The Mind-Blowing Time Capsule of Westminster Abbey

A non-rainy Saturday gave us all the motivation we needed for a return trip to London. This one was better planned and more purposeful than last week's adventure: A 90-minute train ride (at up to 120mph) into Paddington station and a London Taxi directly to Westminster Abbey. If you haven't been there I can't possibly explain it to you; absolutely MIND BLOWING!

First a photo of ever-busy Paddington Station again...

LOVED this place below: Yo! Sushi in Paddington station features conveyor belts running opposite directions non-stop full of sushi. Just grab whatever you want as it goes by! How fun is THAT if you love sushi?

Don't know HOW we missed this the first time we were in Paddington station! Fortunately we didn't miss it the second time!

There is a 24-hour per day rotation of London Taxi's loading in two parallel lines at Paddington station- about 16 cabs all loading simultaneously and then being instantly replaced by 16 more as people queue and wait for the signal to stampede toward the taxis! And for those of you who haven't had the pleasure (and it IS a pleasure) here's the inside of a London taxi...

TERRIBLE photo but it is what it is I guess...

The outside of Westminster Abbey in a few shots...

Sadly, there is no photography allowed inside the abbey.


Begun in the 900's, Westminster Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066. The present building was begun by Henry III in 1245.

The Gothic building is mind-blowing with all the sculpture and architectural detail everywhere you look. If you saw some of the photos I posted of several of the old churches and of the Oxford School of Divinity- Westminster is 20 times more elaborate and 100 times larger!!


Beyond that, you are LITERALLY standing on top of and AMONG a significant portion of those who made English history. There are more than 3500 people buried in Westminster Abbey.

We saw the tombs of a few whose names you might recognize...

Geoffrey Chaucer d1400

Oliver Cromwell d1658

Sir Isaac Newton d1727

George Frideric Handel d1759

William Wilberforce d1833

Charles Dickens d1870

David Livingstone d1873

Charles Darwin d1882

Robert Browning d1889

Alfred Tennyson d1892

Thomas Hardy d1928

Rudyard Kipling d1936

We also saw the tombs of a few English monarchs whose names might ring a bell...

Edward the Confessor d1066

Henry III d1272

Edward I d1307

Edward III d1377

Richard II d1400

Henry V d1422

Edward V d1483

Henry VII d1509

Edward VI d1553

Mary I d1558

Elizabeth I d1603

Mary, Queen of Scotts d1587

James I d1625

Charles II d1685

Mary II d1694

William of Orange d1702

Anne d1714

George II d1760

Each of these tombs had an effigy, often made from a death mask of the monarch's actual face, sitting atop ENORMOUS marble tombs with elaborate carvings, gold leaf and detail work you can't even imagine!

Here's a small room where we COULD take photos. This is from 1065 and was used as a royal treasury.

Here's the door to the room above with six bolts and multiple locks...

EVERYWHERE inside the abbey the floors look like this- worn down from 1000+ years of daily foot traffic. AMAZING!

Here's Jane standing by the abbey cloister...

After we finished, we took a cab to the #1 rated Thai restaurant in London in Trafalgar square for some AMAZING Thai food. Here's a dessert we shared: Thai mango wrapped in fresh crepe with vanilla bean ice cream, raspberries and blueberries. Remarkable!

Coming back through Paddington station these pigeons caught our eye. They're of course EVERYWHERE in the large semi-open station where trains come in and out, but a few get past the glass doors and into the food and shopping areas of the station. These guys were devouring some leftovers.

And here's a wider photo so you can get a sense of the context of where these pigeons were. CRAZY!

So we came away feeling much the way we felt after spending a day at the Bodelian Library and Oxford University last week. There is SO MUCH history here in one small area that it's incomprehensible. You look around on every side and your brain short circuits: Here's the coronation chair, there's the tomb of James I, here's Charles Dickens tomb and there's William Wilberforce's tomb and over there is the tomb of Edward the Confessor. It's mind-numbing-- almost incomprehensible really. There's simply too much to grasp, honestly.

As Jane remarked when we walked past the graves of both Mary, Queen of Scotts and her cousin Elizabeth I, (who had Mary killed as you may recall), "Once again I'm INTENSELY AWARE of just how finite and small our individual lives are in the broader context of human history." 


A quick Google brought up several photo collections of the abbey. This one seemed about as good as any and isn't so long that it will overwhelm you. If you're interested, take 5 minutes and look through and see a little bit of what we saw today...

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