Photos
We overslept and took that to mean we need a rest. So we're taking it easy today.
But I have to do *something*, so I tried to catch up on the photo-posting.
We loafed around until something after noon, then decided to walk to Trafalgar Square where there is an event this weekend called "West End Live". West End is the theatre district of course, so for this they brought cast from some of the plays to do a segment or song on the live stage in the square. All traffic was blocked out of the square so the whole thing was a pedestrian zone, certainly different for there.
We had lunch at Garfunkels in Northampton Street then entered the square through a security maze. We found some steps with a small view of the stage and a good view of a large-screen TV showing the stage image. People from the Wedding Game and Secret Garden were there. When we left a stage school had its people up doing song & dance. All quite good of course.
On the way back, we hiked the length of St James Park paralleling the Mall to Buckingham Palace. The lake in the park is a place for birds and we saw all sorts of them including a swan with six young swans. Also squirrels.
Then we hiked back half the length and returned to our hotel. The streets around the hotel are also blocked off because the area in front of our hotel is a movie set tonight for filming Kingsman: Golden Circle, sequel to Kingsman: Secret Service. A couple of prop cars are already out there waiting to be in a scene.
Later we went to Little Waitrose for goodies. We returned just before 2100 when filming is to begin. We're on the side of the hotel away from the action. Possible we were put here to be out of the way or for more quiet.
20160619 Fathers Day
Photos
We didn't seem to do much, but it tired us. Weather mostly sunny, declining to cloudy & windy in the late afternoon.
Up & breakfast, then a casual hike to Westminster Cathedral, the Catholic major church in England. Naturally, D picked the 1030 mass that turned out to be the Solemn Choral Mass.
It had a cast of about a hundred; the celebrant, four co-celebrants, about a dozen deacons, numerous smaller officials, and the choir which included a dozen boys and about two dozen others. Many of the parts of the service were done by the chorus in Latin which relieved me of having to do anything but listen. Nearing communion, incense was liberally spread around the altar, then to one side, the other side, and then to the worshipers (us). Great huge cloud, which dissipated slowly. D says the homily was nice and well thought out; I only heard parts of it.
The parade of LEMs to their posts for serving the host was interesting and nearly military, as was their retreat afterward. Most of the crowd, which seemed to be larger than our last time here, took communion. After that, it went more quickly and we left. The celebrant grabbed my hand on exiting; I said we are touring Americans and he told me it was a great day for it. True at the time.
We trotted left-ward (WSWxW) to Victoria Station and the tube entry. After some confusion as to which line was which we mounted the Blue Line to Oxford Circus and there changed to the Red Line to Tottenham Court Road. There, we were back on our old stomping grounds and made our way to the British Museum easily.
We were still a little early for the exhibit to which we'd purchased tickets in Jacksonville - "Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds". So we wandered around through the usual Egypt exhibit that includes the Rosetta Stone, Aphrodite, and much more.
Then we entered the underwater archaeologic exhibit and were totally wow-ed by the presentation. Various screens showed the antiquities recovered next to the article itself, all cleaned up and well shown. This went on and on. And the discoverer said they'd only scratched the surface and had much more to go.
The places these things were recovered from were named Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus. They were cities at the mouth of the Nile. Over some years, these cities sank due to earthquakes liquifying the land and streams undercutting them. These items were buried under the sea for more than 1,000 years, only being recovered recently. Photos were NOT allowed in the exhibit, or I'd show you some. The link above can show you more.
Standing or walking slowly for a couple of hours in a museum was very hard on us on top of the walking to church and to the tube. So we caught a taxi back to the hotel; the driver knew exactly where we were going and got there directly, only scaring us once or twice. D had a desire to have the traditional British "Sunday Roast" but it was not being served here. One person said that the Albert over on Victoria Street was doing it, so we went there. Albert has a nice upstairs dining room where we took seats and ordered. D had her roast, I had the Ploughman's Board. We were quite satisfied when we left.
We returned to Sanctuary House and made ready to loaf.
Much later, I finished one of Michael Palin's travel books (Himalaya) and started getting ready for tomorrow. But while doing that, I'll test this thing the British have made available in the stores - a Gin & Tonic. Tanqueray & Schweppes, no less. It tastes something like a real G&T, but it has a reduced alcohol content (5%), so it doesn't have the same heart. Sorry, Gordon's.
