Two Atheists and a Lunatic Walk into an Abby....

We arrived safely in London after a bit of a bumpy ride across the pond. Wayne and I slept pretty well, Caitlin not so much.

After customs we were greeted by our driver who took us to our flat in the city of Westminster, near Trafalger Square. We are staying on John Adams Street, love John Adams, Abigail even more.

Our flat is compact for sure! A completely refurbished older building, it is nicely redone with high ceiling,beautiful moldings and updated, kitchen and baths, no air conditioning, but the weather is in the 70's, so windows opened! We were met at the flat by Ricardo, an adorable Brazilian who manages a number of rental through Londonconnections.com. Caitlin says it smells like the Manor House at Glenelg Country School, I guess thats a good thing??

After settling in for all of ten minutes, we went out to explore our new neighborhood and get a bite to eat. We went back to our flat to eat, (you pay more to dine in!), and then on the advice of Ricardo, we did what everyone said not to do...we napped! It was great, and we all felt much better and ready to go! We decided to walk along the river Thames, stopping along lovely parks with beautiful flowers and architecture.

As we turned the corner there was Big Ben! I cannot even begin to explain the beauty and enormity of the building and architecture! I look in awe at how on earth these building were constructed so long ago.

Continuing our walk we came upon Westminster Abby. Of course we had missed the daily tour times, but people were queuing up in line for something...so you know me...get in line...I mean its a church, can't be anything bad?? Turns out we were in line to go into the Abby for Evensong, which essentially is daily mass at 5 pm. Needless to say, my two favorite atheists were not thrilled! It was amazing!! We sat in the side pews with the amazing alter to our right, the Norwich Girls Choir was the guest choir for the service, most of which was sung. As the service was Anglican, it was very much like a Catholic service, same prayers, reading from old and new testament. I could not help but think of the royal wedding of Kate and Will...she walked right down this very aisle! The Abby itself is just incredible. We will head back for the complete tour as there was so much to see.

On our way out of the Abby there was an area where one could light a small prayer candle, tea light size. I know you are suppose to give a small donation for this, but people were just lighting them like crazy and moving on. I noticed a rather large African American woman in a bright red top, short black skirt and flaming red tights lighting a candle. She was hard not to notice. She had legs larger than mine! We leave and are a few blocks away, when I see her in front of us. She stops and turns to address me, asking where I am from. I'm thinking uh oh here we go...when she then says, "I have these tights on, and with this skirt, I can't really tell if my crotch is hanging low, can you let me know?" Now Wayne always says people just stop and talk to me, but this one was something! She walked ahead of me and I looked and told her she was fine, she thanked me and went on her way!

We ended the day we a really nice Italian dinner just around the corner from our flat. We walked a bit
more after dinner and then off to bed.