Day Nine London    
 
Got up early today as I had to make the 9:10am Euro Star Train to London to visit with Ann Elise Smoot and James Vivian at the Temple Church. After getting slight lost trying to find the Breguet-Sabin Metro Stop I improvised and got on at Chemin Vert and made the connection to get to Gare du Nord and my train. It is a wonderful train ride, the trip under the English Channel went very quickly and after traveling through the English Countryside I arrived in Waterloo Station in search of a wireless network. After catching up on some quick business I hailed one of those wonderful English taxi cabs and had the driver take me right to the Temple. I never realized where the Temple Church was located in the middle of the Inns of Court: offices and training ground for barristers and judges. I met James Vivian shortly after arriving and he showed me around the grounds. They were wonderful, especially Middle Temple Hall which still has its Elizabethan beamed roof and it was here where Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was first performed. After a short tour of the campus I took a seat in the Round of the Temple Church for an organ recital played by Charles Harrison. The playing was excellent more over the quality of the voicing and the balance of the organ exemplified a well designed and cared for instrument. He played Parry’s Fantasia and Fugue in G, two movements from Widor’s Eighth Symphony, ending with Dupré Prelude and Fugue in B. After the recital I left my bags in the organ and set out to explore London till I was due back at the Temple Church for Evensong. The first stop was the post office to mail a bunch of postcards back to the states, walking up the St. Paul’s Cathedral and after taking some photos of the facade with my shift lens I hailed a cab to go to Buckingham Palace. The Palace is an impressive sight and I took a short tour of the Queen’s Gallery viewing Treasure from the Royal Collection which included painting by Ruben and Van Dyck, a bust of Handel which I had always seen in the my music text books and many exquisite works Fabergé. Then it was back to The Temple Church for 5:45 Evensong. We started off with Prelude No. 3 by Stanford some excellent hymns, a service by Daniel Purcell in E minor, Te lucis ante terminum of Henry Balfour Gardiner, ending with a voluntary by Bach. After this James and Ann Elise had bought tickets to go up on the London Eye – an over grown ferris wheel on the Thames. We had a clear night and could see all of London. Ann Elise and James had me back to their home we had some wine, went out for a wonderful dinner at a French Restaurant – so much for getting some English food in London – and got a good night sleep.
Visit with Ann Elise Smoot and James Vivian in London
Wednesday May 10, 2006