Saturday, May 23
This was to be our final day in the UK, and we had planned to spend a good part of it at the Cathedral. Dan and I were going to climb the tower as part of the tour, and Darlene would do something on the ground, as well as going for the tour.So after breakfast we walked down to the Cathedral, and got in for the tour (self-guided) of the building itself. It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have seen: wonderfully proportioned, completely intact, and with terrific acoustics. I had wanted to get there in time to see the sun coming through the east window, which is a modern window (1998, I think) dedicated to Prisoners of Conscience. It was wonderful, with the light coming through a dark blue window into the chapel. After looking around for some time, Dan and I signed up for the tower tour, and then we all went to lunch.One of the events of the Arts Festival was going to be a vespers service, with multiple choirs and two orchestras, to be held in the main part of the cathedral in the evening. Unfortunately, we had to leave town before that to get to Heathrow in time for our flight the next morning. But at least, we felt, we could get to see the tower.When Dan and I arrived for the tower tour, I heard music coming from inside the cathedral. Exciting, I thought, and entered into the main church. They were having their final rehearsal for the evening, and I got to hear about an hour of the concert (without paying, which made it even better!).The tour of the tower was a bit scary, and somewhat vertiginous. You get to go up into the attic of the church, then across it and up some narrow, steep stairs to an outside gallery which barely fit us, and dropped straight down onto the roof. Fortunately the weather was just fine that day.The tour took longer than expected (the guide was one of those windy Brits!), so we had to rush to get Dan to his train, then walked back to get ourselves to the bus for our trip to Heathrow.The next day was all about travel: bus to the airport, plane (again quite full) to Toronto, and my cousin Pam waiting there to drive us home. It was pleasant to arrive back home, after an eventful and fun time with our boys in Britain.
