St Pauls Cathedral was built in 1675 by Sir Christopher Wren. I learnt about this magnificent structure as a child of the 60’s. We had to draw it I remember, and describe how it was built. “What a stupid thing to get a kid to do”, I thought…. I guess the Teachers knew what they were doing… they sure fired my imagination. As a child I never entertained the thought that I would ever get to see it. The architecture and beauty of the installations are almost impossible to describe… but I can say that Di and I sat under the great dome, we laid back in our seats and gazed up until our necks ached. Then climbed as high as we dare, up 370 steps to view the mosaics and paintings at closer quarters. There was a wonderful smell of roses and incense. 3 ladies were installing huge vases of flowers for the memorial service to the victims of the recent bombing in London to be held the following day. Lord Nelson is buried in the crypt…I touched the cold marble surface of the cask, my small connection to history.
Lunch in an Italian restaurant over the road then a short bus trip to the
Tower of London…. History tourist style, but nevertheless informative and easily accessible to the general public. The sun shone and we were privy to a Turner Sunset framing Tower Bridge… Back to St Paul’s for evensong and although I’m not religious I enjoyed the ambience of the ceremony.Now a few evenings before Di and I found an amazing restaurant, Sarastro….As Di was reading some info on London… up came the restaurant, and within a few minutes we had made a booking.
After the piety of evensong we changed to the flamboyance to the restaurant. We were soon joined by Cathy Miller (singing Quilter) and Husband John who are also touring Britain. First it was great to catch-up on the news of the past year… We meet in the most interesting places around the world, Houston, Fargo ND, Arizona, etc, etc. The restaurant is rather famous for its unusual décor…. I’ll not discuss the illustrations in the ladies loo !!!!, but the furnishings in the building alone just make you smile. We were entertained by a four piece chamber suite… and then a little opera… finished with a Romanian troup playing Mexican style music….. The Japanese pianist for the opera singers almost flew off the seat in her passion for her music… and she received a dramatic kiss on the hand from the man in the booth next to us!!!!!! The food was super, the entertainment wonderful and the company unsurpassed… what a great day.
