Sabbatical Day 14: London, part two

London is a big city. And, like all big cities it has neighborhoods where a single woman shouldn’t walk alone. The walk from the King’s Cross train station to this hotel has a bit of that sort of neighborhood, streets with abandoned buildings and homeless people taking up the corners and doorways, and men just standing around smoking cigarettes. But that’s where I found myself walking yesterday afternoon. 

I left my hotel room an hour before I was supposed to meet my parishioner “J”,  and asked the concierge to cal me a taxi. They have a phone that calls for taxi’s but he said it was unlikely he’d be able to find one, that time of day (4pm) and in this heat. I was shocked. What hotel cannot get taxi’s? And, what about lyft’s or Uber’s do they have those in London? After trying both with that phone and going out on the street, I asked the concierge if I could just walk to the train station where I know there is a taxi queue and I could get one. It was an hour+ walk across town to the restaurant and theater so I thought a taxi would be a better idea. No bus will get me there, at least not directly. And, by walking to the train station I could also take the tube, but I’m not up for learning London’s subway system at this point in time. 

So I walked. Most of the walk was through more charming little neighborhoods. But some of it was not. I walked fast and direct and looked like I knew where I was going. I made it to the train station, it’s only about an 11 minute walk. And there I found a taxi to take me to the restaurant. It was over 30 minutes in the taxi an cost me 27 pounds, which is about $34.00. I’d been warned that taxi’s were expensive, so I wasn’t surprised. Watching the meter tick up I actually anticipated a higher fare. But the taxi driver was savvy and wound his way around afternoon traffic and down side streets, as only the best of taxi drivers can. He dropped me off right in front of the restaurant and J was there a second later. 

The restaurant was in a lower level, below ground. It was a steak house and the food looked good. I ordered a glass of red wine and wanted a steak, but the waiter tried to sell me a very expensive steak that was going to be too big for me to eat. So I ordered a cheeseburger and green salad with herbs. J ordered an ale, a salad, and some kind of salmon and seasoned cream cheese dish. 

J and I talked a lot. He is getting a Masters in Musicology. It was interesting to hear about his studies and his thinking. He’s particularly interested in hip-hop music as a genre around the world and, secondarily, he’s interested in Russian music. He was born in Russia and adopted by American parents when he was 1ish, maybe a bit older. So the interest in Russian music and orthodoxy is one way for him to connect with his ancestors. After dinner we walked about fifteen minutes to the Royal Albert Theater. It was a lovely walk. We noted that several of the old buildings are damaged, we suspect the damage was from WWWII. 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints headquarters in London….

Possibly damage from shelling during WWWII?

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no government funding. It can seat 5,272. The hall is gorgeous and home to BBC concerts. They host the BBC philharmonic symphony, who were playing last night for the Proms series. Proms is an 8 week series during the summer featuring daily concerts, many of them at the Royal Albert Theater. 

The screen that I mention is visible, its the blue bar above the orchestra and below the organ, in the center of the photo 

Last night’s concert featured a world premiere by a Finnish composer, a cello piece by composer Elgar and a piece by Sibelius. Three composers, three landscapes. Elgar wrote his Cello Concerto in the woodlands of Sussex; for many listeners, its autumnal colours evoke emotions too deep for words. From his home in Finland, Sibelius created a symphony that has the grandeur and inevitability of a great river – though some have heard it as a stirring song of national awakening. And elemental forces are the very bedrock of Anna Thorvaldsottir’s inspiration. The BBC Philharmonic, under Eva Ollikainen – a Finnish conductor with close links to Iceland – teams up with charismatic soloist Kian Soltani in Elgar’s hugely popular concerto, and gives the world premiere of a newly forged orchestral work by Iceland-born Anna Thorvaldsottir, for whom composition is ‘a natural part of my life’.

This concert will be broadcast on BBC on Sunday, August 14, so perhaps you can find it somewhere?

The concert was phenomenal. Truly. Gorgeous. The hall was a bit warm, and although I was dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt and travel skort with sandals, I was not underdressed for the occasion. Very casual. Good thing, because it was warm. And I was masked the entire time. Me and about five other people. 

I wonder if it makes a difference to be masked when no one else is? I was wearing N95 mask, so perhaps that makes a bit of a difference? 

The thing about listening to symphonies. I find them so much more meaningful when they are live, when I can watch and listen to the musicians and the conductor and the audience. Listening to recordings is really not the same experience for me. The interaction between musicians, the drama of the cellist and the conductor, the playfulness between all of them, at times making me laugh with enjoyment. It was and will be one the highlights of this trip, which has been grueling and arduous much of the time. 

I said to my husband last night when we FaceTimed, that I am ready for this trip to be over. It’s not been what I planned for. I did not plan to spend so much time alone navigating foreign places and trying to have fun and stay safe. I fully expected to spend 8 days with 30 other people being challenged to think and learn about story telling and the challenges of conflict and reconciliation in Ireland. I expected to spend more time in the wilderness and less time in dirty crowded cities. But, here I am. Making the most of the trip of a lifetime that has held so many unexpected twists and turns. 

I have two more days in London. Today I plan to head toward St. Paul’s Cathedral and be there for evensong at 5pm. I plan to be back at the hotel well before dark and have a quieter night than the last two. Saturday I will head back toward the main tourist area where I have a long list of sites to see, and maybe evensong at Westminster Abby. Then on Sunday morning, early, I fly to Paris where I will meet up with my husband. I am looking forward to all of this.