The Yankee did some work. She presented some of her research and it was, easily, the best presentation I saw at the entire conference:
We also went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. This church is the seat of the Bishop of London and head church of the Diocese of London. It sits atop the highest point in the City of London. The original church here dates back to 604.
This church dates to the late 17th century, designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Services and tours were going on while we were there. You get the sense that the place never stops humming.
And it is a beautiful place. I’ve been fortunate to see some of the world’s oldest and most beautiful churches. To me, this one is one of the ones you have to see.
And they all have this certain sound, in those soaring ceilings, to the point that you think all of the ancient architects had a similar opinion about what angels singing might sound like, and how they could maybe try to emulate it.
A young choir from Singapore was performing, for about a half hour, when we were there. I don’t want to overstate it, but their voices were singing up and the ceiling was singing down. There was the slightest, most imperceptible delay that held notes and changed the songs. I don’t know what angels in your mind, but that’s what they’d sound like to me. (I tried to record it, but it was all a bit fuzzy because of other ambient noises.)
The vaulting ceilings here have what the tour says are millions of pieces of glass in elaborate mosaics. I wonder who had the job of counting the glass pieces.
Fish and chips! And mushy peas. You can just see them in the corner of the shot. That’s another British staple. They’re good if you like peas. I like peas.
The fish is supposed to come in a newspaper, and so to be authentic this place uses a fake newspaper. It is probably more sanitary, but more expensive. This paper is mimicking a 1940s London paper. There is copy about military governors divvying up Germany.
She plans great trips, and this has been another wonderful one. We’re riding on the Underground here:
We went to see Rock of Ages on the West End. They break the fourth wall. They ad lib. They use jazz hands. It is a rock show, but a love story.
The narrator makes a Waffle House joke. This being London I am the only person in the entire theater that got it. I laughed. No one else laughed. I laughed harder.
It is bawdy. It makes fun of hair bands, rock ‘n’ roll and the 1980s.
Great, funny show.
