Aarsen family travel adventures: London

London - Day 3 and 4, London day 4 was Sunday, so we took the opportunity to visit the church where Charles Spurgeon began his ministry in 1854 and was pastor there 'till 1892. The Metropolitan Tabernacle is still faithfully proclaiming the gospel 'till this day and we were blessed by the preaching of Dr Peter Masters, the current pastor. In the evening (after spending some time at the 'Princess Diana's Memorial Playground' :-) we took the opportunity to worship in the Westminster Abby, Pomp - 10 out of 10, grandeur - 10 out of 10, preaching the word - ah, well maybe 2 out of 10.

Today (Monday) we visited the Tower of London after walking over the tower bridge. The visit helped a great deal in understanding the history of London and Britain's monarchy. The Tower of London has served many purposes, including a royal residence, barracks, armory, prison, museum, mint and housing the crown jewels. It is a 900-year-old castle and fortress in central London and the tower has held many famous and infamous prisoners. We spent a good many hours exploring this wonderful castle, the Crown Jewels in particular were a highlight, so ornate, sparkling with thousands of diamonds, emeralds and rubies etc.. and protected by the Queen's guard. We were surprised by the wild animals kept by the Kings and Queens throughout the ages... lions, baboons, ravens (still today), an elephant and even a polar bear!

Following our visit to the Tower we proceeded to Saint Paul's Cathedral, a majestic cathedral with a huge dome which has been host to royal weddings and coronations, and also the resting place of quite a number of notable people, amongst them Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington to name but a few. We were also very brave and climbed over 500 steps to the top of the dome to get an amazing view over London. The last part of the climb being up a narrow spiral staircase which you think is never going to end!

To finish off the day we stopped off to have a traditional English meal, ie Fish & Chips and mushy peas(!!) which was actually was quite tasty.

Westminster Abby to the left, Metropolitan Tabernacle to the right, it was good we experienced both services, the children were very perceptive in their understanding of the differences.