Our Last Day in London

Our last day in London started at Westminster Abbey which, to put simply, is a very elaborate graveyard. We took advantage of the audio tour and it lead us from chapel to chapel, through corridors and past nooks and crannies, all the while detailing the lives of the people we passed. We saw several of the great rulers - Elizabeth I, Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots and Edward the Confessor, well known contributors to the arts in Poets Corner - Shakespeare, Coleridge, Chaucer, The Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Keats, Dickens and Handel, and other high achievers such as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and John 'Longitude' Harrison (who has a line of meridian drawn through his tombstone).

The Abbey itself has some wonderful features such as the marbel floor in the High Alter, the Coronation Chair (which now resembles more of a rotting log than a chair) and the intricate ceiling in Henry VII's Chapel. In the Nave and High Alter you could hear people whispering to each other - this is where she walked in, this is where the Queen sat, this is where they said their vows. It seems like Royal Wedding fever hasn't left quite yet. Indeed the Abbey's Chapter House had been taken over by a large display of the official Royal Wedding photos, which all stood in front of the painted walls and sculptors which dated back to the 1250's. A strange sight indeed.

We then wandered along Parliament Street, past Downing Street, to Trafalgur Square and, needing to kill some time before seeing a show later that night, we decided to check out the bike hire system that operates within the city. The system is entirely automatic with bus stations located throughout the city. For 1 pound each you have access to the system for 24 hours. Every time you use a bike for under thirty minutes it is free, so it is a great way to get around town. Use for 1 hour straight is 1 pound and the costs increase at varying rates. After crossing a few streets (a scary concept because of the lack of helmets, double decker buses and zooming taxis), we had a leisurely ride through Green Park, past Buckingham Palace, down The Mall, and back to where we started.

That night we enjoyed Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Theatre Royal in Haymarket. The two leads were fantastic with amazing comic timing, expression and an ability to capture the audience. The play is however very Waiting for Godot-esk (yes Godot-esk is now a word) and tended to drag in the second act. I did however enjoy reading and discussing the play's meaning on the train ride home. Matt also enjoyed the show but seemed more excited at seeing Bill Murray in the foyer at interval. He walked past him 4 times in the same manner just for fun....