U.K. Trip (Part 4)

U.K. trip 5-21-06

Links to Photos

I got up early today so that I could go to church. The SFA A cappella Choir is on tour and they were going to perform within walking distance of my hotel. So I walked over to the St. James church. This church was built in 1684 range. Wow! I got there before the SFA choir got there so I looked around for a few minutes. Then all of the sudden, there were there. A few folks were shocked to see me and a few folks knew I was going to be in London during the their tour.

I sat down with some of my SFA faculty friends for the service. The service was about two hours long and quite different than the churches I have been to in the USA. There was a familiarity that I didn’t think would go on in a British church. You were invite to get up and move to see the baptism that occurred that Sunday. The sermon was on the “Da Vinci Code” movie that is all over the airwaves and billboards here in London. It was great to go to church in a church that old.

After the service I said bye to a few SFA folks, then I got a cheap lunch at the Tesco food market. Tesco is like the Walmart of London. I got a mark down chicken salsa sandwich for 60p and some bottle water. While I was eating the sandwich at a bus stop, a girl from Japan talked to me and told me she was going to college there and that Japan was cheaper than London. Maybe next year Japan!

I walked to the National Gallery and got to see “The Virgin on the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci. There was a bench there so I sat down and wrote a chorale in front of this great piece of art. To think that I composed some music in the same building as all this incredible art! Wow! I walked outside to see some protestors and I saw some faculty from SFA. So I walked over and hung out with some friendly faces.

We all looked at the top thirty highlights of the collection. I saw works by Rapheal, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat and Vermeer. The piece that I liked the most was the “Self Portrait at the Age 34” by Rembrandt. I have seen this piece on many TV shows and books and here I was standing in front of it. Only three feet from it. I am still shocked that we art able to look at all of this great art with a piece of glass in front of them and that we are able to stand that close too! Wow!

Afterwards we all stopped at a Starbucks for a break. It was great to talk to some folks that I knew from Texas. I still love the folks in Texas.

Then I went to get that same buffet as yesterday for five pounds. Afterwards I practiced guitar and used the internet to record the podcast. Another full day.

U.K. trip 5-21-06

Links to Photos

I was able to book my hotel in Paris and my last day in London. That is a great relief that I’m not homeless for the next few days. This time I got three star hotels, I’m tired of the this one star dive that I’m in right now. The hotel that I’m in is fine, but for only a few more pounds or euros, I get two more stars. I hope the next few hotels will rock!

I walked over to the St. Martin’s in the Field Church for the last SFA Choir performance in London. As I was walking up I saw some more faculty from SFA and took some photos with them. I sat down and the choir sounded great once again. There was a full house for this lunch time concert. The church acoustics were great too.

After the concert, I met the same folks that I hung out with yesterday so I joined them to the British Museum. I went there a few days ago, but I didn’t get to see the China exhibit as well as the African exhibits. There is no way to see and retain every thing in one day. When we were finished, we all walked to get dinner together. I got some chicken donner, which was very good.

Then we walked over the Handel House. The area looked like a scene from Austria. They walked back to their hotel and I stayed. I wrote a chorale here. This is the house that Handel wrote some of the “Messiah”. And to think that Handel walked the same area that I was sitting at composing music. Wow!

When I was done I walked to the Tesco to buy some more fruit and biscuits. Another full day. In my hotel I recorded a song that I wrote a few days ago.

Why Did I? Mp3 4.1 megs