London, August 14th

London, we finally made it to the great city. Having seen so much already, I really went because it would be unconscionable to be this close to London and not to visit it. We left Cambridge in the morning by train with our dear friends, the Oosterhofs. The weather was fantastic for travelling; it just rained about 10 minutes. We manoeuvred our way to the centre of London by way of the Tube. From teh underground we ambulated to and in front of Buckingham Palace and then made our way to Westminster Abbey. It was in this building, in the Jerusalem Chamber, that the Assembly of ministers met to write up the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. We tried, in vain, to have a wee glance at the room. When we talked to one of the marshals for permission he informed us that hey had to deny 80 requests so far that day. On of our group asked if I had told him that 4 of those requests were from me! Aside from that disappointment, the Abbey was worthwhile seeing. Many kings and queens are buried here as well as other famous folk like David Livingstone and George Frederic Handel. We thought it would be great to have a picture of the Abbey with our three Westminster Catechism scholars.As we continued on our stroll we had an audio/visual presentation of Big Ben.
We then took a boat cruise along the Thames to Greenwich where the imaginary middle of the longitude grid is, the north/south equivalent of the equator. The boat cruise, apart from giving rest to weary feet, also afforded us a view of some of the great sites of London such as the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
At the Greenwich pier a Cutty Sark, an 19th Century tea clipper, greeted us as well as the building below. Having to pay for toilet facilities may seem foolish but many of us will testify that it is money well spent!