Said a Snail to a Whiting . . .
Wednesday.
So we had our quiz in the morning, at 8:00, no less, which, however, did not stop our esteemed teacher from preaching for quite a while. I was sleepy. But then we went off on a walking tour, down through the City again, to the Monument and past Lloyd's, the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, (all financial-type things which I really have no idea about what they do . . .), over to the Guildhall, where in medieval times the members of the guilds used to meet-- a guild was an association of all the members of one trade. There was a shoemakers' guild and a silversmiths' guild, etc.
Walking all the time at breakneck speed, (or maybe I should say break-foot speed), we went back to the Museum of London, where I think we spent all of 20 minutes-- the Tudor exhibit which we were supposed to see was closed. And then some more walking, and a little getting lost (the directions were not very clear), and we barely filled in all our questions before it was time to meet the rest of the group at St. Paul's.
Which was, of course, amazing! I really love the Gothic style, but I think this has to be the most beautiful church I've been in here. It is Baroque architecture, built in the 1600s by Christopher Wren. (Emily can tell you all about it.) Then it's been updated through the years-- sometime later, I think, they installed glass mosaics all over the ceiling in the front. It's just dazzling, all in bright colors and it sparkles too. And the dome is amazing too, all painted and gilded inside. And we went down in the crypt, which is very large, and saw the Duke of Wellington's tomb (he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo), and we would've seen Nelson's too, ("Aubrey, could I trouble you for the salt?") but it was being renovated. I did see Sullivan's (from Gilbert and Sullivan) and Wren's, and a few Pre-Raphaelite's, and some other famous people's too.
And then I went up in the dome! I really didn't think they'd still let people do that, but they did. It was some 500 steps to the top, and on the tiniest, scariest stairs I think I've ever been on. (As bad as the ones on the Battleship Texas!) But it was totally worth it to get to the top! They have three galleries open, although there are more-- one around the inside at the base of the dome, looking down into the church, one just above that around the outside, and the other around the top of the dome on the outside, with a wonderful view of the city. We were way up there, and there was very little space. Then, of course, I had to walk down all the stairs, which is less breathless, but more frightening.
Then I stayed behind the group again to hear the Evensong-- I seem to be collecting them. This one was also really good. It was not St Paul's traditional boys choir, although I wish I could've heard that, since they're on "holiday" right now. Instead it was the men who usually sing with them, which was also very good. This one was different, because they sang the songs in Latin. It sounded really cool, and their version of the Lord's Prayer was absolutely beautiful.
More homework was the order of the night, and then some sleep. . .
So we had our quiz in the morning, at 8:00, no less, which, however, did not stop our esteemed teacher from preaching for quite a while. I was sleepy. But then we went off on a walking tour, down through the City again, to the Monument and past Lloyd's, the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, (all financial-type things which I really have no idea about what they do . . .), over to the Guildhall, where in medieval times the members of the guilds used to meet-- a guild was an association of all the members of one trade. There was a shoemakers' guild and a silversmiths' guild, etc.
Walking all the time at breakneck speed, (or maybe I should say break-foot speed), we went back to the Museum of London, where I think we spent all of 20 minutes-- the Tudor exhibit which we were supposed to see was closed. And then some more walking, and a little getting lost (the directions were not very clear), and we barely filled in all our questions before it was time to meet the rest of the group at St. Paul's.
Which was, of course, amazing! I really love the Gothic style, but I think this has to be the most beautiful church I've been in here. It is Baroque architecture, built in the 1600s by Christopher Wren. (Emily can tell you all about it.) Then it's been updated through the years-- sometime later, I think, they installed glass mosaics all over the ceiling in the front. It's just dazzling, all in bright colors and it sparkles too. And the dome is amazing too, all painted and gilded inside. And we went down in the crypt, which is very large, and saw the Duke of Wellington's tomb (he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo), and we would've seen Nelson's too, ("Aubrey, could I trouble you for the salt?") but it was being renovated. I did see Sullivan's (from Gilbert and Sullivan) and Wren's, and a few Pre-Raphaelite's, and some other famous people's too.
And then I went up in the dome! I really didn't think they'd still let people do that, but they did. It was some 500 steps to the top, and on the tiniest, scariest stairs I think I've ever been on. (As bad as the ones on the Battleship Texas!) But it was totally worth it to get to the top! They have three galleries open, although there are more-- one around the inside at the base of the dome, looking down into the church, one just above that around the outside, and the other around the top of the dome on the outside, with a wonderful view of the city. We were way up there, and there was very little space. Then, of course, I had to walk down all the stairs, which is less breathless, but more frightening.
Then I stayed behind the group again to hear the Evensong-- I seem to be collecting them. This one was also really good. It was not St Paul's traditional boys choir, although I wish I could've heard that, since they're on "holiday" right now. Instead it was the men who usually sing with them, which was also very good. This one was different, because they sang the songs in Latin. It sounded really cool, and their version of the Lord's Prayer was absolutely beautiful.
More homework was the order of the night, and then some sleep. . .
posted by LN | 4:47 AM
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