My Bucket List:: Cathedrals and Churches and Chapels, Oh my!

While I’m in London, I have a goal to see as many churches and cathedrals as possible – at least 10. Today I got to add churches #4 and #5 to my list.

A friend and I were doing an assigned “walk” through St. James and Westminster. On Jermyn road, we found St James’ Church at Piccadilly. It was a lovely Anglican Church which has had much remodeling done since damage in the World War II bombings. I was dismayed to see people rushing through the hall of the church as a shortcut between two streets. The chapel area was lit with candles and people reverently whispered in the aisles. There was a beautiful prayer tree where people hang prayer requests and light candles. I paused by it for a moment to read the requests and write my own for a friend. 

[Picture to be added here when internet permits]

I think my favorite part of the walk was our detour to see Westminster Cathedral. This is the largest Roman Catholic Church in London and has stunning architecture and décor. There were many parishioners coming in to pray and worship. The most fantastic feature of the Westminster Cathedral is its approximately 300 foot tall campanile tower. For a small fee, they let us take an elevator to the top. The view of London was breathtaking. I never realized how large this city is. It stretched on for miles with no end in sight. For a tourist on a budget, the campanile tower is far better than the London Eye.

[Picture to be added here when internet permits]

With these two churches added, here is my list so far:

1. St. John’s Chapel in the Tower of London. Small, beautiful simplicity in white stone.

2. Westminster Abbey. Huge, regal. Church of England. A few too many headstones and memorials for my taste.

3. Hyde Park Chapel. Latter-Day Saint. Large, beautiful organ filling the back of the chapel. Possibly the most well-known LDS church in England.

4. St. James Church at Piccadilly. Lovely Anglican Church with a reverent tone. Old church, with a bit of a forgotten feel in a ritzy part of town.

5. Westminster Cathedral. Gorgeous. I believe the largest Roman Catholic Church in London. Beautiful stone and tile work. Campanile tower has a breathtaking view of the city.
6. Salisbury Cathedral. Once the tallest spire in England. Houses one of four original Magna Carta copies existing today and the oldest working medieval clock. (added 12 Jan)
7. Bath Abbey. Built almost on top of the Roman Bath Ruins. (added 12 Jan)

The LDS Church in London

 Note to readers: I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A.K.A. the Mormon Church. If you are unfamiliar with the LDS church, it will help you to know that an LDS "ward" is similar to a Catholic parish and an LDS "stake" is similar to a Catholic diocese. A "calling" is a position in your ward that the Bishop (head of your ward) asks to you assume.  

     So today, we were split up in two groups, about 20 students for each London stake. Half of the group went to South London (the Wadsworth stake) and the other half of us went to the Hyde stake. I was assigned to Hyde- which is good because that means I can get there just on the tube (subway) rather than having to switch from tube to train to tram. The Wadsworth kids got their ward assignments right away and got callings as soon as they got there. But the Hyde stake presidency wanted to meet with us today before we went out so we had to go to the Hyde Park ward all together to get our assignments.
      I was assigned to Stratford ward- which the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency described as "very ethnically diverse." It starts at 9:30 am and it will take us an hour and 15 minutes to get there. We'll also have to pay for a tube extension because it is outside of the travel card that the Centre buys for us. It shouldn't be too bad- about 3 pounds, or $4.50 each Sunday.
      I'm sad that I don't get to meet my ward until next Sunday. Also, they're having ward conference next Sunday which means we might not get our callings until two Sundays from now. I am so impatient. I really want a calling to work on. I talked to four Wadsworth students who are back and they were assigned to Young Men's, Young Single Adult Sunday School teacher, Primary teacher for ages 4-7, and one girl is the Sacrament, Primary, and Ward Choir Pianist!! Crazy. I hope the north stake needs BYU students as much as the south stake does. I want to be useful.
     About the ward we attended today: The Hyde Park Ward is the most central London ward- which means it is about one third American, one third English, and one third everything else, with the whole ward representing about 70 nationalities! Someone told me that their chapel cost about as much as some temples (with location contributing alot of the cost). The Hyde Park Chapel kind of serves as a Church Visitor's Center. The organ is huge and beautiful- they hold lunchtime concerts there every Thursday. In the foyer there is a large mural with descriptions of the plan of salvation and a plaque commemorating the beginning of missionary service in Great Britain. When entering sacrament meeting, everyone gets a name badge- black ink if you're a member of the ward and red if you're a visitor. The 2nd counselor in the stake presidency told us that it's kind of stressful to have such a well-known ward because General Authorities and public affairs people always want to visit. We'll be having our religion class there on Thursdays so I will add better pics later!

Digestives and the Parks

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but my internet was not cooperating- internet in Europe is rather sketchy.

Saturday is our staff’s day off so we were left alone for food today. A couple of my roommies and I left the Centre about 9:30 am in search of a Belgian waffle stand. We were unlucky in that regard, but did find a grocery store (Marks & Spencer) where I spotted a package of cookies called Digestives. I remembered my old roomie Rosemary saying how much she loved them in Romania, so I thought I’d better try. Just so you know, they are wonderful! Wheatmeal biscuit covered in milk chocolate. Delicious.

For breakfast, we found a little chain bakery called Greggs where I bought a sausage roll and a “Yum-Yum” (iced pastry).

In the afternoon we did our first assigned “walk” for our one credit “London Walks” Class. It took us two hours to go through St. James Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. In between Green and Hyde is the Duke of Wellington Arch celebrating his victory over Wellington:

In Kensington Gardens is the Peter Pan statue which author J.M. Barrie reportedly had erected overnight to make schoolchildren believe that fairies had brought it!

Tower of London and Westminster Abbey

Today we spent two and a half hours touring Her Majesty’s Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London. I had always thought the Tower of London was just that – a Tower. Little beknownst to me, it is a whole castle!

 We saw the crown jewels, the execution site, the royal armoury, the room where the two "little princes" were (most likely) murdered, and the many towers where prisoners were kept. Also, below is a picture of St. John’s Chapel from inside the fortress.

After that, we saw Westminster Abbey – where William and Kate will be getting married in April!

After the abbey, we split up and my group went to look at Trafalgar square, Leicester Square, and the TKTS office.

Also, I started figuring out the tube today! It really isn’t hard and it’s so exciting to have constant transportation at my fingertips!

In London!

Hello world!

This is my second day in London and I feel so amazing! It felt so good to get out and about on our own today. The girls on my flight got in to the London Centre at about 11am yesterday and I actually felt pretty good. I highly recommend taking melatonin to help you sleep on planes- I slept for almost 5 hours! So, I wasn’t very energetic, but I really felt pretty good. Very little jet lag. Yesterday I spent a couple hours unpacking and getting settled in and then the three professors took us on a walk around Kensington Gardens/ Hyde park just to get out and keep ourselves awake. We saw the Prince Albert Memorial at the South of Kensington Gardens. It is HUGE! Very regal looking and nothing like what we have in the US. But, then again, we don’t have any royals in the US.

We also saw the outside of Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up and where Princess Diana lived.

We didn’t get to stay out very long yesterday because it get dark so early and we weren’t at all familiar with the area yet. It starts getting dark about 4pm and is completely pitch black by 5. It didn’t even start getting light until 8am today. Crazy.

The Centre is tall, old, cramped, and beautiful. So, basically, it’s European. I lucked out and got put in the room with 8 girls instead of 14, much thanks to my writing an early-to-bed, early-to rise schedule on the room survey. Our room shares one bathroom with two showers and two sinks. It’s tiny and mornings are very interesting. Also, we’re only allowed to have food (including wrapped gum and candy) in the servery because of a rat problem. But, you know, that’s ok! I’m in London!

Today we had our Centre Orientation from 10 am to about noon. In the afternoon, I ran errands with a couple roommates- Shelbi and Michelle. We picked up internet cards (because the centre internet is terrible), tube passes, laundry detergent, a laundry bag, notebooks, and a few other odds and ends. It felt so good to be out on the streets of London! It was a beautiful day, too, if you dressed right. It was 40 degrees Fahrenheit and with a constant drizzle, but I had rainboots, a coat, gloves, a hat, and an umbrella so I was good to go. We also stopped at a little bakery where I bought Italian “grissini” for 60 pence. It was about 18 inches long and a cross between a breadstick, pretzel, and biscotti, with lots of herbs I didn’t recognize. Pretty good!

After we dropped our things at the Centre, Shelbi and I went over to the Serpentine Gallery, a small art exhibit in Kensington Gardens which he had to visit for our European Fine Arts Class. We then hurried back home to make it before dark. We are allowed to be out after dark, but you have to be in groups of three, rather than two in daylight, and it was easier to find our way back in daylight anyway.

Tomorrow we’ll be visiting the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, Saturday will be the changing of the Guard and “The Woman in Black” and then Sunday we’ll find out where we are each assigned to go to church! Can’t wait!