Friday in London

Dear Pia, this morning we went to the political heart of the town again and visited one of the nation's biggest treasuries, Westminster Abbey. To me, this is still a very interesting place to go as I always discover something new but perhaps this is no real surprise at a place containing reminders of such an immense wealth of history ... I had the impression that my fascination was at least partly shared by your fellows but they were, of course, also looking forward to enjoying a lot of free time during the rest of the day as this morning visit to the Abbey was the only activity we had scheduled for the whole course.
As the weather was brilliant and really warm I decided to visit a white spot on my map of London, Alexandra Palace. Though the palace itself wasn't very impressive the view over London from the nice pub meant sufficient compensation. So, I relaxed in the sunshine and took some leave from the hustle and bustle of the city ...
As Evensong at St. Pauls had been a bit of a disappointment yesterday, I decided to pay Westminster Abbey another visit to take part in the service there. To my surprise, a special service was held to commemorate the murder of Martin Luther King 40 years ago. So I experienced another unusual Evensong as e.g. a rabbi was preaching, gospel choirs made the church reverberate with joy and sorrow and even the American embassador took part in the ceremony. I was deeply moved and it took me some time to get used to London's ordinary routine afterwards ...
In the evening many Luxemburgians met at our favourite pub for a jolly evening with a lot of chatting and lots of photographs. For two courses, this was their farewell evening, so we were very happy to stay for a bit longer ...