Wednesday, June 9, 2010

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life

So much to say so little time...because of course I have a super early bed time but ten thirty is late when you have to get up at six and iron your face off. Not literally of course that would hurt a lot because I steam burnt two of my fingers today and used the phrase "bloody hell" for the first time. I am so English.

London = Fabulous. It is completely brilliant. There is so much to do and no time at all. I was in the city from 830 am to 745 pm, which is nearly 12 hours and all I managed to do was a 2 hour bus tour, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Tower of London. All which were incredible so naturally I couldn't pull myself away in time to do anything else. Never fear faithful readers there will be many more trips to the city and many more stories but I will start with this...

Picture the most beautiful place on earth. You can't, but I can because I've been there, and you most likely haven't. I love my life. It is Westminster Abbey. The coronation place of 38 monarchs since 1066. I have walked on the same ground as some of the most powerful, wealthy, and glorious people who have ever lived. I said the Our Father yesterday in front of the graves of Elizabeth I Queen of England, Mary I, Henry VII (founder of the Tudor household), Mary Queen of Scots, Sir Issac Newton, and Charles Darwin. What did you do? Any Yes I actually said the Our Father in front of all of their graves because I respect these people with everything I have (now that I think of it the Our Father is a Catholic prayer so I probably should have not said it for Elizabeth). Anyway, the abbey rocked my world. I thought it was the coolest place I would ever step foot in, but it was wrong.

I bussed my way over to St. Paul's Cathedral, and after being in Westminster I didn't think churches could be any prettier, but my god Christopher Wren really out did himself with this one. I climbed 350 of the narrowest and most terrifying stairs of my life (hopefully) to the top to look over all of London. Breathtaking. From the 150 stair count there is the Whispering gallery that overlooks the entire Cathedral, words cannot even describe the beauty of the paintings on the ceiling that depict New Testament writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and other various saints. The Cathedral was rebuilt in the 17th Century after the Great Fire of London destroyed the majority of the city. Thank the lord for Christopher Wren who not only blessed us with St. Paul's but restored, and rebuilt London and designed most of Oxford University. The man was a visionary, I paid my respects at his grave in the St. Paul crypt. His contributions have made the world a more beautiful place. In my humble opinion.

I can't quite put into words how I felt at the Tower of London. I could use the cliche "it was a dream come true," which would be true in many respects because I have an obsession with the place and have actually had dreams of it. This might be due to my addiction to historical fiction that largely involves scenes from the famous tower. Many people know of the London Tower most famously or infamously as a prison, and it does give off an eerie vibe. At least certain sections, but anyway it is most notably a Royal Palace. The Queen still has apartments in the tower, which were used as recent as five years ago by Queen Elizabeth II. Many other queens throughout history have stayed here, my favorites include: Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth I. Of course I could not enter this section of the tower because it is under 24 hour surveillance by an armed guard, those guys look so cool. There hats are made from bear skins from Canada, yay us! I also saw the crown jewels, which were exquisite and soo freaking sparkly. On a more depressing but awesome note I saw the execution green of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey. It is located right in the tower grounds and was a rare but honourable place to be executed. Only 6 executions took place here and those three ladies just mentioned were all Queens of England (of course Grey for only 9 days, stil counts).

My absolute favorite part of the day was the Bloody Tower, where the famous story of the missing princely brothers originates from. If you don't know this story do me a favour and look it up. It is one of history's gems. Basically during the War of the Roses (which was a civil war that lasted decades in England between royal families for the throne) the two York Princes lived in the tower and went missing after their father Edward VI's death in 1483. Many people believe either that either King Edward's own brother Richard (Richard III) had the boys killed so he could succeed to the throne, which he did becoming one of the most evil kings in history (thanks largely to my main man Bill Shakespeare). Others think that Henry Tudor (Henry VII) had the boys smothered so he could have a shot at his Lancasterian claim to the throne, which of course he did, beginning the great Tudor dynasty. And a perfect conspiracy theory was born. No one actually knows what happened. I'd go with Shakespeare and put my money on Richard III, but I'm a huge fan of both Bill and my Tudor peeps. If you like what you've read here I highly recommend the novel The White Queen as it is based off this history and has everything a good book should.

I am sorry if I was doing that boring, nerd thing again but this stuff is my gold, and is pretty much making my life right now. I still have so much to see, learn, and tell. As Samuel Johnson famously said "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." I agree, and although I am not a man I cannot see myself ever tiring of such a life fulfilling city. I hope you don't all get tired of me or my rambling. I bid you all goodnight as it is now past ten thirty.

C

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