London

Well I can now check "get yelled at by a British cavalryman" off of my bucket list. This was one of the many awesome things that happened in London today. Our day began at 8:45 this morning when we boarded a bus and headed for London. We arrived in Baker St. near where Sherlock Holmes supposedly lived (sorry everyone, he's ficticious). Jonathan told expressed his joy that we had the day to ourselves and then told us that we could follow him or do whatever we wanted, but to meet at Westminster Abbey for Evensong at 5. We then journeyed to the British Library wherein we saw many remarkable things. They had the Lindesfarne gospels on display, along with Codex Sinaiticus (the first complete manuscript of the Bible, written in Greek and discovered at St. Catherine's monastery) and (my personal favorite) a manuscript of Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier".

Our next destination was the British museum. When my friend Elizabeth (hereafter referred to as El) noticed we were one person short, I stayed with her at the library until we were all accounted for and then we proceeded to the museum. Initially, we believed that we would be late to the museum but we actually arrived seconds before the rest of the group.

Once inside the museum, we walked into a massive hall with a glass ceiling and a series of Greek style fasades at different entry points. I am incapable of describing the scene well, so I shall let the pictures do the talking. We did a quick walk around in the museum and then journeyed off to the national gallery in Trafalgar square. Below are pictures of the more notable paintings. I was sad to find that their collection of Rembrandts were lacking.

After this, we walked to Westminster Abbey, seeing Big Ben and Parliament, as well as a government building guarded by ceremonial guardsmen clad in cuirasses and riding on horses. I was standing to the right of the guards who were riding forward in line of column. I was taking a picture and did not notice that they were wheeling right until one of the guards shouted "Stand clear of the guard!"

As we continued toward Westminster Abbey, I and a friend called Denis stopped to take a picture of big Ben. We stopped for no more than 10 seconds and in that time our entire group had left us alone, having gone on to the Abbey. We continued on, believing Parliament to be Westminster Abbey until we asked where the Evensong service was being held. The lady at the door directed us where to go, and we crossed the street and entered the abbey and attended the choral evensong. Although we got lost, we got some great pictures of big Ben and Parliament.

After evensong, we went to a market to get food for dinner. Outside the market we walked along a river wherein were multiple cars which did not belong. As it turned out, it was not a river at all, but instead a watermain had burst under the road and had created a geyser that broke up the pavement and then flooded the street. In the words of Mycal Felps (mispelling intentional, look it up) "Pretty crazy, right?"

We ate a nice dinner in a park where the squirrels came right up to us and weren't afraid. Next we saw Buckingham Palace and came home. It was a good day. Do enjoy the pictures!

Assyrian siege engine

Jehu (from the Bible) prostrating himself before Senacherib, King of Assyria.