July 17: These Boots Were Made....

Today started with a tube ride to Westminster to go to church.  I missed the chance to sing in Notre Dame today with my choir, so going to Westminster Abbey instead seemed like the right thing to do.  I got there a bit early, so I walked around the park near the Abbey and looked at the statues of famous, inspiring people:

Then I went over and joined the people who were starting to line up to attend the Sunday service at the Abbey:


If you have to stand in line, that's a really pretty place to stand.  I was surprised there weren't more people there; I had thought that getting there 45 minutes early might not have been enough, but I was near the front of the line.  Ushers came out periodically and let us know that there was no tourist access to the building on Sundays and that we'd be going in just for the service.  That was fine by me.  I did the tour the other time I was in London.  I was sad this morning not to be singing with my friends as the visiting choir in Notre Dame and it seemed comforting to be in a different big cathedral.  I could still enjoy some great church music even if I wasn't helping to make it.

It turned out that Westminster Abbey had a visiting choir today too.  I guess it's the time of year when cathedral choirs get a vacation.  The choir was a very good one, but it was a small chamber choir that was very different from the Cantabile Choir, which made it a little easier for me.  They sang parts of William Byrd's "Mass For Four Voices", which I happened to have sung with my madrigal group in high school and which I love very much.  It was wonderful to hear it sung by such a good choir and used for worship rather than just a concert piece.  And the organ was amazing.  It was a beautiful service and I enjoyed it very much.

After the service I grabbed a sandwich and took a walk.  When I was in London before I took a walk in that area that I enjoyed so much I wanted to do it again.  I highly recommend it if you're ever in London and looking for a walk to take: it's just a rectangle bounded by Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge and the banks of the Thames.  One side leads you past Westminster and a really nice park and other side takes you past another park and Lambeth Palace (the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury).  The walk was just as nice as I remembered.

You might have noticed that the sky in these pictures varies a lot, but they were all taken within about an hour of each other.  Great Britain is just like that; the weather keeps you guessing.  I often thought it was going to rain today, but I actually only felt about 2 drops of rain the whole day and got a lot of sun at other times.

I was enjoying walking, so I decided to walk over to visit the Queen, since Buckingham Palace isn't very far away from Westminster.  In the sermon at Westminster Abbey, the preacher reminded us of the importance of quieting down our minds and challenged us all to find a nice garden to sit in for 10 minutes and just do nothing.  He even suggested Saint James Park, which is right on the way to Buckingham Palace, so that's where I went.  It is quiet and beautiful, with wonderful flowers and a big artificial pond with lots of birds, including pelicans.  I sat quietly for my 10 minutes and just watched the water and the birds and the families out for picnics.



And then I sat and knitted for another little while, since I find that very meditative too.  I took a picture of my scarf-in-progress so that I will remember this beautiful afternoon when I wear it.

After all that sitting I was feeling relaxed and ready to walk again and I headed up the Mall to the palace.  If you've never been there before, the Mall is a big street leading up to Buckingham Palace and it's pronounced to rhyme with "pal", not "ball".  I learned that it's closed to traffic on Sundays, which made it particularly nice to walk down today.  It starts with Admiralty Arch, built by Edward VII in member of his mother, Victoria.

Car traffic goes through the left and right of the three big openings and pedestrians walk through the little openings.   But the middle opening has a gate across it and is only opened up for royalty.

On the way down the Mall I passed monuments to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (parents of the current Queen)

and Queen Mary (grandmother of the Queen).

 
I also passed St. James Palace, which is still the official residence of the monarch, even though no King or Queen has actually lived there for a long time.  I did see a documentary on the plane on the way over which mentioned that Prince Charles has an apartment in St. James Palace.

And finally, Buckingham Palace itself, with the huge statue in front including Queen Victoria and various other things I can't really identify.

The gates in front of the palace are quite impressive.

And here's as close as you can get to the palace (taken through the bars of the gates), with the iconic balcony in view.

Close to the gates I also noticed a bunch of music stands, probably for ceremonies such as the Changing of the Guard.  Now there's another gig my sister might like; do you suppose they need cellists?

Just as I was noticing that the flag on top of the palace was flying at half mast, I heard someone explaining it.  When the Queen is at home, they fly a special royal standard above the palace.  The fact that we saw the Union Jack instead meant that she was not at home.  (I guess they forgot to tell her I was coming!)  And the fact that the Union Jack was at half mast was a tribute to the victims of the terrorism in Nice.

I had already done a lot of walking, but I was enjoying it and looked on my map and realised I was within walking distance of my hotel.  Not a short walk, but do-able.  So I did it!  A lot of it took me through Hyde Park, which was nice although not as elegant as St. James Park or Kensington Gardens.  I've had a fitbit for a little over a year now and this is the first time I've ever hit 20,000 steps, which is about 10 miles.  My feet hurt afterwards, but I felt good.  I achieved my goal of creating a great day in London for myself instead of moping about not being in Paris :-)