Recall Day Two (13th)

One thing we hadn’t noticed yesterday about our hotel room – no block out curtains! This became very evident about 6am this morning with the sun shining brightly outside and both kids up and asking about our evening. Nathan was bathed – hmm! – and out the door for 0730 whilst the kids and I took our time and headed out after 8am in search of breakfast. We wandered up Edgware Road (though you would swear by the shops we were somewhere in the Middle East) and the only promising breakfast spot turned out to be McDonald’s. I dare say I have no need to say that this was readily welcomed by two thirds of our group!

With breakfast out of the way we made our way to a smaller playground in Hyde Park we had noted yesterday for a play. We had hoped to catch up with Patrick and his family (Abbey’s ANZAC day friend) but this did not eventuate so, having played ourselves out, we headed to Lancaster Gate tube station and caught the train to Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey was founded in the 10^th Century as a Benedictine monastery and, since the crowning of William the Conqueror here on Christmas Day in 1066, the Abbey has been the nation’s Coronation church. It is also the burial and memorial place for many famous historical figures from the last thousand years of British history. Some notable dates in the Abbey’s history include 1245 when Henry III began building the present church (not personally of course); in 1301 the Coronation Chair was made and has since been used in every Coronation since 1308; 1540 saw the dissolution of the monastery by Henry VIII while in 1560 Elizabeth (my personal favourite) established the Abbey as a collegiate church. The Unknown Warrior was buried in the nave in1920, in 1953 the current queen was crowned there and only last week the Abbey saw that marvelous spectacle of the wedding of Kate and Wills. Yes, it is a place ‘chokka’s’ in history! All this aside, it is also very clearly a working church and a place of worship with, each hour, a pause for prayer throughout the Abbey as well as regular services being conducted throughout the day. In my humble opinion I think it is the best working Abbey we have visited in the UK.

The kids and I took our time walking around the Abbey and completing the children’s quiz as we went. As we stood staring up at a stained glass window which included a tiny figure of a man and a yellow cat and tried to determine who he was we were approached by a member of clergy. He had noted my accent (as the kids sound English!) and told us the story of the figure we were examining.

[Dick Whittington and His Cat is an English folk tale that came into existence around 1605 and that has often been used as the basis for stage pantomimes and other adaptations. It tells of a poor boy in the 14th century who becomes a wealthy merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London because of the ratting abilities of his cat. The character of the boy is named after a real-life person, Richard Whittington, but the real Whittington did not come from a poor family and there is no evidence that he had a cat. He was the son of a knight and himself a rich merchant in London. He served three terms as Lord mayor of London: 1397-99, 1406-07, and 1419-20. He died in 1423.]

Following the story he asked the kids if they would like to see Australia’s ‘special seat’ in the Abbey. Naturally curious we followed as he led us the length of the church via a route which was closed to the public (Abbey was excited by this point as this was where Kate walked!) and took us to the seats of the five founding nations of the Commonwealth. Both the kids were allowed to sit in Australia’s seat much to their amazement. It was a really touching moment as they were both so pleased to have been singled out and they told the gentleman how their dad was at Australia House as we spoke and how they had just been to France for ANZAC day. He was then kind enough to get them each a copy of the ANZAC day service that had been held at the Abbey for them to take home as a keepsake. I was very proud of them as they were both so polite the entire time – definitely one of those parent moments you would like to bottle!

With our Abbey tour complete we were desperately in need of lunch and a sit down. I caved in to the kid’s requests for McDonalds as they had been so wonderful at the Abbey. We crossed the bridge and ate lunch just up from the London Eye. The kids were in heaven! Following lunch I excelled myself as the ‘navigational queen’ and we caught a bus up Regent Street to visit Hamley’s Toy Store. We knew we were in for a great visit when, before we had even entered, we were cornered by pirates and Abbey had her face painted for free. (Not sure what the correlation was between pirates and face painting but Abbey was happy so it was best not to dwell!)

We spent well over an hour (and not one penny) playing in the store. Abbey kept getting showered with freebies from having her nails polished and decorated to getting a sparkly dolphin tattoo. Poor Zac could only look on in disbelief. Finally, when Abbey was given a hand made sticker from a craft stall, Zac plucked up the courage to ask for one for himself – once again I was very proud at the way he handled the whole situation. We finished our visit watching a ‘Pirate Puppet Show’ before catching a bus back to the hotel for a rest and to wait for Nathan’s return.

By 1800 we were back on the streets with Nathan in tow this time and searching for somewhere suitable for dinner. We ended up choosing Italian at Zizzis and were not disappointed. After a meal we had time for a spot of shopping on Oxford Street before heading back to the hotel and bed.