My wife Kristen and I are on an eleven day Europe trip across London, Santorini, and Rome. Today marked our first full day in London, and we jam packed it full of everything our capacities allowed.
My journal entry this morning:
“Sitting in an Italian cafe right by the Thames, before heading over to the London Eye to begin a bus tour. I am blessed to travel the world like this during my lifetime, my family has given me much… glory to thee, our God, glory to thee.”
I’ll give a few highlights from today with some supplementary pictures:
First, as my entry above indicates, we started our day by walking a few miles from our Airbnb near Islington to an Italian coffee shop called Cafe Vergnanos. As English majors, Kristen and I reveled in the quiet, background hum of groggy British passersby while we sat, read, sipped, and mentally prepared for the day. After our cappuccinos and canolis were finished, we walked across Waterloo bridge towards the London Eye to get in place while we waited for our London Tour bus to pick us up. Having more time than needed, we went across an adjacent bridge which took us right to the foot of the Parliament building where Big Ben loomed over us while we strolled. We stopped in the Parliament gift shop across the street and headed back to our Tour bus meeting spot. After our awesome (and long) tour, we stopped in a British pub for the classic Fish and Chips, wading through the Burrough food market to get there. Since I bought tickets for St. Paul’s Cathedral while we munched on some Atlantic Cod and soft French fries, we immediately booked it to the huge church building to prepare to enter once we were finished with lunch. Needless to say, it was a breathtaking and worshipful space. The rest of our day consisted of sitting in awkward silences while quiet Uber drivers drove us to our various destinations, walking, walking, and more walking, and taking pictures in front of Buckingham Palace. In true British fashion, we picked up some Indian food (supposedly the best cuisine in London) and walked through the quiet, outer-London suburbs to our Airbnb.
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Me standing by a statue of John Wesley outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Epic!
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A commemorative statue of the legendary English Metaphysical Poet John Donne inside St. Paul’s Cathedral. Also epic!
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Inside the central dome of St. Paul’s, where all the eucharistic action happens.
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A handmade (not handpainted) icon I bought from St. Paul’s. You know I had to do it!
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‘Twas a good day in London. In the morning, off to Oxford!
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