Hello from London/Bromley! I am writing about Day 2, our day for sightseeing in London, here in England; it’s about 5:15 here, starting to rain a little on Day 3. As far as I can tell, it is 12:15 back home.
Anyway, Day 2 in London itself. We did as the Londoners here do, and went “up to town” by the Metro train from Bromley South Station to Victoria Station. We did a lot of walking from there, all over the place. The ladies in the group (Faith, Marsha, and Marjorie) wanted to go to Harrod’s, so we started there. It was a fascinating store, several stories high and divided into many sections, such as the “Writing Room” and etcetera. Dad and I would have been first back to our meeting place, but we got turned around and it took awhile to get back.
From Harrod’s, we walked to Hard Rock Cafe (yes, Americans in London eating American) and had a nice meal. The atmosphere was great, and I bought an awesome “Hard Rock” fedora in their store. We walked through Green Park by Buckingham Palace a few hours after the changing of the guard, and it was a sight to see! The architecture here in London is fantastic! In front of Buckingham was a great statue and fountain with a surrounding road. The decorations around the area were beautiful–flowers and flags and all.
From Buckingham to Big Ben! We walked around St. James Park and to Parliament Square where we got plenty of pictures of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Thames River, the Westminster Bridge. We actually stayed in Westminster Abbey for several hours, and even attended their “Evensong” service. The Abbey is an awe-inspiring building, and the service (very Catholic) was beautiful.
We meandered along the Thames and the Westminster Bridge, and took the Underground to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London (which is really a full on castle!).
We actually got a little lost looking for somewhere to eat. Tired, hungry, and with dark falling, we finally found our destination: “Fryer’s Delight,” a wonderful little cafe where we ate Fish ‘n’ Chips. Then we had a scenic drive through London in the top of a double decker bus, and hopped back on the metro train at Victoria. We took a bus to where we could walk back to our hotel, but somehow my Oyster card (like a debit card for the transportation in London: trains, buses, etc.) had less money on it than the others’, and we had to fish around for two pound twenty. We did, I was not left behind.
When we got back to the hotel, we all went to sleep. I slept from 11:30 (we got in really late) to 11:15 (in the morning), but one of our team members, Marsha, still hasn’t really been able to adjust and didn’t sleep well.
Please pray that we all settle down, and that God will send us more opportunities. We have spent some time today talking to people in the market, meandering around Bromley. We’re having so much fun, and we’re getting much of a taste for Bromley itself. The people here are mainly lost, not many go to church, but we are encouraging them and have had some spectacular encounters so far–many centered around Marsha. On the plain here, she had an incredible discussion with a Scottish lady, and today she was able to speak the same with our Hindu hotel clerk. She is an incredible lady, very kind and generous.
Please pray for us all. Tomorrow we go to church at Hayes Lane Baptist, where we all will have a hand in the services.
God bless.
Garrett
Quote for the week, about our kind, wandering companion: “We have not lost Faith.”
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