missed westminster

Friday was our last day in London, regrettably. Earlier in the week, we stood outside, gaping at the intricate walls of Westminster Abbey. Stunning architecturally, the outside was beautiful, but I wanted so badly to go in. There is a tangible holiness to the inside of a church like that, especially one that was designed with such precision, and served through so many periods of history. T.S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, and even Issac Newton were buried in the Abbey. More than anything I wanted to attend the daily Evensong's chorale singing. My imagination ran wild thinking about how the acoustics would sound from the depths of the cathedral of Westminster. Unfortunately, we planned to fit it in on Thursday, before we discovered that everything is cancelled on John the Baptist's Day of Birth, which happened to be on Thursday. Shouldn't that be the time to celebrate!? So foolish, in my opinion, but selfishly I was just disappointed. (Happy Birthday John.) Plan B was created. We were to rise early for the service of prayer at 7:30 am, waking up to the sound of Brittney's mp3 alarm, which we fittingly set to London Bells. This was not too bright in retrospect since the sound of London bells blends in with the varying noises of everything else in London right outside our window. Collectively it is like a soundtrack, the Sounds of London, and we slept right through it. Sadly, no Westminster. Our bodies were probably craving the sleep anyways, and now I have an easy excuse to go back to London. I miss it already, but on with Barcelona! Much to say already, the good, the bad, and unexpected....always the unexpected in traveling. First, I must sleep.