London: Final.... Long Live the Queen.

These are the last of my pictures from London. However... I have many more pictures to share with you all.This is a really long post, so relax and take it all in. I'm going to start with St. Paul's Cathedral. I hate that you can't take pictures in these large cathedrals (except the Cathedral of Seville, which you'll see later). They are so beautiful. So yeah, roll that footage...

This door is HUGE. It is the Entrance for the Queen. Everyone else goes through the small door on the side... I'm glad there is no respecter of persons or anything. Holla back.

This is a view of St. Paul's from across the Thames with the Millennium Bridge. Pretty cool place.

These are pictures of random things that I got on the way to The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

The Tate Modern Art Gallery. Pretty niffty place. Andrew Brown would really like this place.

I'm serious, don't mess with the Queen...

This was a Monastery that was around in the Middle ages. When I see places like this I can't help but wonder what has happened within these walls....

I can't remember what the name of this ship was or the church in the pictures after it. Got to love that long term memory...

Her Majesty's Ship: Belfast

The Tower Bridge.

I didn't have anyone to take a picture of me so I had to get creative with my picture taking. I put the camera on self timer and sat it on a lamp post about 25 feet away and run back over to the wall... haha. I know that looked hilarious to anyone who was walking by. There are some seriously funny pictures of me trying to get back before the timer went off... I'll save them for another time.

The Tower of London. Again... so much history. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London)

The Traitors Gate... don't want to go through there. Bad times.

This was my tour guide. He was hilarious. They are called "Yeoman Wards". They actually live on the property and still guard the tower today and have a working/living community there.

The Tower of London is a network of smaller towers that were used for different purposes. This is St. Thomas' Tower. He was in Henry VIII Privy Counsel... but not for long. (http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/morebio.htm)

This is the Bloody Tower. Heard of Bloody Mary? Well, this is where she, the first and oldest daughter of Henry VIII, had over 300 protestants tortured in her mini inquisition. Many Christ followers lost their lives during her tirade. But then Elizabeth I came along. ...She's my favorite English monarch.

Backside of Bloody Tower.

This is the top of Tower Hill. This is where most of the executions took place; only a few took place in the actual tower. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Hill)

This dude is guarding the Royal Family Jewels... I'll keep the comments to myself.

These are the Raven's nest. Interesting story behind them. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravens_of_the_Tower_of_London)

These are pictures from inside The White Tower (it's the main tower). This building has served many purposes over the years. Currently it is a Museum for the Kings Armour and Artillery. These are some pictures of that.

Henry VIII was a little prideful...

Can you see his "Pride"?

Henry's Son, Edward VI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England)

All the kings horses...

St. James Chapel (this was used as a file room at one point in time.... hummmm)

The Royal Claymore (or Lead) Sword

I have a very embarrassing story about this picture, you should ask.

One more of Proud Henry.... haha.

Regents Park (Home of Queen Mary's Garden)is where I'll end my London Pictures... they were many.

My little friend that stopped by to say hello.:)

The backside of Kinsington Palace... it was closed for remodeling... I was not a happy camper....

Adios London... Bienvenidos Espania!

London: Part Three

There are so many pictures I want to show everyone. I'm not the best photographer but I do love taking pictures so that's what I did on this trip. I begin this post with a couple of shots from the Methodist Central Hall.

This one is of Westminster Abby through the Main Hall Stair Case Window... beautiful.

Westminster (www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history)

This building was very special to me. There are very few buildings in the world that you can walk into and literally feel the weight of the History that has taken place there. This is one of them. Over 17 Monarchs have been lied to rest in this building and it has been the Coronation Church since 1066 AD... Pretty important place. You can not take photos in the building. I'll explain my experience with that towards the end of the pictures... Silly Queen.

This is the oldest working door in England. It's 900 years old and still works. That's cool.

These birds were everywhere, and I love them. so pretty.

So, when I had completed the little tour of the Abby, I arrived at the Nave of the Cathedral around 4:45pm. They have this thing called Evensong at 5pm where members of the congregation come and sing hymns together. That pretty cool. But anyway, as I was sitting there the pipe organ began to play I just started praying and took in the moment with the Lord. I was just thanking God for all the beauty I'd seen that day and the history and wonder that I could feel sitting in that room. I was in the middle of thanking him for letting me be with him on this adventure and the beauty that surrounded me and he spoke to me very clearly, "As beautiful as this place is, it doesn't compare to how beautiful you are to me." ....I basically melted in my seat and was totally balling. So good... The Lord totally captured me in that moment, and in that place I was totally free from the fear of man. ....and then, I almost got arrested. Ask me later, I'll explain. LOL.

Anywho... here is Big Ben, Oliver Cromwell, and the Parliament Building. There were soldiers with machine guns guarding the Parliament building... don't mess around there. Also, this is the Thames River. This is where they shot some of the new Sherlock Homes movie (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TEx-WoZZ7o)around :33 in the clip.

The London Eye... very expensive, esp on a cloudy day... I passed.

I spent a lot of time here.

Little finder binder... silly delivery truck, you should know better than to try and side swipe a Double Decker....

The Apple Store. It was HUGE and in a really old building.

The Smart Car was everywhere as well.

I'm going to conclude this post today with Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This isn't the original. This is actually the third theater. The original burnt down in 1613 and rebuilt the next year. Then came Cromwell and the Puritans and dismantled the second theater in 1644ish... because theater is of the devil. The third and modern reproduction of the original was completed in 1997 very close to the site of the original. Random fact: It is the only building in London that has a Thatched roof as thatched roofs were outlawed by King James... yes, THE King James Version King James. My tour guide of the globe reminded me a lot of my good friend Matt Delaney, so shout out to you if you read this. (http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-globe-theatre.htm)

As odd it sounds, the rich people would actually sit in this booth above the stage. This is actually the worst place to see the play and get the best experience, however it a great place to hear the play because the actors voices and instruments would reverberate off the back wall and bounce back to them. So the rich wouldn't talk about going to see the play, they would talk about going to hear the play. No British King or Queen had been to the Theater until Queen Elizabeth II in 2000ish.

I'll start the next and last London Post with Tower of London, Tower Bridge,
and St. Paul's Cathedral. Till then, peace and blessings.