Tuesday, May 18th

     They have a China Town in London! We had a delicious Dim Sum lunch right in the middle of China Town today-- such good food in London! Leah and I then walked across town to see Westminster Abbey. Dad kept telling me I would leave the Abbey changed but I couldn't have imagined why the experience was so affecting. The size of it is unreal. You walk in the front door and are greeted with a ceiling higher and more elaborate than you can imagine. There is a faint sound of a choir and the eerie heaviness of the organ playing in the background. Then you see the stained glass whose intricacies shock you. The graves, however, and the monuments throughout the church, give you chills. There are over 4,000 people buried in the Abbey, some with graves so old that they have faded into smooth stone slabs. Some of the memorials stretch high to the ceiling, decorated with statues of Greek Gods and angels receiving their deceased loved ones. Some are depictions of the ones who had passed, lying down as if they were sleeping and painfully real. Queen Elizabeth rests there, which was striking to see, as well as a multitude of other kings and queens. Continuing through, you enter the room with all of the knights, where the ivory ceiling is considered one of the wonders of the world. Rounding the corner after this breathtaking sight, you encounter Poet's Corner. Too weird to see effigies of Shakespeare and the lot. From here, you can journey to the cloister, where the door that stands is from 1109, deemed the "oldest in London". The building itself has stood nearly the same amount of time. Unbelievable. As we wandered, a group of visitors who happened to be a choir entertained us with their gorgeous voices and adroitness at using the room's acoustics.

     The tube stations often have performers in them, usually with a guitar or a microphone and usually very talented. Leah and I were walking to our line when we heard this ethereal, operatic voice coming from the corner. We looked around and found the source: a blind woman in a Puritan looking frock, with her old mother sitting next to her, singing as loudly as she could. We had been hanging out with Westminster's spirits all day, so we were naturally convinced she was a ghost or an omen, if anything. Needless to say, the bus was looking like a great alternative...