Stop #1:
Take the Underground Jubilee line (gray) to the Westminster stop and get onto either the Circle or District lines (yellow or green) and take that to the very next stop, St. James Park. Follow the signs directing you to the Abbey when you get off of the train. You will see the Abbey in front of you at the stop lights.

When we arrived they were in the process of a ceremony commemorating the Battle of Britain. There were no "famous" people attending, as the Queen only attends on major anniversaries. We could not go into the church, but viewed the amazing architecture of the entrance. We had meant to go to Buckingham Palace first, but turned the wrong way and only accidentally ended up at the Abbey. We did get around to seeing the back side of it later in the day, but did not go inside. This is something we will have to save for another trip, but it should not be missed if you have the time.

What's it like - awesome!! I hadn't really given much thought to Westminster Abbey other than I'd heard about it and seen it on TV many times and it was just one of the many historic sights that must be seen on a trip to London. If you want British history, Westminster Abbey holds centuries of stories, tales, and lives that all make up what the British Isles are today. If you stopped and read every word of every passage on every grave and every description, it would take a very long time to see all of it. We arrived at the Abbey shortly before noon and the line was quite long and we were informed that it was about a 1 1/2 hour wait from that point. The line moved quickly and we were inside out of the heat in a little over an hour. You can just walk through with a condensed pamphlet guiding your route or you can rent an audio cassette program to verbally walk you through. I recommend the audio tour or if time and budget permits, pay for a guided tour.

It's mind blowing to see articles that are hundreds of years old and realize the signficance that article or tomb had on our lives today. You wind your way through various periods of English history and end up in the large central cathedral hall where parisheners still worship daily. If you watch British world events this room will be familiar as the site for many a royal affair, such as the crowning of the Queen and Princess Diana's funeral. You walk where monarches, nobles, lords,and ladies for centuries before you walked. Off to the side of the main abbey is a large connecting portico where a museum slowing the ascencion and progression of the throne to modern day and also an area where you can do brass rubbings. Of course there is also the obligatory gift shop to purchase souvenirs.

If you only see one thing of historic value in London, Westminster Abbey should be that place. Children may find this adventure boring, especially since they need to maintain a quiet voice level since it is still a functioning church. If you plan to digest it in depth, it's best to go on a day when only adults are in attendance. With children along, I recommend a faster paced tour, but don't hesitate to take the kids along if that's the only way you can see it. Little ones will need to be held by the hand or kept in strollers at all times however. It's so British, yet so international.

Many prominent public figures are commemorated within the Westminster Abbey, so this is intended as a brief guide on the subject matter, especially interesting to any fan of English history and art.

Statesmen, mostly commemorated at the Statesmen’s Aisle and in the monarchs’ burials:

- Every British monarch since Henry III (died in 1272) till George II (died in 1760). They are buried in the chapels of Henry VII and the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor;
- Gladstone, the prime minister who is also buried there, and
- Disraeli, the prime minister who is not;
- Sir Robert Peel, the Home Office head and the creator of the Metropolitan Police Force;
- A stone remembering Sir Winston Churchill;

Men of Literature and Art, whose monuments can be found in the Poets’ Corner:

- Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of Canterbury tales, with whom the tradition started of the finest writers being commemorated and often buried in the Westminster Abbey. Chaucer himself is buried here.
- William Shakespeare, who has a large memorial dedicated to him, but who was not actually laid to rest inside the Abbey’s walls.
- Lord George Gordon Byron, who was not buried here, along with other prominent figures commemorated, like Tennyson, William Blake, TS Eliot.
- There are also memorials to Handel, Edmund Spencer, Robert Browning, the Oxford professor and creator of Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Ben Jonson (who was buried upright), John Dryden, and Henry James.

Scientific Luminaries, buried or commemorated in what became known as the Scientists’ Corner:

- Sir Isaac Newton, recently proclaimed the greatest Briton to have ever lived;
- Charles Darwin, to whom through a special Parliamentary petition has been granted the burial in the Westminster Abbey;
- David Livingstone, whose body – although he died deep within Africa – was embalmed and transferred to England to be buried in the Abbey;
- Lord Stanhope, who qualified on two scores, for being a politician and an experimental scientist;
- Michael Faraday, who is only commemorated in the Abbey and buried in Highgate Cemetery in London;
- Lord Kelvin, a Nobel Prize Laureate buried in the Westminster Abbey;
- Ernest Rutherford, another of the four Nobel Laureates buried in the Abbey. Although he died in Cambridge, he was also granted burial here.

Situated next to the Houses of Parliament on the site of a former Benedictine monastery, the Westminster Abbey has for ages been a site for coronations and other royal events of importance. And every British monarch, starting with William the Conqueror and with the sole exceptions of Edward V and Edward VIII, were crowned inside its walls.

As is the case with any important monument, Westminster Abbey is surrounded with legends. In particular, it is said that a church once stood there (built by Saberht, the first openly Christian king of the East Saxon tribes) that was consecrated by St. Peter through a miracle. The place was then called Thorney – a small island in the middle of the river Thames – but became known as West Monastery, or minister. It has been re-founded and re-constructed several times, until it had been formally proclaimed as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster in 1560.

Architecturally, the Abbey is predominantly a Gothic building, although it was built in stages:

- The traces and beginnings of the early English Gothic are still to be found in the stones, put there in the times of Edward the Confessor.
- During the reign of King Henry III, ite was the peak of typical early English Gothic and thus it became the predominant architectural feature of the Abbey, notwithstanding the fact that the king had failed to finish the work, and thus space was found for later styles and generations.
- 1338 was the year when the French Gothic style penetrated the builders’ plans with the construction of the imposing nave.
- One of the most magnificent parts - the Chapel of Henry VII - was added even later in 1519 and follows in a perpendicular Gothic style.

You should allow at least a couple of hours if you want to get well-acquainted with Westminster Abbey both on the inside and on the outside, read the inscriptions, take some inspiring photos, etc. The Abbey has a rather complex system of opening hours, the most important being these:

- The Westminster Abbey is open from 9am till 4:45pm each weekday and closes at 2:45 on Saturdays. Tickets are sold up to 1 hour before closing time and are likely to cost you up to $15, depending on which visitor category you fit into.
- Chapter House is open from 9:30am till 5:30pm in the high tourist season but closes at 4pm in other months.
- Pyx Chamber and the Undercroft Museum are open daily starting at 10am and closing at 4:30pm. Entrance costs about $7 to $8 with Chapter House or just a couple if you are also visiting the Abbey itself.
- The College Gardens can be visited from Tuesday to Thursday starting at 10am as well, but closing at 6 pm during high season (otherwise, it’s 4pm). The gardens are free to see.
- The Cloisters are open from 8am till 6pm daily, and admission there is free of charge.

Westminster Abbey, located behind the Houses of Parliament, is a stunning sight. Founded prior to the Norman Conquest, the white limestone building that you see today was begun in the 13th century. The nave and Henry VII's chapel are in the perpendicular style--England's version of late Gothic architecture--and was largely complete by the reign of Henry VIII.

Once inside the building, you realize why they called English Gothic "perpendicular"--the ceiling soars above you in great vaults held aloft by giant stone pillars. Almost as striking are the crystal chandeliers which line the nave and light the building.

The gilded painting standing to the right of the Abbey's main entrance is a portrait of Richard II--Chaucer's patron and the main character in Shakespeare's historical play of the same name. He is seated on the coronation throne (somewhat oddly, since he was crowned at age 10, and he sure doesn't look 10 in the picture). You can see the throne itself as you continue through the Abbey.

The focal point of the Abbey is the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, located where the transept meets the nave.

It's made of various types of exotic stone like purple porphyry, but isn't particularly splendid now, since it was demolished when Henry VIII broke with Rome, and inexpertly reconstructed.

More striking (but usually covered so that it's protected) is the original medieval floor that the shrine stands on. The floor is displayed on occasion, so you may be lucky enough to see it when you're there.

Everybody visits Poet's Corner, found near the shrine in the right arm of the transept. It contains monuments to famous authors like Chaucer and Shakespeare. Some of the authors commemorated are actually buried here--like Chaucer, whose tomb is the nucleus of Poet's Corner. One--Shakespeare's contemporary Ben Jonson--has a monument in the corner, but is actually buried to the left of the main doors. See if you can find his real headstone, set into the wall at floor level.

Before you strike off to hunt for Ben, though, check out the 13th century murals on the transept wall. The color is striking, and helps you imagine what the medieval abbey (which would have been entirely covered with such murals) must have been like.

If you'll be in London for several days, be sure to go to the Abbey's Evensong.

Evensong is an Anglican service where the worshippers reflect upon the past day. It can be either sung or spoken. Try to go to a sung service, with the music provided by the men and boys of Westminster's choir. It's a peaceful way to stop and take stock after a busy day.

Admission to the Abbey is $9 for adults, $4.50 for students. Full price admission is expensive, but the proceeds go toward the cost of maintaining the Abbey.

As Evensong is a church service, it's free.

The Abbey is easy to get to; take the tube to the Westminster stop.