Evensong At St. Pauls

After Covent Garden, we headed a few tube stops away to attend Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's is Christopher Wren's amazing architectural contribution to London after the original cathedral was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666. A cathedral has stood on the site since 1604. The dome of the cathedral is the biggest in the world after St. Peter's in Rome and the interior is lavishly decorated with beautiful mosaic ceilings and wood carvings. The enormous pipe organ filled the space with sound as did the 30-or-so member choir of men and boys. Despite that, Olivia dismissed it as "too fancy" while Cecily complained that the high-pitched voices of the young choristers "hurt her ears." Meredith promptly fell asleep and told us it is her practice to sleep in church the better to be able to stay up later at night. All the girls were angels, however, when we were stopped by the dean of the cathedral on our way out who wanted to visit with us. This happens frequently, and I'm never sure if we stand out as Americans or if the clergy are simply amazed to see little children at an evensong event. I suspect it is the latter. Anyway, it is a rare chance to visit with some very nice people