From Norwich With Love: Day 9 - Westminster Abbey, National Portrait Gallery & National Gallery

Along the way to Westminster Abbey, I came across an old friend.....

Perhaps you've heard of Big Ben?

I had actually been to Westminster Abbey before, however this time we went with a tour guide. John was not only knowledgeable, but also hilarious. We later found out from Qualls that he has been giving tours for something like over 20 years. Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took:


Outside Westminster


One of the corridors

I would have taken pictures of the inside, but of course, cameras are not allowed. Every king and queen since....err....for a long time, has had their coronation here. And most of them are buried here as well. Actually, it seemed like all of England was buried there. Every inch of stone had been taken. My favorite part of the Abbey though was Poets' Corner. This section houses the graves and plaques of famous authors. I found Jane Austen, the Brontes, Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Tennyson........and many more.

Our next stop was the National Portrait Gallery, which begins with portraits of the royal family, and ends with modern portraits of celebrities, political figures, authors, and a few average joes. We were instructed to pick our favorite portrait and describe it to the class. I picked Mrs. Philip de László, which is a portrait by Philip de László of his wife. This picture is taken from the museum's website, check it out if you are interested: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/philip-de-laszlo.php

We also looked in the National Gallery, which I found more interesting than the collection of portraits in the other museum. I didn't any pictures inside the museums, but I did get some nice ones of the front courtyard.