Beth Mabry: London

A family in my ministry invited me to go to London with them, the weekend before Thanskgiving. Rend Collective, a Christian band from Ireland, was performing at the Hillsong London Church. I love the Rend Collective and was super excited to get to see them in concert. The concert being in London was a huge plus, since I hadn't been there yet. We hit the streets hard and saw as much as we could before and after the concert. London makes for a great weekend. We're in luck, a discount airline flies from Germany to London three times a day, every day. It's only an hour long flight, and with the hour time difference, you land in London the same time you left Germany.

After traveling around Europe of the past four years, it was really weird (and nice) to be in a place that I could read signs and understand people and announcements. There were sometimes that I forgot I was still in a foreign country. I thought London was beautiful and the people were really nice. We stayed in a great flat a few blocks from Westminster Abbey, so close that we could hear the church bells!

I got to see...

The portrait gallery, national gallery, British museum and the British library - all free of charge! London is a pricy city, so getting into so many great museums at no cost is a huge plus (it's sort of like the smithsonian museums in DC). These places had some pretty amazing things. I saw the Rosetta Stone, the first Gutenberg Bible, song lyric notes by the Beatles, Handel's Messiah score, portraits of all the British royals (including the latest painting of Kate), paintings by Michelangelo, DiVinci and my favorite, Van Goh.

^The original Gutenberg Bible... very cool. I've seen the Gutenberg press and some of the earlier Bibles at the museum in Mainz (less than an hour from my house), so it was cool to see "the" original.

^The Rosetta Stone

^A whole wall of Van Gohs!

I got to stroll through Westminster Abbey, home of royal weddings and funerals, and the burial place of over 600 famous Brits, including my favorite justice fighter William Wilberforce (although, I was unable to find his plaque). Photography wasn't allowed inside the abbey, only outside pictures.

^I thought it was interesting to see Bonhoeffer (German theologian who plotted to assassinate Hitler) on the Abbey door.

I wandered around the outside of the Parliment building, Big Ben, the tower bridge and around the London eye. I caught a glimpse of the side of Buckingham Palace... we'd been walking for hours and were in great need of a nap.

^Getting the full rainy London experience, walking from the London Bridge to the Tower Bridge

^Poppy display for Armistice Day, around the Tower Bridge grounds

^Trafalger Square, on the steps of the National Gallery... with Big Ben in the distance.

My friend is a big Sherlock fan, so we also saw the door (place) where the bbc Sherlock seeries is filmed, and we visited 221b Baker Street, and saw the sherlock museum/gift shop.

We got to see The Lion King! I had read online that you can find great last minute deals if you wait until the day of a show. Since we were traveling during a low season, I knew we'd find tickets. And, we got a great deal that not only included seats but a free dinner at a nearby restaurant (a 15 pound steak dinner, for free!). We couldn't take pictures during the performance, but here's a shot of the stage and theater. We were in the upper balcony and could see and hear great. The costumes were amazing.

And for the real reason we went to London... the Rend Collective concert! After walking, taking the tube, taking a city bus and walking some more, we made it to the church! It was general admission, and we were probably about 20 people deep in the line. When we walked in, most people went to the merchandise table, and we took off into the concert area... and found ourselves in the very front row!