In that we have been to London many times after living in England for 3 years…..London is almost a 2nd home. This year we are staying at the Marble Arch Marriott….it is convenient to both bus and tube (metro) travel…and pretty close to most of the activity we are interested in.
We connected with Carrie and William in the morning and headed to Westminster Abbey for their ticketed tour. Over the years we have visited the Abbey several times, but usually only for the services, the music, and the organ. This year we took the Abbey tour and I will highly recommend it. It is a self guided tour with explanations on all that you can see…and that it a lot. The descriptions are in good detail, but then allows you to go into more background, add the organ music, etc….very well done. The Abbey itself is a history museum in its own way…..with hundreds of years of history both buried here and re-counted here. Just very well done, but takes a minimum of 2 hours…and then some if you want to visit the guest shop, etc….well worth the time.
We took a break and back to the hotel…with plans to join up at St Martins in the Field Church at Trafalgar Square at 6 PM for dinner in the Crypt, which is the restaurant under the main church, where they have set up a buffet restaurant….a rest area…a shop, and just a good spot to wait for the program or take a break after the program….and they have music programs all year round. We had tickets for their Christmas Carols program….and after a soup and sandwich dinner we went up to the concert at 7:30 PM. We had seats in the Nave, towards the back of the church, and although this is a good place to hear all…I prefer being upstairs, as you can look down on the orchestra, singers, etc. It was an excellent classical Christmas program…with a small chamber orchestra and then a violin soloist that was extremely good. A great 90 minute concert and both Carrie and William really enjoyed it.
We then caught the bus from Trafalgar back to the hotel…getting off a block away….a fun and full first day back in London.
More to come….