London, March 2004 (page 3 of 8)
Tourist Stuff, Part One
We did plenty of general touristy stuff while in London, most of which involved extensive walking. The first thing we did after arriving on our red-eye was to take the subway to Notting Hill to hit the Portobello Road market. The market is open every day, but Saturday is antique day and one of the busiest times to go. It could’ve been the jet lag, but I felt like the
market kept repeating itself. There was a stall with old nautical equipment, a stall with old medical equipment, a stall with old magnifying glasses, and then they would repeat. This didn’t prevent us from buying our first souvenir: a nautical telescope. It’s neat. The market was fun, but a bit overwhelming right off the plane.
Speaking of overwhelming, another thing on Edie’s must-see list was Buckingham Palace. We headed to Buckingham Palace one drizzly morning at about 11:15 to watch the crowds and see what we could of the changing of the guard. Since I’d already seen it, I didn’t feel the need to get
involved in the elbow-throwing-frenzy right in front of the gate, but Edie managed to slip into a spot that gave her a good view of the festivities. I settled for a view of the viewers, which was no less fascinating. People were seriously intent on watching the ceremony. They climbed on whatever they had available. I didn’t actually see it, so I can’t comment on whether or not it was worth it for those folks, but I suspect not.
Speaking of crowds, on our last day in London we went to see Westminster Abbey. The rain was pouring down that afternoon, but the crowds were undeterred. Edie rightly pointed out that Westminster Abbey feels less like a church and more like a mausoleum. We went from tomb to tomb. No wandering was allowed; we followed the path set out in waist high rope, going from grave to grave to grave. Despite being a little morbid, it really was fascinating. There were tombs of kings dating back to the [[img(004,left)] twelfth century. As usual, the best part happened entirely by accident. After we’d done the loop through the church and the accompanying museum (highly recommended – wax figures of British royalty with authentic antique clothes! – better than Madame Toussaud’s), a boys choir started rehearsing for an evening performance. The sound of the choir and the acoustics of the abbey reminded us of its original purpose.