High Church at St. Paul's

My scheduled trip on Friday night cancelled after about a four hour delay.  I was bummed because I was trying to take Ladyfriend with me to London.  It started out well enough.  Even though the flight was full, she still was able to get a Business Class seat and we were all set.  As we were about to turn onto the runway, all the galley power went out.  We returned to the gate, but after several hours they were not able to correct the problems with the electrical system and the flight was cancelled.

The next day I was able to pick up another London trip.  When trips cancel, we scramble to try to recover our lost time.

Given that it would be a Sunday layover, not much would be open so I went with my co-workers Dianne and Karla to St. Paul's Cathedral for a High Church Evensong service.  We arrived at the church about 30 minutes before the service started, and you could hear the bells ringing outside.  We went down into the crypt first and visited the bookstore.  I bought a few postcards and little gift items.

St. Paul's is an amazing Cathedral.  Part of the Anglican church, it sits on the highest point in London.  It's actually the fifth Cathedral th occupy the site.  The others being lost to fire.  The present structure took 30 years to build and was completed in 1697, designed by English architect Sir Christopher Wren.  Amazingly, the building survived the Blitz during WWII.  It was hit numerous times by bombs, but no major damage was done.  There was time released bomb that failed to detonate, which experts think would have totally destroyed the Cathedral.

For the actual services, visitors sit under the dome of the cathedral.  For the Evensong service, the Boys and Men's Choir perform the singing, accompanied by a dooming organ.  Sunday's service coincided with D-Day, so there were British war vets sitting in their uniforms in the front of the sanctuary.

At the conclusion of the service, there was a lovely organ solo.  The acoustics of the church carried the strong sound throughout the sanctuary and it was an amazing end to the service.

We exited thru the side of the church and made our way over the Thames to the Tate and then proceeded to walk back along the river towards Parliament.  At one point it started to rain a bit so we stopped at a pub and had some beer.  Dianne and I had the Fruli beer, which was the strawberry beer I tired in Greenwich last month.

After the rain let up, we made our way back over the Thames to Parliament and and took the Tube back to the hotel.

The layover was relaxing for a Sunday.  It was great to fly with my friend Dianne. It was actually our first time flying together, but she had been working a flight years back where I was escorting a little boy back to Paraguay.