Sarah in London: Westminster Abbey (finally!!!), Golders Green, and the London Eye!!!

It's past midnight here, but I'm too excited from all my recent adventures to save this blogpost for later. On Monday my friend Sophie and I finally went to Westminster Abbey and went inside for a tour. Ever since learning about the Protestant Reformation (especially Queen Elizabeth I's role in it) in history last year I couldn't wait to go visit this beautiful landmark which is so rich in history. I wish photography was allowed inside - I simply cannot put into words now incredibly gorgeous it is! (Google pictures of the royal wedding and you'll see it.) It's amazing that they were able to preserve such intricate stain glass and sculptures over so many decades. And as with any historic sight here, I was once again in awe over how I was standing in a place of so much history. During the tour we visited the tombs of Queen Elizabeth the I and her enemy/cousin Mary Queen of Scots, among many other English monarchs, and we visited the burial places of Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. Dickens is buried in the part of the abbey known as the Poet's Corner, where many authors have either been buried or have had a memorial placed in honor of them. Of course, Westminster Abbey is also famous for being the coronation church of many of England's monarchs. (Which means that once again I was walking in the steps of Queen Elizabeth the I!) The coronation of the current queen took place at Westminster Abbey as well. I also loved that since the church is still used for daily prayer, there's still a strong spiritual vibe when you walk into the building, and every hour or so there's a moment of silent prayer.

Sophie and I in front of Westminster Abbey!

A few days ago during orientation we were given a mini ungraded project: We were to split into small groups, and each group was assigned an area of London to explore and then present about it to the larger group. My group was assigned to explore Golders Green, which the orientation staff told us is London's predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Although we definitely did find signs of an evidently large Jewish population (and even an Israeli bookstore...kind of reminded me of Brookline, MA...), the area was so much more diverse than we had expected. There were Polish supermarkets, Korean, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Turkish restaurants, and the people walking around were all definitely not ethnically British. For lunch, my group decided to skip the bagel shops and try something new, so we ate at a delicious Turkish restaurant. After lunch we kept walking around the area and we came upon a pretty garden...only to find out it was a garden of a crematorium! Apparently, this crematorium is the area's most famous landmark and is the place where T.S. Elliot, Sigmund Frued, and Amy Winehouse all got cremated. I thought it was a bit creepy, but one cool thing we noticed was that all the memorial plaques for the people who had been cremated there were from an incredibly wide variety of religions. Anyways, this definitely wasn't a typical Jewish quarter like in other European cities. Golders Green seemed like it could be one of London's most diverse areas!

Golders Green center...pretty much each of those buildings had a mini grocery store
with food from a different culture

Kira found a Fiddler on the Roof menorah
in the Israeli book store

The Jews of London

The creepy crematorium at Golders Green which we accidentally found

All of us at the yummy Turkish restaurant we found

After our adventure through Golders Green, my entire dorm met up to ride the London Eye. It was so fun!!! I have a terrible fear of heights but surprisingly enough the London Eye wasn't scary at all...the bubble you're in feels so big and the wheel moves so slowly that it just feels like you're standing on the top floor of a tall building. Still, the views are absolutely beautiful! And we went at a perfect time - we got views right before the sunset when you could still see everything in daylight and also when it was dark and all of London was lit up.