Saturday, 6th May, 2023
The morning of The Coronation was cool and drizzly. We had a
leisurely start to the day and began watching BBC 1 about 9:00am.
The Coronation was a very impressive event and we felt that we had
made the right decision to stay "home" and watch the whole ceremony
on TV. It didn't finish until about 2:30pm with the RAF flyover. The
music was wonderful. The Director of Music at Westminster Abbey is Andrew Nesthinga whom
we met at St John's, Cambridge, during our previous visit so we felt
we had a bit of a connection with him.
After the Coronation, I spent a little time completing yesterday's
journal. Then we decided to go to St Paul's Cathedral for Evensong.
It was due to begin at 5:00pm and we arrived at 5:02pm. By the time
we had progressed through the security, we had missed the introit.
The reverberation in the building is amazing, lasting between 8 and
11 seconds. Because of this, the singing can be a bit "muddy" unless
one is sitting in the Quire. We were too late for that, but even the
"muddy" sound was lovely. We heard the choir of boys and adults sing
the Responses by Rose, the Canticles by Purcell in G minor, and the
anthem "O Lord Grant the King a Long Life" by Weelkes.
Not many photos today! We were not allowed to take photos at St
Paul's, even after the Service had finished.
This is a photo taken of the TV screen!
Two views of St Paul's Cathedral
We had dinner at Cafe Rouge. The food was quite good but it
was expensive.
The area of London we were in is known as "Blackfriars". This
jolly friar was adorning a bar.