London - Sunday in the Park with a Goose

21 November:

One could call it a pilgrimage. It was Sunday and we three single young gents, Peter, Matjaž, and I, set our sights on attending the one and only young-single-adult ward in all of Europe: The Hyde Park Ward.

The meetings did not begin until the afternoon, and so after riding the morning train into the city, we took the tube to Hyde Park...

Soon we found ourselves near Marble Arch...

And Speakers' Corner. One couldn't help but utter a word or two as one stood upon this great monument to the freedom of speech (though, not necessarily of being listened to)...

We crossed the famous greenery of the park...

A fair of some sort was in progress near the Serpentine. The festivities included a talking tree that frightened the Dickens out of me as I crossed his path...

Robin Hood...

The park was also host to horseback riders...

And a man with a remote-controlled UFO...

From Hyde Park we walked over to the Knightsbridge area, home to the world's most famous department store: Harrod's...

But it was still closed so we merely peeked through the windows...

And gawked at the opulently decorated shop windows, including this one depicting scenes from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan...

We walked through some of the finest neighborhoods in London...

The ever-amusing names of the different pubs...

Before long we came to the Victoria & Albert Museum, though we did not go in...

Our goal was right around the corner from the great museum: The Hyde Park Chapel...

But actually, we had still two hours before church would begin, and so we passed the time in the Science Museum located directly across the street from the chapel.

This museum (free to the public) was full of fascinating exhibits showing the history of Science. A great turbine was on display in the entrance hall...

A large room dedicated to the exploration of the heavens...

Here is Puffing Billy, world's oldest surviving steam locomotive (1814)...

The Rocket, 1838, First Modern Steam Locomotive...

Reynold's X-ray set, 1896, oldest surviving X-ray machine...

Ford Model T, 1916...

Apollo 10 Command Module, 1969. This NASA mission was the "dry-run" for Apollo 11, which became the first to land on the Moon. Apollo 10 holds the record for the fastest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph) during the return from the Moon on May 26, 1969...

The "Future" exhibit consisted of a rather disappointing series of "future" games, which looked more like what we believed the future to look like in the 1970's. This one involved toilets...

The aircraft exhibit...

Soon it was time to go to church. We walked across the street to the Hyde Park Chapel just in time for Sacrament Meeting. The bishop and all of the speakers were American.

The second meeting was Sunday School where a young lady from Canada taught. Peter and I paid careful attention...

From the window we could see the Science Museum...

Priesthood was taught by an American and I was beginning to wonder if any Englishmen attended the ward at all. We were introduced as "the Slovenians" and so everyone just thought I was from Slovenia the whole time.

So our experience at the Hyde Park Young Adult Ward felt mostly like a somewhat poorly attended, somewhat international ward at BYU.

The two Slovenians were invited to visit a Slovenian acquaintance of theirs in the south of London. We amicably decided to part company for the evening where I could set off on my own for a bit in the big city.

My first stop was Trafalgar Square...

I was able to snap a few photos...

The National Gallery, one of the greatest art museums in the world can be found on Trafalgar Square. Also free of charge to the public, I was able to go inside and enjoy some of the greatest and most famous works of art in the world.

Time was short, and photography was forbidden, so I simply made my way to the areas of most interest. What a thrill to see original paintings by da Vinci, Raphael, Caravaggio, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Cèzanne, among others.

From Trafalgar Square I walked to China Town where I enjoyed a modest Chinese buffet.

Next, I made my way to Westminster Abbey where I gathered my stone of the United Kingdom from the churchyard...

Westminster Abbey...

It was time to make my way back and so I went to Piccadilly Circus and began my journey back to St. Albans...

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