London 20

Yesterday I woke up fairly early and went with Wayne, Tyler, Hannah and Molly to Westminster Abbey. We got to the abbey and were greeted by a very nice woman from Norfolk, VA. Her father, uncle and brothers had all gone to UVA so she was pleasantly surprised to see a decently sized group from there. We were very lucky and got to go into the shrine of St. Edward the confessor. Afterwards, we took the entire audio tour and slowly went through the massive abbey, hearing from Jeremy Irons (the ghost in the machine) about the abbey's history and all of the monarchs or figures buried within.
Poets corner was especially fascinating to me and I found the graves of Wordsworth, Byron, Chaucer, Dickens, George Handel, Kipling, Tennyson and the monuments to William Shakespeare and Handel. The monuments, in particular, were incredibly impressive as were all of the sculptural pieces in the abbey. They were finely preserved and were carved with intricate detail while the stone looked so smooth. The ceiling, especially, in Henry VII's "Lady Chapel" was one of the most impressive pieces of architecture I've ever seen.

In the abbey, I also saw the graves of Clement Attlee, David Lloyd George and other British Prime Minsters from the past. After I finished my tour, I left the group and headed back to Regent's to read more of Mrs. Dalloway and also do some necessary shopping for friends and family.

I'm really, really enjoying the book and loving Woolf's novel use of consciousness and switching consciousness. I love getting different perspectives on the same events at the same time - it's really a welcome read and her mastery of language just makes it easy and enjoyable to take in. I also watched the Spain-Chile game which was one of the better games I've seen this World Cup.

Today, Brandon and I are headed off to Hard Rock Calling: Hyde Park, the massive music festival in the center of London's Hyde Park. Today's show is headlined by Stevie Wonder. However, we'll be striving to find somewhere on the grounds where we can watch the USA-Ghana game. PLEASE text me with updates very, very frequently (every 5-10 minutes).
USA! USA! USA!

-Simon