Sunday Services, Tube Solo, and Warhol?

After hitting the sack early last evening, the alarm started blaring to "A Beautiful Day" at 7:45 AM. A quick glance outside (sans contacts) confirmed my suspicious that it was in fact NOT such a beautiful day (at least if we are using the Cayman Islands as a basis of comparison). For London, it was very much typical: Grey, slightly chilly, and misting. mmm mmmm gooooood!

Why on earth was I up at that hour on a Sunday? Well, besides the fact that I am an 85 year old man on the inside (as many of you well know); Zach, Bri, and I were going to church services at Westminster Abbey. Church at THE Westminster Abbey? No, your eyes didn't just lie.. I was pretty excited, too.

Services didn't begin until 10:00, but we wanted to leave PLENTY of time for transport on the Tube.  The tiny bit of foresight we had getting up at such an early hour paid off when we realized that the Tube line we were planning on taking operates every day except Sunday.  Hmm.  The somewhat helpful man at the Landward ended up giving us some directions in very broken English so we called it good and left.

Potential drama evaporated when we arrived at the Westminster stop minus battle scars.  We walked up, out, and practically right into the side of Big Ben (oh joy). I'm going to say the building looked phenomenal, the service was phenomenal, the Westminster Abbey Choir (complete with ruffles by the neck, bed head, and glorious sound) was phenomenal.  Overuse? Good golly, getting to the church, sitting practically at the alter (we had decent seats), and taking in the sheer beauty of EVERYTHING was almost too much for my mind to juggle at once.  Zach and Bri can definitely attest to the experience.  It is definitely worthwhile regardless of the beliefs you hold.

Walking out into the cold served as an instant slap-in-the-face reality check.  It was cold. Not even going to lie.  Making best use of our 48 hour bus tickets (the big brown one), we figured it would be wise to skip the Tube and take the bus back to the Landward.  Everything sounds good in theory, right?  Well, this was good idea until we realized (what Zach estimated would take 20 minutes) turned into an hour and a half cruise around London.  Always thinking glass half-full, we got to practice our British accents. Splendid!  When I say practice, some of us need a little more than others....and by some of us, I really just mean me.. haha. Bri (being a theatre major) is pretty much good to go and Zach is leaps and bounds ahead of me. He even went so far as to create his own slang.. but that's another story.  I am learning though.  Taking it a word at a time lol.  Thus far, "Sorry" is pretty solid.....one word down!

So we managed crawl back to the bus stop, power walk to the Landward and arrive before the entire day was consumed by an agonizingly slow tour of London.

We then quickly changed clothes and went to grab a take away sandwich at Pret A Manger.  Delicious, quick, cheap food.  Cheap being the operative word, mom. No worries!! lol

We then planned on getting back on the infamous brown bus to St. Paul's Cathedral.  As we were getting on, I realized that I left my bus pass in my suit coat, and thus, would be forced to take the Tube (a much faster mode of transport).  So it being broad daylight, me carrying minimal possessions (phone, student ID, Oyster card, and debit card) I figured it would be a brilliant learning experience that would really force me to figure out what the heck I was doing.

It is amazing what a little pressure can do to speed up comprehension.  I managed to figure out exactly where St. Paul's was, switch lines, and not go the wrong way...Shocking, I know....All of that meant I beat that pesky brown bus by a solid 30 minutes.  I called the group to see where they were and, not surprisingly, they were going to be a while. Making the best use of my time, it seemed like a good idea to go in, get ticket prices, and get a glimpse of the interior.

"Sorry sir, we do have student discounts, however, we are only open for site seeing Mon-Sat." Bummer. In retrospect, one of us should have made that realization, but it wasn't a huge deal.  There is always more to do in London!

Let's recap: Service at Westminster Abbey, Failed attempt to visit St. Paul's Cathedral, and visit to the Tate Modern Art Gallery.  Which one doesn't belong?

The Tate Gallery (a converted power plant sitting at the feet of the Thames) is free to the public and is five stories of modern art bliss.  I suppose only bliss if you actually have the intellectual capacity to comprehend what the heck is going on, but modern art nevertheless.

Our visit was somewhat rushed, but I don't regret it.  We had a great time, saw some original Warhol pieces, a movie of a nude man and woman passing a balloon, and flattened dinnerware hung from the ceiling arranged in crazy collages.. What more does one need?

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end.  The end of long-winded days devoted exclusively to traveling around London, but the beginning of (what hopefully will be) some interesting classes at Regent's.

My room is still purple and the pub across the street is most def hoppin' with some crazy chants.  I cannot wait for the World Cup!!

Cheers!!!