NOTE: This is a catch-up entry, covering several days. Also, since the photo placeholders I put in the previous entries have been confusing for several readers, I'll leave them out this time. I will, however, add several photographs for each day, after I've cut their size to something reasonable. Please check back later to see the images.
Wednesday, July 27
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Individual sightseeing in the early morning. I grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped a #15 bus in front of the hotel. It took me around much of the central city, and got me back to St. Paul's in time for our tour at 11:00.
On the way in I had two bits of excitement. First, the mounted police on duty by the west steps allowed me to feed an apple core to one of their horses. Then, just as I was entering the crypt, alarms blared out and security staff evacuated the entire cathedral. It was a while before we knew what was going on: not a terrorist event, just an over sensitive fire sensor. After a little while, the police and church officials gave the all-clear, and we re-entered the building.
Most of the group joined Tom, the senior verger, on and adventurous tour of the upper part of the building, climbing to the upper galleries and towers. The rest of us were escorted around the main floor of the cathedral and the crypt by another Tom. It was beautiful. I was especially struck by the way recent efforts at cleaning and restoring the interior have brought Christopher Wren's design for the nave and dome back to life. On a previous visit, I had found the building dark and depressing. Now, it is stunningly restored to its original elegance: spacious and light. (Sorry, no photographs. Not permitted in the public areas of the cathedral.)
After the tour, we were on our own again until our 3:15 rehearsal. I walked around Chelsea, poking my nose into every little nook and cranny. I didn't take my guidebook, just a map so I wouldn't get lost. I walked for about an hour, grabbed lunch at a small shop, and then made my way back to the hotel to put my feet up for a few minutes before returning to St. Paul's.
Immediately after rehearsal (and before Evensong) we were allowed to take a group photograph of the massed choir in the Quire. After Evensong, there was a failed attempt at large group picture on west steps, which was abandoned because of the rain. We'll try again later in the week.
I had dinner near the hotel, and then explored a bit more of the neighborhood until dark.
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Thursday, July 28
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Today, we went to Ely.
We picked up our breakfast boxes at 5:30 AM, and blearily made our way to the coaches. Most of us slept for at least part of the trip. We arrived at 8:30 AM and wandered around in the rain until someone was available to let us in for our 9:00 AM rehearsal. We rehearsed in the Lady Chapel for an hour. After the rehearsal, we toured the cathedral. Our guide raced us around the major features so we'd finish in time for our 11:00 concert. We didn't have time to dwell on anything, unfortunately, but did see the Octagon and Lantern, many monuments, a bit of medieval stained glass, and the labyrinth under the west tower.
The concert in the Lady Chapel went well. The woman who ran the shop was there, as well as at least one other cathedral employee, along with our own non-singing Saints. There were also 12 strangers, who were joined by several others during the concert. One elderly couple spoke to me afterwards, and asked when we'd be coming back. "I'll pass the word, and guarentee that the room will be packed!"
We had lunch at The Maltings, and the coach took us back to London, arriving just in time for rehearsal and Evensong at St. Paul's. After Evensong, Pati Primerano and I grabbed a grilled sandwich at Benjy's and chatted for a while. Then I did laundry before going to sleep. It was a long day.
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Friday, July 29
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Zoo day!
Pati, Katherine Steen and I went to the Regent's Park Zoo today. Our guidebooks, the zoo web site, and the hotel concierge all said that the zoo opened at 9:30 AM. We left the hotel at 8:30, took the District Line from Blackfriars to Embankment and changed to the Northern line for the rest of our trip, getting off at Camden Town. After a 15-minute walk to the zoo, we got to the ticket gate at exactly 9:30. The zoo didn't open until 10:00. We spent the time watching taxis dropping off kids with their mums and nannies, all visibly disappointed that the zoo wasn't open yet.
At 10:00, there was controlled chaos as everyone bought their tickets and decided which exhibits to visit first. Highlights for me were the aquarium, the meerkats, the Animals in Action program, the big cats, and the komodo dragons. Every time we thought about leaving, one of us would spot another intriguing sign and, instead of heading for the tube, we'd go off in another direction. We ended up skidding into the rehearsal room at St. Paul's at the end of the warm-up before the actual rehearsal. (Note to self: Set the alarm on your watch tomorrow!)
After Evensong, we finally had our whole-group photograph with all the Singers and the Saints (non-singers) on the west steps. I was too tired to do any more walking after that so, after a brief search with Katherine Steen for someplace to eat on Fleet Street, I went back to the hotel and zonked out early.
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Saturday, July 30
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In the morning, I finished packing, checked out with the group at 11:00, and put my suitcase and carry-on luggage on the coach. Then, I went across the river to Lambeth Palace (District line from Blackfriars to Embankment where I switched to the Bakerloo line for Lambeth North).
After a longer-than-expected walk from the tube station to the Palace grounds and the Archbishop's Garden, I visited the Gardening History museum. It's tiny, but interesting. There are exhibits of gardening tools from pre-historic times to the present, great botanical explorers who brought back new plants, the restoration of the gardens at Hatfield House, an art exhibit, a knot garden, and the burial place of Captain Bligh (of HMS Bounty) who is considered a hero, here, because of all the botanical specimens that he brought back.
After lunch at the museum cafe (brie and cranberry quiche, huge mixed salad, hot brown bread and fresh butter) I made my way back to St. Paul's by a series of buses: #3 to Trafalger Square, #15 to the hotel, #100 to St. Paul's for our last Evensong service. Immediately after Evensong, the coaches picked us up for the next leg of our trip: Cambridge. We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and scattered to our rooms to rest up for sightseeing in the morning.
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