Here on, my little blog, I have been reliving my trip to the UK that happened about a month ago (at the time of writing). This post is about my last full day in London. I am not sure why I have procrastinated on this post. As I ponder it, I believe it comes down to the fact this post means I am just a few thoughts away from writing down exactly what I believe is next in our family’s life. Something about writing it down feels like going skydiving and committing to the jump. Writing it down for me means committing to believing this is going to happen even if I don’t know how.
Scary. So I procrastinate… but here it is.
Please enjoy the adventures of our last day in London. Prepare for a future post about what direction we feel that we will be going in!
2019 UK Trip – Day 10 (London, England)
Oh, flat in Notting Hill, we do not care for you. Although we have paid for you in full and your nice owner says we cannot get a refund, we are moving out. We are packing our bags to drag ALL OVER London until we catch a train to a hotel near the airport. I would much rather pull my suitcase five miles down the street while I sightsee than come back to you. So now you know exactly how I feel… goodbye!
So far I have not cared for the square-mile of London around the Notting Hill Gate tube station, but today is a new story. This city has wonderful stuff going for it. I am in love with Hyde Park! Walking through it was so refreshing after a weird night. If I lived in this town, I would be at this park daily. It is like a sanctuary away from the cars, buildings, and the hustle. I loved seeing the flowers at Kensington Palace. Hyde Park has several flower gardens as well as miles and miles of walking paths through the trees. This is one of the royal parks that used to be private hunting grounds for the monarchy. It’s absolutely beautiful!
As we walked through the park we made our way to a nearby coffee shop. My phone was on the verge of dying and I wanted to be able to keep taking pictures. We sit. We fueled our bodies with caffeine and our phones with power. The cafe overlooked a lake. It has a nice outdoor seating area and big French doors on the inside that are left open for the breeze to blow in. It was a very comfortable space. We are off now to see what other wonderful things this town has to offer us.
We enjoyed seeing Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain, the changing of the guards, and Buckingham Palace. I think the best thing about our visit to London was Eric getting to go into Westminster Abbey for private prayer. Down below I will let him tell you about it. I was honored to stay out with our bags while he had this special time.
Eric’s story about Westminster Abbey:
As a seminary student and fan of church history, Westminster Abbey was a big item on my must-see list. I had hoped to see several churches while we were in the UK, but that didn’t happen. I really wanted to make sure to see this one. In my research, I learned that admission to the Abbey was about twenty pounds per person, and the tour took more time than we wanted to give to it. However, you can request to be taken to St. Faith’s Chapel inside the Abbey for private prayer, which was free! This is what I really wanted, anyway – a worshipful moment in the midst of this crazy trip.
We went to one of the gates of the Abbey and let one of the chaplains know that I wanted to go in for prayer. He was very friendly and escorted me in. The Abbey was busy and quite noisey, full of sight-seers. At this time of day, it definitely felt more like a museum than a house of worship. The chaplain led me past the crowds, around a corner, past lines of people waiting to start the tour, and to a pair of huge, medieval-looking wooden doors set in the block wall. Imagine thick wooden doors with iron hardware, like you’d expect in a castle. He said, “I’ll let you in and close the door behind you. If we leave it open, other people will come in. When you’re done, just head out.” I walked into St. Faith’s Chapel and he closed the huge door behind me.
The room had about ten rows of wooden chairs. The front of the chapel was roped off and, on the other side of the rope was a beautiful old painting of Christ on the wall. There was one other man in the chapel. He was dressed in a business suit and sat on the front row. Soon, he dismissed himself silently and I was left alone. Behind me in the back of the chapel were several prayer benches. I got up and went to a bench to kneel and pray. I that moment, I was overwhelmed with the whole experience; the visits to the universities, conversations with professors, rides on planes and trains, nights in flat after flat. In that moment, I was very aware of God’s presence with me in the chapel, but even more so, his presence with us throughout the whole trip. I was so incredibly thankful for his protection and provision.
After several minutes in prayer, I got up and looked around for a bit. There was a plaque in the wall in memory of an American bishop whose remains had laid in the chapel for four days during Easter Week of 1873. He died in Florence and his body was on its way back to Ohio. What was interesting to me about this bishop was that his name was Charles Pettit McIlvaine. His middle name, Pettit, was the same as the last name of great-great-grandparents on my mother’s side. It’s not a very common name and I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be a connection.
As I left the chapel, I walked slowly through the Abbey and tried to see as much as I could. There are an incredible number of people buried in Westminster Abbey, including many of Western history’s most notable men and women. I saw the graves of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, George Frederic Handel, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, etc. On the way out, I saw a large black slab in the floor with an inscription that read, “Beneath this stone are supposed to be interred twenty six monks of Westminster who died of the Black Death in 1348.” This was very interesting because I taught my sixth grade students about the impact of the Black Death during our history class last year.
My experience at Westminster Abbey was a highlight of the trip. I would love to visit again for a worship service. It would also be nice to take the tour and see the whole building. Maybe we can return and bring the kids next time!
OK… back to my story!
After we left the church, Eric and I experienced our first ever protest. President Trump was in town from the US visiting with the Queen. There were a lot of unhappy vocal protesters in the streets. Although it was a bit stressful, it was a really cool experience. Of course, I wanted to be in the middle of it… until I was in the middle of it! Then I remembered how crazy, passionate humans can behave and I no longer wanted to be in the middle of the action. We quickly made our way to Big Ben for a picture for our son. Only it was under construction and it started to pour rain! Thankfully, we were near the underground station. But guess who else found refuge from the rain in the station? You guessed! All the passionate protestors! Also, guess what I am still pulling along behind me? You are right! My suitcase Through the protest.Through the rain. And through a crowded train station. Do you think I am rethinking my decision? Not for one second.
I seat my fanny down on my suitcase right there in that train station while Eric fought the crowd to get our tickets. People watching was extra fun that day.
Let’s change gears a minute. We all know that loved ones like to get souvenirs when we come home from a trip. Especially if those loved ones are your children! We have been in this beautiful country for eight days! You guessed it… eight days and not one child’s souvenir has been bought.
Now resume… reality hits us. We are getting ready to get on a train that will take us to a hotel near the airport which will fly us back home to our children… our children waiting for souvenirs from England and Scotland… souvenirs we have not bought! Insert freak-out face!
I found a coffee shop in the train station and Eric went on a mad rush to find overpriced trinkets of Big Ben and red telephone booths and Union Jack flags. He came back with the mission accomplished just in time to catch the train.
We made it! We made it to a comfortable hotel for tonight’s stay. We had dinner in their downstairs restaurant. We are now chilling in the room uploading Instagram stories about walking through protesters. President Trump was in town and boy, people were not happy about it!
But guess what? I am happy. I am happy laying in the bed with the man that knows me best and loves me so well. It has been a crazy trip and I would not change a thing about it. I cannot wait to fly home to my babies. I cannot wait to view the sonogram of what God is birthing in us. I cannot. But yet I must wait. The in-between is uncomfortable, but I am right where I am supposed to be!