When I was researching this trip, especially the four days we would have in London, I found the John Wesley walking tour of London.  I printed out a map and kept it in the trip folder for reference. I’m glad I printed it out because I haven’t been able to locate it online since, although you can see it here.  Every day we have been in London we have focused on one or two things.  We see other things along the way, but concentrate on learning more about the one thing.

Today was John Wesley day in London.  We started out by walking to Buckingham Palace from our hotel.  The Holiday Inn Express Victoria is central to a bunch of different things and makes for easy walking in several different directions.  We also saw Westminster Cathedral and stopped at a bookstore on the way.  As we were walking to the Palace, we discussed whether or not to stay for the changing of the guard.

We got to Buckingham Palace about 9:45 and noticed that the King was in residence.  The changing of the guard is at 11 in front of the palace.  We found a great spot to sit while we waited.  While we waited, we continued to discuss whether or not we really wanted to see it.  During the 15 minutes we discussed it, the areas around us started to fill up with hordes of people continuing up the sidewalks.  Although it would be nice to see this ceremony, we really hate crowds.  And this looked like it was going to be every tourist in London in one place.

Nope.  Didn’t want to see it bad enough to wait for another hour in a crowd that was going to make us claustrophobic.  So we got up and headed out.  I took some great pictures of the palace before the crowd started to build.  Then we walked around St. James Park toward the guard barracks.

When we were across the street from the barracks, we noticed police officers on horses stopping traffic.  Then we saw some of the guard gathering outside their barracks.  As we watched, a drummer started up a cadence and the troop marched off toward the palace.  We might not have seen them change, but we did get to see the new guard march by.  We felt fortunate to catch them and that we made the right decision in not staying.

Tom and I took the Tube to Old Street Station and disembarked to begin the John Wesley walking tour.  Our first stop was John Wesley’s house, Chapel, and the Museum of Methodism.  We had stopped by here on a Monday afternoon but it was closed, despite a sign in the window saying it was open Monday-Saturday.  When they say Monday, they really mean Tuesday.

Anyway, it was open today.  We walked into the Wesley Chapel.  John Wesley bought an empty cannon foundry in 1739 and used it as his first base of operations in London.  In 1778 he built the New Chapel, which is the church that is still standing today.  It is a simple church, compared to the massive and ornate Church of England buildings.  The pulpit is also in the center of the chancel, instead of off to the side.

After seeing the Chapel, we headed downstairs to the Museum of Methodism.  We told the two volunteers at the desk that we wanted to see the house and paid the fee for the tour, as well as making a donation.  Jeremy, one of the volunteers, took us to the house.  His tour was very straightforward, without giving us many details of John Wesley’s life.  I’m sure he knew the details, he just didn’t share them.

John Wesley built the house in 1779 and considered it his residence.  He lived there in the winter and traveled throughout England the rest of the year.  Each floor of the small Georgian-style home has two rooms.  We saw the study, the dining room, the bedroom where he died, and his office.  The top floor has two bedrooms for visiting preachers and the basement has a kitchen and room for the housekeeper.

Once we finished the tour of the house, Jeremy took us to John Wesley’s gravesite in the garden of the Chapel.  Although the Wesley Chapel and home are on the preservation list of Historic England, a new apartment building was erected that completely encloses the property on two sides.  The glass from the apartment building is an incongruous contrast with the Chapel and house.  The courtyard of the apartment building has some gravestones from the church garden.  There is a ping pong table set up just behind Wesley’s grave.

Tom and I spent some time exploring the small garden, and then we headed back to the museum.  We watched the movie and looked at the artifacts.  We saw John Wesley’s wig, several of his books, his shoes, and a lock of his hair.  John Wesley’s last words, spoken just before he died, are “The best of all is God is with us.”  Still beautiful and true.

We crossed the street to see Susanna Wesley‘s gravesite.  The cemetery is closed to visitors, except for a walkway that goes all the way through.  But the gravestones are all behind a locked fence.  We found a gate that was open and decided to go through it to find Susanna’s grave.  We were quickly intercepted by a cemetery caretaker.  When we apologized and started to leave, he asked us what grave we wanted to see.  We told him and he escorted us to the grave.  He even offered to take our picture with the gravestone.  He pointed out how the stone was just recently repainted, so we could clearly read what it said.  Then he escorted us back out and locked the gate behind us.

All of that was Stop 1 on the Wesley walking tour of London.  We walked down Epworth Road and Aldersgate Street.  We stopped for lunch at Kennedy’s of London for some fish and chips and a meat pie.  Although we weren’t going to hit every stop on the walking tour, we wanted to keep up our strength.  Plus, I needed to sit down for a while.

Our next stop was the John Wesley Walkway that goes over the streets to the Museum of London.  Tom and I thought the Museum of London would be a good place to spend a little time.  The walking tour map says that it has memorabilia related to John Wesley.  Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out the museum at that location was permanently closed.  They are building a new one in some renovated historic buildings nearby but it won’t be open until 2026.  Humph.

We did see the Aldersgate Flame, just outside the museum building.  The flame is placed where the Aldersgate Chapel was where John has his conversion experience on May 24, 1738.  The Moravian chapel is no longer there.  Ironically, there was a fire (talk about a heart strangely warmed) and it was demolished.

We concluded our John Wesley Walk by going to St. Paul’s Cathedral.  What a grand and imposing building!  John Wesley worshipped there the day he had his conversion experience.  The anthem from the morning, “Out of the Deep I Have Cried to Thee,” was still on his heart when he went to the Moravian service in the evening.  There is a statue of John in St. Paul’s garden.

Although not on the Wesley walk, we also saw Charles Wesley’s gravesite and memorial when we were in London before our trip with Insight Tours.

After all that walking, we were ready to head back to the hotel.  We took the tube to Victoria Station and stopped for an ice cream break at Shake Shack.  I had been wanting ice cream for several days but we couldn’t find any shops at the right times.  Tom got a cup of vanilla ice cream and I had the Union Shack, which was very chocolatey.  It had chocolate ice cream, brownie pieces, pieces of chocolate candy, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and hazelnut butter chocolate candy.  Almost too much chocolate!  I shared some of the chocolate syrup with Tom but managed to choke down the rest myself.

We made one final stop at Sainsbury’s to pick up a salad for supper, then we walked back to our hotel.  Tired, sore, but full of the new sites we saw and knowledge we had learned.