We have seen and done so much today. We went down to Westminster Abbey for one of their services called the "Sung Eucharist". It was so amazing! We went up to the front gate and listened in the the clergyman telling people it was open for worship only and you had to stay 1 1/2 hours. That's cake for Steph and I! We were surprised to see how many people turned away and couldn't be bothered, We wanted to experience the church and all that it meant. It was absolutely brilliantly ornate. There were statues of patrons, mostly in marble with Greek style dress. There was gold everywhere. The organ is stunning and they started playing after we were seated (2 rows from front). Steph and I just looked at eachother in awe and grinned! The music rose out of there and just enveloped us. Then the service began. There were probably 100 or so people there, not very many compared to the hundreds in "ques" (lines) wrapping around it whenever we've walked by during the week. Our experience was free too instead of paying 12 pounds. . The service was neat. Steph had never been to a Catholic church meeting before, I had only once. The choir was an all men choir of vicars and was my favorite part of the whole experience. One started singing in a high tenor, followed by all of the different parts in layers and echoes in Latin. So beautiful. I instantly felt the spirit. I also felt so much history in that building. Attending church where Henry the 8th went (not much of a recommendation) as well as all of the kings and queens and incredible writers and philosophers have been. I thought it was interesting that everyone who received the bread (wafer) and water drank from the same goblets. They just wiped it down with a white cloth between people. No dank choo. We had a program telling us almost word for word what to say and the songs to sing. So we sang right along and joined in the prayers.
After that beautiful meeting, we were off to the British Museum. Outside there was a crepe truck so we got a chicken/spinach fresh beautiful crepe and a strawberry/chocolate/toffee crepe to split. Yes, that just happened. So the museum- They basically have the greatest collection of artifacts in all of the world, especially of the countries they conquered. So we started out checking out the Egyptian stuff! So cool! Lots of statues and then we looked around a corner and saw a group of people gathered around... the daggum Rosetta Stone! I'll admit, I know that it was a big deal and that it had to do with languages, but that's where my knowledge ended. Basically this was a stone recovered when England took over Rome (who had conquered Egypt). The stone was a decree from the new Roman Emperor to his newly acquisitioned Egyptians that they were to worship his Gods. So the stone has the same decree in Hieroglyphs, Egyptian script and Greek. So the scholars later were able to translate those symbols and then read all of the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Ok, so we started walking around and everything was amazing, but we were tired and so we went to the cafe inside the museum and got the most incredible muffins.I got a chocolate one that somehow had melted fudge inside! What?! Steph got a banana-toffee muffin with toffee goodness inside. So good! I mean it was a real muffin, no preservatives, real everything. You can tell! Plus it's unfortunately easier to spend money here because it is almost 1/2 of an American dollar. You see 5 pounds and think that's not so bad! (but that's really like $8.50). And no Dave, the muffins were not 5 pounds- but we probably gained that much eating them! Too easy? Sorry! :) Back to walking some more.. this tourist stuff is not for the weak! And my poor baby tummy was feelin' it every now and then, but for the most part I've been ok. We saw everything from the Parthenon that was bispolded (Easton translation: exploded) in the 1600's during a war. So it was pretty great to see so many of the art pieces that I studied in class at BYU. I took an Ancient Egyptian art class and an ancient Roman art class. Basically just say how everything has to do with fertility and the ideal figure and you're good to go! :) They had all kinds of incredible things- we tried to get to it all, but the place was the size of 2 football fields!
Then we decided after 5 hours, we were good, so we hopped on a bus and met Jeff for dinner at this Italian place near our hotel! I know, you're thinking, Italian?! But you're in Britian! (all indignant) But we read that you have to try the ethnic foods here because like America, this is a hodge podge of cultures... so we ate there and it was the most amazing pasta of my life! So creamy and perfect. The chef there was a real Italian too. So it was the best. Then we came back to the hotel and I finally talked with Davey!!! Yay! Tomorrow is a big day. Train station by 6:05 am, 2 hour train to Paris, drop stuff off at the hotel, see the Louvre, maybe hit the Eiffel Tower! Love you guys! I won't have a computer in France, so I'll be back in touch on my Wednesday night!
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