Sabbatical Day 15: London, getting my groove back

I lived in Chicago for 40 years. I was an experienced city person, navigating public transportation and figuring my way around traffic and neighborhoods like a pro. I know people do the same thing with London. The tax drivers yesterday are prime examples of people who know a city inside and out. I will never ever know London that way. Not like I knew Chicago and not like the taxi drivers I’ve had. BUT. And this is a big one for me. I figured out some of the bus routes I can take to get to where I wanted to go today and where I want to go tomorrow. It felt so good to have a little tiny sense of how things work here. The bus line from the hotel to the BlackFriar bridge (#63 bus) is a direct line from my hotel to walking distance to things like St. Paul’s Cathedral, the London Bridge, and the Tower of London. I’ll take the same bus tomorrow and then walk or, catch bus #11 to the area of Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abby. I plan to spend the day in that area, seeing the sites and spending most of the day in Westminster Abby, waiting for Evensong at 5pm. 

Today I got off the bus on the south side of Blackfriars bridge and walked back across it to the north side where I followed the Thames River path to the Tower of London. I did not go into the tower, but wow was the entire area crowded. As I walked into the area a woman passing me sneezed, right in my face. I mean, she hardly even turned her head away, definitely didn’t turn into her own arm. It was so gross. I blew out my nose and tried hard not to breath until I was well past her. And, because I was outside I didn’t have my mask on. Alas. Sigh. 

The fire on London memorial in Pasternoster Square 

London Bridge is not falling down

The Spire

On the bus

I walked along the tower and the tower bridge and then headed back up to the main streets. I was feeling hot and worn from the heat. I walked past a war memorial. 

Then shortly thereafter ducked into an air conditioned store to purchase bandaids, my feet were getting blisters from the sandals. I also purchased an cold bottle of water, cranberry infused with electrolytes. That was refreshing and helped immensely. I walked to St. Mary’s where I stopped, lit some candles, said some prayers, and put some bandaids on my feet. 

St. Marys describes itself as a city church. It has a distinctively orthodox feel to it. And while it s a working church on Sundays its a cafe during the week. Fascinating use of space. 

Then I walked more until I came to St. Paul’s. I spent the rest of the day there, 3.5 hours.

The chaplain to the Cathedral, The Rev. Paula Hollingsworth, one of the fist women ordained in the CofE. Not sure who the man in the cassock is, he probably a local priest. He lead the 2 minute prayers that I heard through out the afternoon - very touching. 

The Chaplain, The Rev. Paula Hollingsworth 

The view from the Stone Gallery 

I walked through the interior. Every so often a priest invites the people in the Cathedral to stop for two minutes, sit down and be silent. The priest says a few prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, holds the silence, and thanks people for praying in that space. It was one of the most moving experiences of this entire trip. One, because I did not expect it. Two, because who knows? Invitations to prayer can be like that, taking one off guard.

Then I walked the nearly 400 steps to the Stone gallery, an outdoor level of viewing London. 400 steps sounds like nothing for someone like me who has walked 17000 steps many days of this trip. But. 400 steps going up. That is a whole other endeavor. Oh my. Sure, in my younger years, probably nothing. But these days, it was a little taxing. Plus I was wearing a mask. And, it was hot. I made it to the Stone Gallery and the view of London was stunning. Coming down was a lot faster and much simpler. I did warn people along the way that it was arduous, but there were places to sit and rest, and it was worth it. 

 I spent a lot of time in the undercroft, the Crypt. Where people are buried. Christopher Wren, architect who designed this most recent version of the Cathedral in the 1660’s. Wren died at the age of 90 in 1723. Some building of worship has stood on this spot, dedicated to St. Paul, for 1400 years. Yes. 1400 years.  The first was around 602, but it was destroyed. Two more churches were built and destroyed in conflict or the fire of London in 1666.

The lower level where the Crypt is includes memorials to Vergers who have worked at the Cathedral since the 1600’s, and musicians and organists. And, a lot of military persons. A lot. The lower level also has a little cafe where I had an egg salad and watercress sandwich and a cappuccino. 

After sitting for awhile I then wandered into the gift shop. I could have purchased a lot there. Ornaments and books, tea towels and other assorted items. But I have zero room in my luggage. So I bought nothing. My tourist shopping will all take place in Paris. 

About 3:30 I wandered upstairs to sit and wait for Evensong at 5pm. That seems like it would be a long wait, but it didn’t feel that way.

In the hour leading up to evensong I saw Cathedral staff walking around, setting up, getting ready. It was such a familiar routine, something I do all the time, albeit in a different setting. But still, the process for preparing for worship is somewhat the same regardless. 

About 4:45 they invited those of us who wanted too to come into the choir loft and sit near the choir. I joined the group who chose to do that and sat in the pew next to the choir. It turns out that the choir was from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. And their choral master is Bruce Neswick, who I know. We hired him in 2016 to compose a special piece for our 150th anniversary and he came in for a special weekend performance. That was just so much fun. I tried to find him afterward to say hello, but no one could tell me where the choir was. Oh well. I’ll email and let him know. 

Evensong, was lovely, except no one in the congregation participated, we were simply observers, which completely diminished the experience for me. Afterward I left, and was bombarded by some evangelical man yelling into a sound system about sin and salvation. It was so awful following the beauty of evensong to be accosted by that. Then there were women handing out pamphlets on sin and salvation. It was just so ugly. I couldn’t walk away fast enough. But I did get out of the area and found my way to the bus line and back to the hotel. 

Tomorrow is my last day in London. I’ve decided that I gave myself a decent amount of time to be here. My original plan, one day, would not have been nearly enough considering the location of this hotel and the things I wanted to see. So tomorrow, off to the area near Westminster and Trafalgar Square. My husband leaves Detroit tomorrow to fly to Paris, where we’ll meet up on Sunday.