1 post tagged “british museum”
Today we decided to returned to Westminster Abbey (we went there yesterday but there were too many people so we left without going in) and the Big Ben. Westminster Abbey is a royal church and it answers to no one but the crown of England (that's what our guide said). We joined a guided tour inside Westminster Abbey and I think it definitely worthed the 5 pounds as you get to learn a lot more with an experienced guide. Westminster Abbey didn't always looked like it is today. It used to be a Roman styled architecture until Henry III teared it down and replaced it with the new Gothic style (he actually didn't have enough money to finish the rebuilt but that is another story). Every inch of free space inside the cathedral is filled with ancient statues, memorials, monuments and gravestones and painting. All these artifacts made the cathedral a museum in its own right. Royal family members were not the only ones buried here. Other people who have achieved in their discipline of life also earn their final resting place here (e.g. Charles Darwin & Isaac Newton). Records show that there are 3,300 people buried in Westminster Abbey.
After leaving the magnificent Westminster Abbey, we travel to St. Paul Cathedral by the tube. In addition to the monuments and gravestones inside it, St. Paul is most famous for its great dome that is 108m tall. St. Paul Cathedral was built by architect Sir Christopher Wren. The interior of the dome is decorated with beautiful paintings and mosaics. Believe me, you will get a sore neck if you want to see every details of the dome from the ground. No visit to St. Paul Cathedral is complete without climbing 530 steps of the spiral staircase to the Golden Gallery (85m from the ground) at the top to enjoy the panoramic view of London. We stopped in the Whispering Gallery to take rest and closer look of the dome. I think it took us almost 20 minutes to get to Golden Gallery and it was hard work (we needed to stop in the middle to catch our breath) but the view was well worth it.
The next stop is Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace was the residence of Diana before she was killed in a car accident. It was getting dark when we arrived there and the interior of the palace was very dark without sunlight. Most of the rooms were empty and it felt more like I was in an abandoned mansion than a palace. There was a Diana exhibition in the basement but since I am not a fan of Diana, I didn't spend anytime there. One thing I enjoyed there was its garden. It was beautiful and peaceful in the fading sunlight. Many Londoners and their pets were enjoying their relaxing late afternoon walk.
The next planned stop is to pay the world-famous British Museum a visit. We were, however, in badly need of food (we only had a very light lunch) and since this was the last day we spend in London on our own, we decided to indulge ourself with some traditional English food. We find a nice, small restaurant just outside British Museum. May had fish and chip and I ordered an English hotpot. Both was nice and not too expensive. We entered British Museum after dinner and found that most exhibitions were already closed except the Great Hall and we left after we took few photos.
And that ended our last day of sightseeing in London. We will have to get up really early tomorrow morning to join our Insight tour. I am going to set two alarm clocks tonight to make sure I don't oversleep.
