A tour of Westminster Abbey and War Cabinet Rooms

Today was our Wednesday day trip around London. I started off with Philippa at Westminster Abbey. Philippa seems to know just about everything and everyone! She studied history at Oxford and is a living encyclopedia. All of the workers and monks at Westminster Abbey came up and where talking to her while we were there, because they all knew her. She walked us into a courtyard that is right outside the Abbey first. Here is where the best boys school choirs is located and where the author of Winnie the Pooh lived. Then we walked into the Abbey. Thousands of people are buried in Westminster Abbey and it took almost 700 years to build due to money problems. It is very interesting walking around London and the Abbey because a lot of the city is new mixed with old. This is due to bombing that have taken place in London and buildings or parts of buildings to be rebuilt. There is a burial in the beginning of the Abbey that is dedicated to an unknown warrior during the first World War. Philippa said that she had seven great aunts that never married, because nearly one million men where killed in a battle during World War I. She said that for 2.5 days men walked constantly marching to battle across the street in front of the Abbey. One random soldier was returned from France and buried in the Abbey. It is the only body that no one walks on in the building. I however got to walk on hundreds of Kings and Queens bodies and also other famous Brits such as Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. The Abbey does not hold services for the public and is a private church. The Abbey had to make their money by selling burial spots. Some people in the Abbey are just random people that didn't do anything but had a lot of money. The Abbey was a beautiful place, but as Philippa said it is almost like a junkyard. There are burial places that all look completely different for famous Brits, Kings and Queens, and random people. There is Catholic items and Protestant items in the Abbey. There is also some different types of architecture, because it took so long to build. Philippa was also able to have one of the monks include Ball State University in a short prayer service that was announced to the whole church.
After this we grabbed a small lunch and Philippa took us to Saint James Royal Park, which is located right outside of Buckingham Palace. She also showed us where Prince Charles and Camilla live in the Clarence House. From there I went to the War Cabinet Rooms Museum. This is the actual place where Winston Churchill and other leaders stayed during the bombings in World War II. It is an underground building with cement that is 6 feet deep above to protect them from bombings. I was able to see where Churchill and other leaders had meetings about leading the war. It is exactly how it was when the meetings where taken place during the war. It also had a separate museum dedicated to Winston Churchill. I was able to learn a lot about Churchill. Some interesting things that I never knew before was that Churchill was also a writer and artist. He often worked 18 hour days. He always had a drink at every meal and was very specific about his meals. He was the first person to earn an honorary citizenship from the United States. He was the first person in over a hundred years to receive a public funeral at Saint Paul's that the Queen attended. He was an active member of Parliament until he died at the age of 90.
After my day trip ended I came back to the flat and had some dinner. Then I went over to Curtis' flat to plan some traveling and I also skyped with Monty!

Some things I've learned:
Private schools are called public schools here



Here is a video of a man that we met on our tour at Westminter Abbey. It is a priest that had been at Westminster Abbey since he was 16 and this is him doing some cartwheels at the Royal Wedding.