Monday, July 25
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We were on our own this morning. After breakfast in the hotel, several people headed over to the London Eye for a bird's-eye view of London. Others took advantage of the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses that circle the city providing easy access to most of the major sights. Some people headed directly to the Tower or to one of the many museums and art galleries. Me? I looked for reasonably-priced Internet access.
The hotel charges 5 UKP per hour. There are several coffee shops nearby that advertise wireless Net access, but their rates are at least as high as the hotel's. I tried to reach an online acquaintance who had offered me the use of her office network. I was unable to make an outside call from my hotel room (more about that later). I tried a nearby pay phone, and finally connected to someone at the number in Josephine's email signature. Unfortunately, that person didn't recognize the name of Josephine or her company. Oopsie.
According to the map, Josephine's office address was more or less within walking distance of the museums in Knightsbridge, so I packed up my computer, hopped on the tube (the hotel is practically on top of the Blackfriar's station) and hopped off at Knightsbridge. I figured I could check my email, post an update to my blog, and still have time to see at least one of the great museums. Must have gotten turned around when I left the station, though, because I never did find her office. Never got to the museums, either. By the time I was ready to give up looking, it was 1:00 PM and I had to grab lunch and get to St. Paul's for rehearsal. Oh, well. At least I saw some interesting architecture and met some nice people.
At 3:00 we gathered in the choir rehearsal room and ran through the pieces for our first Evensong: the Shepherd "Preces and Responses", a psalm, David Hogan's "Magnificat" and "Nunc Dimitis", an anthem by Stephen Paulus, and a hymn. The Senior Verger, Tom, gave us instructions for the processional and recessional, and the proper attitude and behavior for each part of the service.
It wasn't easy to concentrate at first. The building itself knocks your socks off and the sound is stunning. Each phrase rings for several seconds after we stop singing, so the tempo of each piece needs to be adjusted. All our well-trained reflexes are wrong, and we need to keep our eyes glued on Peter every minute. This is hard to do, with all of the visual glory around us --- it's very distracting. We wound up singing most pieces much more slowly than we normally do at Third.
After rehearsal, we had a few minutes to relax, find the loo, and have a last sip of water before the service. I'll describe the actual Evensong service in another post. No pictures, though. This is still an active church, and no photographs are allowed even between services. "This is a house of worship, not a museum."
After Evensong, we all went off in different directions. Some folks went on a walking tour of "London by Lamplight" (I think that's the name. I'll check, and correct it if needed.) Most of us were still exhausted from the trip, though, and sought out someplace for a leisurely dinner before returning to the hotel for bed.
Four of us explored a bit of the Thames Walk, on the opposite side of the river from the Victoria Embankment, and settled on a Fuller's pub called "The Banker" [photo:pub sign] where we had various pub "sharing plates" [photo:food]: a traditional Ploughman's Lunch (pork pies), a four-cheese sampler, and a roasted vegetable plate, all with small side dishes. The sides were interesting: tiny onions with whole capers, olives, and an unusual cinnamon chutney. On the way back to the hotel and bed, we took photographs of the Millennium footbridge [photo:winged bridge] and the plants lining the path [photo:lavender].
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