Day 2 - Westminster Abbey

On our 2nd day in London, we left our apartment in the morning and headed out for another full day of sightseeing. First stop was Westminster Abbey.

It was founded in 960 AD as a Benedictine monastery and measures 32,000 square feet in area. The Abbey's formal title is The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster. However, the popular title "Westminster Abbey" continues to be used, even though there have been no monks here since the l6th century.

Since the crowning of William the Conqueror here in 1066, the Abbey has been the nation's "Coronation Church". Queen Elizabeth II had her coronation ceremony here in 1953.

It's also the burial and memorial place of numerous famous figures from the last one thousand years. This includes: Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and Laurence Olivier. The number of persons buried in the Church and Cloisters is estimated to be approximately 3,300. Proper registers were not kept until 1607 but existing monuments and medieval tomb lists provide the names of many more. This number does not include the many monks who were buried in a special cemetery behind the Chapter House.

The funeral of Diana Princess of Wales took place here in 1997, as did the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in 2002.

They don't allow photographs in Westminster Abbey, but when we got to the courtyard where it's open to the elements and sunlight, I saw several people taking photos and figured a few more wouldn't hurt. Here's Astrid looking back as she's running along the inner corridor. What impressed me the most was the room for the knights. It's reminiscent of the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. There are carved wooden seats for each Knight with their emblem/flag mounted above each seat.

And of course the circular room for the monks which was so old that the tiles on the floor have lost their gloss, and most are of faint due to wear and tear. But they do a good job of putting rugs down for people to walk on, so you can still see the original tiles which are blocked off from foot traffic. You can imagine the monks sitting around in a circle and chanting, with beautiful stained glass windows above them.Astrid pushing the stroller back towards the main church so we can exit the Abbey.

We saw the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) which bears the effigy of Elizabeth, with her face modeled on her death mask. She shares her tomb with her older half sister Mary Tudor aka "Bloody Mary". (They both had the same father: Henry VIII, but Mary Tudor's mother was Henry VIII's first wife, Catalina De Aragon.)

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, the arch-rival to Queen Elizabeth I (they were cousins - Mary Queen of Scot's grandmother was Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's older sister - so Henry the VIII was Mary's great uncle), who was imprisoned and eventually beheaded by Elizabeth, has a tomb in the room across from Elizabeth's. Mary's son James I, who became King of England after Elizabeth's death, had this tomb built for his mother. Unlike Elizabeth's tomb, with her death mask and looking very old, Mary's tomb has a young, and beautiful Mary sculpted on top of it like Sleeping Beauty.

Pushing her stroller on the cobblestone floor, outside the Abbey.Standing in front of the Westminster Abbey shop.Having fun watching Astrid run around on the cobblestones before we head to our next London destination. Lunch!