The day of Churches 1/17/2012

Today we visited St. Paul's Cathedral. This is where Diana and Prince Charles were married. The cathedral was constructed after the Reformation when Henry VIII decided to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. Thus,, the cathedral has architectural differences that make it unique to other cathedral I have seen and will see on this trip. For example, because it was such a beautiful day out, the inside of the cathedral was brightly lit by the sun. The light from the sun was able to shine in because there were very few stain glass windows. This made the cathedral appear odd to me, I rather enjoy the stories and people depicted in the stain glass of most churched. Nevertheless I admire the pictures depicted on mostly the ceiling, made up of vibrant colors, but later on in the tour was told that these depictions had only recently been added. Overall, I tried to picture the cathedral before things were later added and can only conclude that it was indeed, quoting the Italians, plain.

Second we visited Westminster Abbey. I was looking forward to this visit, particularly because of all the past monarchs that I knew were buried there. The visit surpassed my expectations. Past history, all monarchs, since William the Conqueror in 1066, have had their coronation there, also most royal weddings, include William and Kate, take place there. During the tour I discovered that a musician of the same name 'Purcell' is buried there, such is something I'll be excited to tell my family when I get home. As a group of nurses we were allowed to see Nightingale's chapel, which was a special one time chance experience. I was happy to see the tombs of Elizabeth, Mary and all the Edwards and Henrys again. Yet to this day it sadness me to see how much destruction has happened to the tombs and monuments in the abbey. I do not understand who and how anyone can justify ripping and desecrating the resting place of another person. I wish there was more time and the my feet did not hurt such much from standing so that I could read more about the people buried/remembered in Westminster Abbey, but for now it will have to wait.