Westminster Abbey

Not only did we tour the entire Abbey, but we attended a Sunday afternoon organ recital and heard The Coronation March played on that historic and beautiful instrument. (These recitals are given every Sunday, unless otherwise noted on the events board outside the Abbey.) There is always a line of people waiting to tour the Abbey, and we waited about 45 minutes on a Saturday morning, but it was definitely worth the wait, without a doubt.

When you walk into Westminster Abbey, your jaw drops open and stays there.  Everywhere you look, every corner, every stained glass window, every chandelier, every altar, every everything is just exquisite, and exquisitely old and cherished.  We have been to dozens of churches in Germany, and we thought nothing could top those.... but (with apologies to the Germans) Westminster Abbey tops them all, and then some.

As you begin the tour of the Abbey, you're given a little device that looks like a cell phone. You walk around the Abbey and there are little numbered signs in all the aisles and corners..... you type those numbers into your little phone-thing and a very polite and soft-spoken British voice gives you the history behind what you're looking at.

Even though you're listening to the recorded voice as you walk around the Abbey, you can't help but look at everything else around you, as well as the spot you're standing in.  There are statues and sculptures, tombs and graves, stained glass and altars, monuments and busts, engravings and artwork.... and there's the Poets' Corner and the Lady Chapel (that chapel will take your breath away because it's so delicately beautiful).

Our Abbey tour was on a Saturday, and then we were back there the following day for the late afternoon organ recital.  Hearing that music, in that beautiful Abbey, was just beyond description.  And for me, after all the years that I watched the televised weddings and funerals that took place in the Abbey, to be standing right there was just a lot to bear and I had tears in my eyes from time to time.