Keep Calm and Journal On

These past two days have been almost like sensory and information overload. We have covered alot of ground but since London is so big, its hard to really be accurate about that. The more I am here, the more I can't want for Vienna, where hopefully things will slow down and I won't completely be beat everyday....though that just means its been a great day, right? I suppose I should start with the first official day we had in London, journaling in all. (bear with me, I'm not proofing this after so goodluck!)

DAY 1:

The morning started off beautiful. My bed at the hostel is right next to the window, so when the sun rises, it instantly hits my face, like God's shining down on me telling me its time to start the day. I remember waking up that morning thinking how peaceful I feel when I wake up every morning in Europe. The most peace though will come after the trip is over and I'm in the Austrian mountains, but to be in a big city, slightly still jet-lagged with a long day ahead and I still can find peace? What a blessing. Back on track, we had class in one of the hang out rooms at the hostel, including some awkward stares but we're american; we get those alot here. With some presentations and time with God, it was on to St. Paul's. We met our guide, saun, who was from Scotland and loved to use beer references thinking he was so funny (our sponsors on the other hand didn't fund the humor). My first impression of this 5th version of this church was WOW, despite the fact that I've seen it before. No matter how many times you see something like this, its always breath-taking to think I can't believe that someone made this forever ago, and here it is, still standing. This site was our first true test run on journaling, which posed to be difficult... trying to listen to saun, write everything down, sketch mini pictures, get around the mass hoards of audio guide tourist, and still admire the beauty I was surrounded by. It got easier as we went on but my hands were so strained including my neck. This church had much of its ornate paintings or gold inlays on the ceiling, especially the dome. Most of the church was white (english barque) but once you got to the ceilings, more in the main chapel/alter area, where massive paintings of angels, apostles, latin phrases, and who knows what else. Something interesting about this church was the fact that one of the chapels was the "americans chapel" dedicated to 28,000 soliders during WW2 who were stationed in england and gave their lives during the war. This church was so stunning because of all the detail and passion that was put into it. The architect even had a quote in the front saying: Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you. Its just amazing to admire such a piece of architecture.  

Next was the Tower of London, my absolute favorite place to be in London. Despite is very dark history, I can't help but admire all the history in just one place. Originally a fortress made during the reign of the Normans, this place is packed which history starting from when it was built around late 1000's and up until it was last officially used for british history in WW2. When we got there, there was hardly anyone there at the place, which is such a break from all the crowds in London. After a quick few words with our guide, he cut us lose to explore. Finally! Sometimes I have more fun just walking around admiring then actually learning a bunch of facts, though I still like that too. I got to see the crown jewels which was so spectacular. The sparkled like no other, and I can't even imagine ever using some of those because I would be too afraid of messing on of them up! Next was the actual "tower" housing King Henry the 8th's armor and other kings armor, including the diamond that will be used in the queens jubilee coming up next week. Then after exploring through some buildings like the bloody tower, and the place where Anne Bolyn lost her head, I talked to a beefeater for a bit. For those of you who don't know, a beefeater is a guard of her royal majesty who has served for atleast 22 years in the royal army. Almost all are men and they where very traditional outfits. This beefeater was pretty funny, even testing my knowledge on american history, and giving me extra info that normally isn't told unless asked! I felt pretty awesome but also proud that I actually worked up the courage to speak to him ha Wow, I'm twenty and I'm afraid to talk to strangers sometimes...

The rest of the day can be summed up pretty quickly: Walking. My group kinda got turned around and couldn't find anywhere to agree on to eat until almost 2 hours later after walking all over. Needless to say my feet were killing. 

DAY2: 

Westminster Abbey! Only have ever just looked at the exterior, I was estatic to actually go inside this church especially since there was the wedding of the decade here, and man famous kings/queens have all had their crownings here. Now my first impression of this place was like not wow but more like mouth to the floor kinda deal. It was like I had never seen a church before. This church truly was in the gothic style, towering much above st. pauls and also the dark interior made me feel like I should have been dressed in medieval clothing ready for church. The tall arch ways drew your eyes higher and higher with every stone to the point where your admirations were looking straight up, like to heaven which was the intention of this grand church. Unlike St. Paul's where beautiful gold paintings dominated the walls and ceilings, westminster was dominated by graves. It was like everyone and their dog was buried here. They had everyone from kings and queens to poets, musicians, writers, monks, soldiers, and even a plumber. And then if that wasn't enough there were memorials/honors/shrines to people from all walks of life as well. I eventually gave up trying to write down all the different names and stories. A cool part though was the knight instal in king henry the 7th's chapel. Knights crest in banner forms hung from the ceiling while rows of crowns, helments, and swords lined the massive chair areas for the knights of the order of bath. So crazy just to think of all the things that have happened to and inside this church. It was also almost as old as the tower of London, making it also extremely old, but beautiful just the same.
Once we were done in there, all I wanted was to sit in a park and soak up some sun. Thankfully we were turned lose and thats exactly what I and three friends did. We went to hyde park, near kensington, which use to be the hunting grounds for kings but now it host the hot spot for many people to come and picnic on nice days. It was so relaxing just getting to sit, laugh, eat ice cream, and catch up on journaling. During that three hours, I actually realized it was the summer, and I'm in Europe...that moment hit me and I couldn't have been happier. But eventually we had to leave to make it in time for Evensong at St. Paul's. I wasn't quite sure what it was but there was some very beautiful choir singing of guys dressed in those long robes. I felt very out of place and then they started saying some prayers, and I totally passed out...like feel asleep out right cold. I felt really bad but my fatigue took over and thankfully almost everyone in the group passed out making it so much better and funny.
The rest of this evening was spent walking around london's equivalent to time square of piccadilly circus and then going to platform 9 and 3/4. Once again, I'm exhausted out the crazy and my feet hurt but its all worth it. Everyday is getting easier to journal and get use to all the recent changes that have occured in the last week of my life.
Anyways its past 11pm and tomorrow is another long day!
God bless :D