A visit to London's Westminster Abbey and Big Ben

The family and I took a trip to Europe recently, visiting both London, Paris and, of course, Disneyland Paris.

We rented a flat in London, it was just north of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was a nice flat with a kitchen, three bathrooms, four bedrooms and a living room. Enough to fit the 10 of us plus a grandkid. The only drawback? It was on the top floor, a total of 83 steps by my wife’s count, and no lift (elevator to us Americans).

Our view from the living room of our London flat. Wouldn’t it be cool if there were chimney sweeps dancing across those rooftops?

Since we arrived in the evening, we didn’t really do much but settle in and explore around the area a bit that first night.

Westminster Abbey. This side of the church faces the Thames. Notice the construction fence and the scaffolding – lots of work happening on the exterior of the ancient structure.

The next day, our first stop was Westminster Abbey.

Gray clouds everywhere in London, just like I’ve heard it is. Cold, yes. But inside, warmer.

The weather for London met every cliche in the book. Gray, foggy and wet. Not really rain, just wet, at times.

All the stone work makes one wonder how this magnificent gothic church was built way back in the olden days.

Look at the archways, wow!

A lot of the stone and statues were carved by hand – no 3D printing here.

Reaching to God. No this is not Big Ben.

Multi-stories and stone steps to get to the top.

Little statues with some meaning to the church. None are exactly alike.

Figurines by the dozens above the massive main entrance doors.

I suppose this held a lit torch back in the day. Look at the detail on the bottom.

This was also by the front door.

This is not a Catholic Church, but a lot of the same symbolism.

Mary and son Jesus as depicted by this statue between the two front doors of the main church building.

Don’t hide your eyes, that’s me about to enter Westminster Abbey.

Okay, time for me to enter the church. No photos allowed inside. So the next bunch of photos are from the outside courtyard and an area that has something to do with war units.

Construction of this church began in 1245, and was started by King Henry III. It is absolutely gorgeous, awe-inspiring and more inside the church. It has many sections. A place for a choir. A massive organ and more. It is also a functioning church and conducts regular services. It is also a site where there are many famous and not so well known personages buried in the crypts of the church. Of the United Kingdom monarchs, 17 of them are buried there.

An outside corridor. Look at the wear on the stone pavers.

This is a corridor outside the church after exiting the tour. By the way, you can go with a group, or they give you audio devices that you can play as you choose in each section. The audio guides were excellent.

I’d hate to have to clean those windows.

The stained glass throughout has a lot of detail. I believe these panes represent different United Kingdom military groups. But then my memory ain’t what it used to be. Again, this is not in the main church.

The only noise here is that of the fountain.

The church is a great place for quiet meditation as is this courtyard.

A biographical mural about St. John the Divine.

An ancient mural depicting the life of St. John the Divine. He figures high in the church’s history.

It took several hours to tour the church and the courtyard, plan at least three hours. Five is probably better if you want to be thorough. There is a cafe for food.

The door is not very tall. People were a lot shorter back then, or always had their heads bowed.

Another unique feature, the United Kingdom’s oldest door. Inside the Abbey. I don’t think it is actively used these days.

What a smart man.

Look at all his achievements. He’s here somewhere.

Well, time to go back outside and wait for the family.

Those twin towers were likely built by hand. Wow.

Intricate details everywhere, and each statue is different.

Gold leaf too, I guess Walt Disney learned about how long it lasts from structures like this when creating the small world facade.

Big Ben is inside that Clock Tower.

Okay, lesson time. The official name of the tower in which Big Ben is located was originally the Clock Tower, but it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Big Ben is the name of the bell you can hear when it rings. As you can see, the tower was surrounded by scaffolding as they work on refurbishment of the structure and Parliament. Kinda like attractions at Disneyland.