Wesley's Chapel and John Wesley House

Wesley's Chapel

John Wesley along with his brother Charles were the leaders of the Methodist movement in the late 1700s that gave rise to the formation of the Methodist church.  Anyone who's grown up in the Methodist church, as we have, knows the Wesley name.  Along City Road in London is Wesley's Chapel, the church he built in London in the late 1770s along with a Georgian-style house that Wesley spent his final years until his death in 1791.  This house continued to serve as the parsonage for the minister of this church until a new one was built on the grounds in the late 1800s.

Wesley's Chapel remains an active congregation of the Methodist Church with services every Sunday.  In the crypt of the church is the Museum of Methodism outlining Methodist history, with a lot of Wesley artifacts including the pulpit he preached from prior to the opening of Wesley's Chapel.  Margaret Thatcher was married in this church and both of her children were baptized here.  In 1993, she donated the communion rail that is still in use today.

Victoria & Albert and the National Gallery

London has many great art museums, most of which are free to tour just like the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.  We've already seen the Tate Modern, so we chose to visit some more traditional venues.  First up, the National Gallery.  Unlike the Tate, the National Gallery is a more traditional museum showing masterpieces through the years.  We saw works by Michaelangelo, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Monet.  My favorite was one of Monet's water lilies pictured here.  So peaceful and serene.  The National Gallery is at Trafalgar Square, making it a very popular spot to visit.

One of several screens from cathedrals
around the world

 The Victoria and Albert Museum is located in South Kensington, just a couple of tube stops from our apartment.  It is housed in a grand building along Cromwell Road.  The V&A bills itself as the "world's greatest museum of art and design."  Its focus is on architecture and interior spaces, and the collections are grouped by time period and location.  They have a huge collection of ceramic dishes from around the world.  We saw furniture, textiles, and sculpture, and large pieces such as choir screens and altar pieces once housed in cathedrals.  This was much different than visiting your typical art museum and seeing mostly paintings.  We had not visited the V&A before, but if we make it back to London some day, this will be one of the places we will visit again.

Several large galleries filled with ceramic dishes

Look Kids -- Big Ben, Parliament

Our obligatory photo showing Big Ben and Parliament from the south bank of the Thames.

Greenwich

On Tuesday, Mom took a day trip to Paris.  She booked a group tour before we left that traveled on the Eurostar high-speed train through the English Channel straight to Paris.  We dropped her off at the St. Pancras rail station at 5:30am (yikes!).  Since we had the day to ourselves, Mona and I decided we'd take a day trip to Greenwich.

On either side of the Prime Meridian

Greenwich is home to the Royal Observatory and marks the Prime Meridian separating the Eastern and Western hemispheres and the basis for which all time zones are calculated.  The term Greenwich Mean Time refers to the time in Greenwich and is a single reference point by which everyone can calculate the correct time.  It's an absolute time that doesn't change with the seasons like when we change the clocks for daylight savings time.  The observatory sits on a hill overlooking the town and we hiked up the hill so we could each stand in a different hemisphere at the same time.

Giant Ship in a Bottle at the National Maritime Museum

Greenwich is a historic seaport on the River Thames just south of London, and is home to the tall masted ship Cutty Sark as well as the Old Royal Naval College.  No longer a Naval College, it's now the site of the University of Greenwich.  It's also the home of the National Maritime Museum.  We visited all of these as well as walked through the town and strolled along the river.  Greenwich is an easy day trip as it's

Cutty Sark

connected to the Tube system via the Docklands Light Rail (DLR).  Our week's travel card included riding the DLR so it made for a fun day without adding any extra expense.

Choir Memories

When I was a student at the College of William and Mary, I sang as a member of the Choir.  Frank Lendrim - "Doc" as we all called him - helped instill in me a great love of music that I carry with me today.  Every three years, he and his wife Betty Jean put together a tour of Europe where the choir would sing in some of the greatest venues including Westminster Abbey, the Madeleine in Paris, and Chartres Cathedral to name a few.  It so happened that the year of the European Tour when I was a student was my senior year.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church

The day after graduation, we left for a six week tour visiting France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and England.  While in London, we performed at Westminster Abbey, St. Martin-in-the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, and the Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.  That was 21 years ago.  During our time here this week, we have attended an organ recital at Westminster Abbey and listened to a noontime concert at St. Martin-in-the Fields by a boys choir from Bromley.  We also had lunch in the cafe of the church -- another memory from choir tour.   Mona and I visited the Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College on Tuesday.

Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich

Some of my best and closest friends to this day are those fellow singers from the William and Mary Choir.  Returning to these places brought back a flood of memories of our time together on tour and how much fun we had performing and seeing so many different places.  That trip also had one other profound effect on me -- my love of travel.  I don't think I would have had nearly the level of interest to travel like I've had since then if it weren't for that European Choir Tour.  Thanks Doc. 

Changing of the Guard

Gathering in front of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the royal family and it also serves as the

administrative headquarters of the Monarch.  Every day during most of the year, there is the Changing of the Guard ceremony where one regiment comes and replaces another as those who stand watch at the palace.  During the winter, this becomes an every other day event -- odd numbered days in December -- so we had to make sure we planned for the correct day.  We went on Monday and the weather was cold, but nice and sunny.

Right along the fence

Several thousand people crowd the front of the palace, the Queen Victoria memorial in front of the palace, and along both roads that pass by.  Other than the processional down the street and through the gates, most of the ceremony takes place inside the gates and is difficult to see unless you're right along the fence line.  We arrived at 10am for the 11:30am ceremony and were barely able to get Mom up front at the fence line.  She would have never seen anything otherwise.

Regimental Band

The regimental band plays a while and you see the soldiers parade through as one regiment relieves the other.  Since it's winter, the regiment was wearing their winter gray coats instead of the red coats we are accustomed to seeing.  It's definitely worth seeing at least one time when in London, but if you can't get up close and personal along the fence line, I'm not sure I'd bother with it.

Decked out for the Holidays

Oxford Street

One of the great things about visiting London during the holiday season is seeing the City decked out in lights and festive decorations.  One of the best places to see this is the Oxford Street/Regent Street shopping area.  We were able to maneuver through the throngs of shoppers and revelers out on a Monday night to snap a few pictures.

Carnaby Street

Regent Street

Carnaby Side Street