It’s Friday!  Hard for me to remember everything that happened this day; 1) because it was such a busy day and 2) because I’ve lost almost all sense of time.  But here goes!  Friday got off to a great start because we had the morning free.  For me this meant sleeping in a bit, taking my time getting ready for the day, and enjoying a leisurely breakfast.  Then I went off on my own down the street from our hotel to an internet café, my first contact with the outside world via email, etc., since beginning the tour.  Needless to say, my inbox was flooded, but all was well and I returned to the hotel and changed into my choir gown.  Then  the choir was off to St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

St. Martin’s is located in Trafalgar Square, the heart of London, and is a spot visited by many tourists and esteemed as both a place of worship and as a spectacular performing venue.  The church sponsors many musical ventures (the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the world’s most recorded chamber orchestra, originated here), including a regular series of afternoon concerts.  Handel and Mozart both made music at this church and many other famous musicians have visited in its several hundred year history.  

We had lots of time to rehearse in the space and observe the beautiful architecture by the renowned Christopher Wren, a name we’ve been hearing a lot about this tour.  Dr. ABC also reminded us that this church was constructed not long before William Billings would have been writing “The Shepherd’s Carol,” one of the American pieces in our tour repertoire. It’s great to make connections like that, tying in all these references to faraway places with music we hold so close to us.  When it came time to perform we were received by our largest audience yet (over 300 people) and we sang a grand performance for them.  

After the concert, we had the pleasure of meeting a number of people who work for Sovereign Travel, a company based in London which coordinated all aspects of our tour with Seminars International, our Chicago-based tour company.  The Sovereign staff were all lovely and as excited to meet us as we were to meet them.  We owe them much thanks for all their working in helping to put together what has so far been an absolutely fabulous tour in England.

After saying goodbye to the group from Sovereign and, sadly, to Ron Rolland, president of Seminars International, who has traveled with us all week, we boarded yet another coach and left Saint Martin-in-the-Fields for St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Enroute, from the comfort of our bus, we saw and heard about many famous sites in London.  During the London portion of our tour we’ve been lucky to have been provided with much helpful commentary, not only by Tom Doyle, our amazing Irish tour manager, who calls me “Princess” (because of my fur-trimmed coat), but also from another Sovereign guide and friend of the choir, Phillip Baker.

Then, as has been done with the two previous Drake Chamber Choirs who have visited England (in 2002 and 2006), we took the time to stop for a group photo with Parliament and Big Ben in the background.  

Eventually, we got to St. Paul’s Cathedral, another stunning structure designed by Sir Christopher Wren.  Unlike the more intimate examples of his designs we’ve seen already, this building is large, expansive, commanding, and a wonderful sight to behold.  To give you a sense of this grandeur, it is worth noting that the dome over the crossing of the cathedral is the second largest in the world, the first being the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  This church was especially moving , not only because of its beauty and history, including remarkable restorations after World War II damages, but also because of its fascinating and publically viewable crypt area, where Wren, the great architect himself is buried, as is Lord Nelson and other notables from English history.  Also worth noting is the stained glass window in the so-called American chapel, which stands as a tribute to Americans who fought in England during WWII.  The window includes panes that feature each state’s flag.  We enjoyed finding the seals of each of the states represented by students in the Chamber Choir, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Minnesota, and Iowa.

So once again we found our way to the coach and headed to the Tower of London.  Now what I haven’t mentioned so far is that it was cold on Friday—very cold by London standards and even quite cold by Midwestern ideas of winter temperatures.  In addition, there has been much snow throughout England this week.  Even the two inches that dusted the ground in London led to nerve-wracking conditions for the English, although we can’t quite figure out what all the fuss is about.  So when we got to the Tower area we were met with the unfortunate news that the Tower was closing early due to its many outdoor walkways being slippery (or “slippy,” as Tom kept saying).  Alas, no viewing the Crown Jewels, White Tower, etc. fro the Chamber Choir that day.  Phillip did point out a number of historical highlights of the Tower and we got some great pictures with the Tower Bridge, which was lit-up brilliantly since the sun was setting.  After this visit we boarded the bus one more time for the day and made our way back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel it was time to quickly freshen up and regroup for our free evening in London.  A number of headed across town via the London Underground, called the Tube, to Fleet Street.  There we found our way to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, the single oldest pub in London.  The pub was a maze of many levels of small, cramped, dimly lit rooms with many staircases, bars, and seating areas.  And, oh yes, it seemed as though we had stepped straight into the London of Sweeney Todd, Oliver, or a Charles Dickens novel.  The genuine atmosphere, great company, and a generous plate of fish and chips provided me a storybook ending to another day of the 2010 Chamber Choir Tour.