Day 8: I Dreamed a Dream

Wednesday felt like a dream... a dream come true!  

We started out our morning at the awe inspiring Westminster Abbey.  

(North side of the Abbey)

(In front of the Abbey- where Kate's car was!)

(Some of our group who are super excited to be there)

Maybe you've heard of it?  It's only where almost every monarch has been crowned since William the Conqueror in 11th century and where most royal weddings take place.  If you watched the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess last year (a year ago from this past Sunday- happy anniversary Will and Kate) then you'll have seen Westminster.  It is seriously amazing!  It is located right next to Parliament on the north bank of the Thames.  Our tour guide took us through the building and described it's history to us.  Something I thought was interesting is that next to the Abbey, there are three buildings.  One is the Westminster Boys School, Westminster Boys Choir School, and the headquarters for the Anglican church.  The schools cost $50,000 a year and it has the most students go onto Cambridge and Oxford than any other school.  Crazy!  I was expecting something like temple square in Salt Lake but in fact it was just a nice little square of buildings.


When we entered the Abbey, the first thing I looked at was the ceiling.  It's ribbed vaulting reached across the columns that were 101 feet tall.  It's beautiful!  The next thing I looked at was the floor.  There are graves and memorials everywhere.  That may sound a little bit creepy but it was the same way at Saint Paul's Cathedral.  It's a huge honor to be buried inside of these places and if you walk across the top it's considered a blessing, different from our cemeteries.  The only exception to this is the grave of the unknown soldier.  It's a very different setting from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C., where it's under constant guard 24/7.  This unidentified British soldier from World War I is buried near the front doors of the Abbey.  The grave has poppies all around it and no one, not even the Queen, is allowed to step over his tomb.  It's a tradition for any visiting dignitary to leave a wreath of poppies there and for any monarch getting married there to leave their wedding bouquet there (Kate did).  I was really impressed with that!


Some of the graves I saw were of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, George Frederick Handel, and Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I.  Everywhere I looked there was someone famous!  Our tour guide kept pointing out many people as we walked along.  Oh there's Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, and Chaucer.  There's the man who invented penicillin, there's the man who developed the latitude and longitude system, there's the prime ministers who served under Victoria, etc.  It's amazing!  The British really esteem their authors.  A whole area of the Abbey is called poets corner and dedicated to these people.  It made me think a lot about legacies and what we leave behind when we no longer live on the Earth. 


Did I mention that I stood where Kate stood when she got out of her car outside of the Abbey and that I walked down the aisle that Kate walked to meet William?  Yep... I did that.  It felt like a dream. :)


After the Abbey in the morning, I went with a few people to Waffle Palace for lunch.  I had a very yummy Belgian waffle with while chocolate and dark chocolate drizzled on top and with strawberry ice cream.  Kind of like a Neapolitan Waffle... Yum!  That was my lunch.  We also had our three hour history class in the afternoon.  I know I've said this before but I really enjoy that these classes are tailored to what we see and experience here.  If I were to take a British History class in Provo, I probably wouldn't be interested in everything we studied about.  Because the history we study here is pertinent to my life, however, I am very interested in it! 

Next up came the best part of the entire night..... LES MISERABLES!  

(So happy to be there!)

(Tube Ticket picture- Myself, MaCall, Natalie, Kayley, Kayley, and Kate in the back)

(Katherine, myself, and Paige)

(Whitney, my twin for the evening!)

(Kelsey, Kayley, and I in our Les Mis shirts!)

Everyone needs to see this play sometime in their life.  It is the number one thing I wanted to do here in London and I've dreamed about it ever since I got accepted to the program.  I don't know how anything will ever top it.  I even bought a t-shirt because I loved it so much.  The cast was great (except Eponine wasn't my favorite- too much of a pop style voice) but especially Jean Valjean!  I don't know how they find that many people with amazing voices.  I was so impressed with how well everything was sung and performed.  What I enjoyed best about the play was that it moved me.  I felt so many emotions portrayed by the actors including loneliness, pain, guilt, sorrow, excitement, charity, and love.  My favorite line was at the very end of the play...

"To love another person is to see the face of God."

Always inspiring is the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" number with the marching mob, the smoke, and the waving red flag.  But it came in close second to the last scene with the reprise of "Bring Him Home."  My friend here, Natalie, told me that the song wasn't in the original score.  Supposedly, the original Jean Valjean wrote it on opening night with the composer.  They sang it to the cast before the play and they all bawled because of it's beauty and so the song was put into the play.  When it's sung the first time, it's a prayer unto God asking for the protection and safety of a young boy.  When it's sung the last time, it's a prayer from an old man asking for a way back home to heaven to be with God again.  This is the point where I bawled.  I was emotional the whole play but at this point I cried.  I started thinking about Jake and how much he is missed.  It was almost like I was praying with the actors, to bring him home.  I wanted him to know he was loved and I wanted to know he is "home" with our Heavenly Father right now.  It was a beautiful ending to the play.  Les Miserables was informative, provided a lot of entertainment, and had a beautiful cathartic ending.  I think I want to go back and see it again before I leave because it was THAT good!


Doing all of these things has truly been a dream come true so far.  Before I left, my AMAZING friend/roomie Michal wrote me a farewell card that said, "Go, live you dream" (like from Tangled).  I thought that was so fitting for my experience.  I feel sort of like Rapunzel in Tangled right now:

Rapunzel: I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be? Flynn Rider: It will be. Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then? Flynn Rider: Well,that's the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.

I have the amazing blessing and opportunity to keep dreaming of bigger and better things that I can do in my life.