac Newton are buried!
The Abbey is completely full of memorials and crypts! They don't bury many people there anymore because there simply isn't anymore room! As you walk across the floor you step over countless graves and tile memorials. However, there was one part of the floor that you couldn't walk on. They had it roped off and surrounded with red flowers. It's called the memorial of the unknown soldier. Our guide told us that an unknown soldier who died during WW2 was buried there and now his grave serves as a memorial to all the people who have died defending their countries during international wars. The inscription was made of what looked like gold, but was actually melted down bullet pieces that had been used in WW2. It was a really nice memorial and so cool to learn the history behind it.
After visiting the Abbey we headed to get some lunch. We stopped at a shop that had a bunch of ties on sale in their window. The ties came in little boxes with cuff links and a pocket square. The men of the family were all really excited about it and we left with 6 different ties!
We ate lunch at a fun little European chain restaurant called Giraffe! Then we walked over to Hyde Park. We went on the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial walk and saw her memorial play ground and fountain. We also saw the Albert Memorial that Queen Victoria had built after his death. She must have really loved and missed him because his memorial was insane! It was huge and super ornate! We kept walking and saw the Peter Pan statue and the Italian Gardens! The Italian Gardens were built by Albert as a gift to his love Victoria. Like Victoria's memorial to Albert, this gift from Albert to Victoria is fantastic! We all got some ice cream and sat admiring the beautiful fountains. I tried a Dairy Milk ice cream covered in Cadbury chocolate and Zach had some really good mint chocolate chip ice cream.
While walking through the park we passed Kensington Palace where Will, Kate, and the baby prince of Cambridge live! Although the actual palace wasn't very impressive, the gardens out in front were spectacular!
After checking out the palace we headed home.
The Abbey is an interesting place. It functions as a Christian place of worship as well as a place for royal weddings, coronations, and funerals. We took a tour of the Abbey which turned out to be really fun and informative! We got to see the coronation chair and many spectacular stone memorials. Our tour guide explained the history of the Kings and Queens of England that have been buried here. We got to see many of their elaborate memorials and crypts.We also go to see where Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and Isaac Newton are buried!
The Abbey is completely full of memorials and crypts! They don't bury many people there anymore because there simply isn't anymore room! As you walk across the floor you step over countless graves and tile memorials. However, there was one part of the floor that you couldn't walk on. They had it roped off and surrounded with red flowers. It's called the memorial of the unknown soldier. Our guide told us that an unknown soldier who died during WW2 was buried there and now his grave serves as a memorial to all the people who have died defending their countries during international wars. The inscription was made of what looked like gold, but was actually melted down bullet pieces that had been used in WW2. It was a really nice memorial and so cool to learn the history behind it.
After visiting the Abbey we headed to get some lunch. We stopped at a shop that had a bunch of ties on sale in their window. The ties came in little boxes with cuff links and a pocket square. The men of the family were all really excited about it and we left with 6 different ties!
We ate lunch at a fun little European chain restaurant called Giraffe! Then we walked over to Hyde Park. We went on the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial walk and saw her memorial play ground and fountain. We also saw the Albert Memorial that Queen Victoria had built after his death. She must have really loved and missed him because his memorial was insane! It was huge and super ornate! We kept walking and saw the Peter Pan statue and the Italian Gardens! The Italian Gardens were built by Albert as a gift to his love Victoria. Like Victoria's memorial to Albert, this gift from Albert to Victoria is fantastic! We all got some ice cream and sat admiring the beautiful fountains. I tried a Dairy Milk ice cream covered in Cadbury chocolate and Zach had some really good mint chocolate chip ice cream.
While walking through the park we passed Kensington Palace where Will, Kate, and the baby prince of Cambridge live! Although the actual palace wasn't very impressive, the gardens out in front were spectacular!
After checking out the palace we headed home.
Westminster Abbey
Princess Diana Memorial walk
Italian Gardens
Kensington Palace
