England Day Nine

Last full day in England. Tears. No more foreign people, no more tube, no more Stonehenge, no more cute rugby players, no more yummy food-- that is, until next time.

We went to Matins at Westminster Abbey. It was just like sacrament meeting except for the lack of sacrament and a lot of prayers. We sat in the quire (choir) seats. There was about seven members of the Church of England clergy attending. It was relatively long and boring, but I still managed to catch a glimpse of the coronation spot where all the monarchs since 1066 have been crowned or married. That's right, I was in the same church as William and Kate, Charles and Diana, Albert and Elizabeth. There was definitely a spirit there, but not the Spirit. It was still a lovely service.

This is the courtyard that Harry, Ron and
Hermione always walk through at Hogwarts.

The flag being flown isn't the Union Jack.
It is the flag of St. George, patron saint
of England.

When Matins was over, we took a walk over to Trafalgar Square. On our way, we saw the horse guards at their posts in front of the Royal Armories and the bobbies in front of the Prime Minister's house.

Horse Guards.

When we got to Trafalgar Square, we went to the British National Gallery and saw some of the world's greatest works of art. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Holbein's "The Ambassadors", da Vinci's "The Virgin of the Rocks", Monet's "The Grand Canal", "Irises" and "Water-lily Pond" and my ever favorite Seurat. Seurat is famous for his pointillism painting:

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

We had afternoon tea in the gallery's tea rooms and it was so delicious, complete with clotted cream and fresh scones, finger sandwiches, and mini banana pies, sponge cakes and tartlets. My peppermint tea was fresh and delicious.

At the end of the day, we had enough time to stop at the massive food halls of Harrods. The place was so huge!!! Far too large for Mom's taste. I guess you aren't allowed to take pictures, but I snapped one. Then we went to the memorial for Diana and Dodi, her boyfriend. It was weird.

In the pyramid is the dirty glass that they shared
the night before the accident and the engagement
ring Dodi was planning on giving to Di.

Harrods food hall.