TDay 2012 in London

TDay In London

21 November 2012

Having spent today (Thanksgiving) in London, I have now spent virtually every major US Holiday in the UK:  Christmas, New Year’s the 4^th of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and now TDay!

Today was about as close to perfect as possible:  Unlike yesterday, which was windy, cold and rainy, today was dry and much warmer.  I got up at 6:00 AM and headed off to Southwark Cathedral, getting there an hour before Morning Prayer.  I kicked around and found two (2!) different breakfasts.  At 8:00 AM, I sat through Morning Prayer (which I really couldn't hear), but then I went to the Eucharist.  It was a small affair, only about nine of us, but very sincere and intimate.  After that, I headed off to St. Paul’s Cathedral, only to find that it was not open for site-seers today until 1:00 PM due to their honoring of the Thanksgiving Holiday.  With that, I went back to Southwark and attended the second Eucharist  which was completely different than the first in that well over 100 people were in attendance, and it was hosted by a Bishop.  Unlike the early morning one, the Bishop brought up a church political issue which just occurred:  The Anglicans allow women clergy, but based on a vote just this last Tuesday, they have reaffirmed a ban on allowing them to ascend to the level of Bishop.  It is causing quite a stir.

On a side note, one of the things that really struck me with the Southwark Cathedral was their cat!  Yes, when I was there at 7:00 AM in the morning, they had put out food and water for a tabby, and throughout the day I spotted him in the church itself, even to the point of sleeping in one of the ritzy padded chairs!  That’s what a church should stand for, IMHO.  St. Francis of Assisi would be proud.

I also managed to squeeze in Tate Modern today, and that came up a little short.  I have wanted to see this museum for years, and while I generally like modern art (i.e., bright colors and geometric shapes), I am pretty sure I missed the point behind much of the other art, such as the guy who had stacks of neon light bulbs, or the trailer trash motif.

After Tate Modern, I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and spent the day from about 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM there, first touring then listening to Evensong.  The tour was fantastic (albeit another expensive one, 15 pounds or $24).  I went to the very top of the cathedral (over 500 steps) and took some awesome pictures.  I also saw the original “Light of the World” painting as well as the “Mother and Son” modern art sculpture, which I really liked.  Evensong was beautiful, though not as emotionally touching as the two earlier Eucharists.

I’ll also point out that the Brits love the Americans, at least in terms of what they show in St. Paul’s.  All throughout, and even interspersed within the Jesus Chapel, are symbols---both subtle and bold—of their thanks and gratitude for the US, most notably in terms of WWII.

One thing I am definitely catching on to is that the “Small” venues definitely compete against the large ones, maybe not head-on-head but in different ways.  Yesterdays’ small venue St Martin’s Theatre is one example, the intimacy of Winchester Cathedral versus Westminster Abbey is another, and again today, the intimacy of the smaller Southwark Cathedral gave it some advantages over the much more revered St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I took the tube home, went by Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square briefly, then walked back to the Wellington Pub since every other such establishment was jammed full.  I don’t know why the Wellington isn't so solidly booked as they are every bit as good as the others, and the “large” fish and chips was actually “huge.”  In any case, I should not complain as I was very tired, achy and hungry by the time I got there, so the lack of a crowd was very welcome.

I decided to make this night relatively early, and I retired to the hotel bar about 8:30 so I could rest up for the upcoming Friday/Saturday combo in front of me!

Now for the Strand Hotel:  As I have said before, I love this hotel and will stay here again, but they always have something silly that would be easy to fix, which menas they fall short of what they easily could become.  Yesterday when I checked in, the maids had left a  half empty bottle of somebody else's shampoo in the shower.  Today, they left a dirty pillowcase on the middle of my bed!

BTW, the Chase chip card is working perfectly, and I can use it in paces (such as for tube tickets) which failed before with the mag strip only cards.