Last Day in London

Today was my last day in London. I did an impressively small amount of things. I woke up really late (10am) to the sound of St. Paul’s bells. Really, this was amazing. I threw on my flip-flops and coat (I really did look like a stupid American) and ran outside, around the corner towards St. Paul’s and took in the sounds. Imagine the UT carillon at 1pm on Wednesday, and then add about 5 times the virtuosity. It was like a Bach organ piece in bells and over the entirety of central London. When it was over, I hauled booty into the shower, ran into the local Tesco grocery market, grabbed a few rolls and a banana, hopped on the tube and made it into Westminster Abbey just in time for the Eucharist. So yes, I went to church in London.

Service was what I expected, except they used a real boy’s choir (apparently a world famous one at that, who knew?). The interior of the church was sort of disturbing to me. Some people thought that they were surrounded by immortals; I thought that I was surrounded by rotting corpses. It’s ok, though. I got over it. It was, actually, quite amazing and humbling. We weren’t permitted to browse (since it was a Sunday and the abbey is not open for sightseeing), so I took what I could really quickly.

I then walked around and got lost, in true Adam in London fashion. Eventually, I wound up somewhere west of Kensington. My feet hurt, so I hopped on the tube (to the expected confusion for all of the closures) and hopped off just in time to attend an organ concert in St. Paul’s. Peculiar that I’ve been sleeping in the former choir house of and within 100 yards of said cathedral and had not yet been inside. It was impressive, just as people said. The gold mosaics were very byzantine-esque and really raised questions about the sympathies of the Anglican Church and how it views itself (St. Paul’s is not a remnant of pre-Henry VIII times), but that’s a topic for a book, not a blog.

I then really had nothing else to do. I had crossed off everything from my list, and it was Sunday, so everything was closed. I cleaned up my stuff, organized everything, and am now ready for my voyage across the English Channel. My train leaves in the late morning. Updates later.

Bon Voyage, English-speaking lands. I’m about to venture into uncomfortable territory. Eeek.