Plymouth and London, Wednesday, June 19, 2024
The train ride from Plymouth to London passed by in a flash. Sue and I were sitting at a table, with a young couple from Plymouth across from us, a businessman across the aisle from me, and a middle aged woman across the street aisle from the couple. The couple were on their way to Zanzibar for their honeymoon; the businessman was exceptionally amiable; and the woman was an expat who had lived all over Africa. Conversational ranged from travel to the outdoors, the state of Britain to the US elections. All journeys should be so interesting!
The entire Coasters team met up again at Paddington and we headed for our cheapo hotel for the night, the Premier Inn Paddington Basin. The hotel reminded me of flying on Norse Airways; right down to the lack of water (on the plane or in the room), it was absolutely minimalistic. But since we planned to spend almost no time there, it was fine.
We had all grabbed a small bite at Plymouth station, and we were starved. We hopped on the 23 bus, which ran down Edgeware Road, past Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner on Park Lane, and up Picadilly, where we hopped off in order to dive into Soho. We were about to get a table at one of the first Chinese joints we say, but decided to go a bit further, and hit the jackpot. Viet Food was terrific; we shared spring and summer rolls and each had a tray with a curry or stir fry. Really delicious.
Our West End walk took us to St. Martin in the Fields, along St. Martin’s Lane and on to the Covent Garden Covered Market. We all wanted to hear Evensong; David and Patti wanted a shorter day, and returned to St. Martin’s for a 4 PM service, while the rest of us walked down the Strand and Fleet Street toward St. Paul’s. I got excited when the door to the alleyway that leads to the Temple Church was open. We rushed down, only to miss getting inside by one minute…a replay of our experience with Gary and Cindy many years before when the door of the museum in Colmar, Alsace, closed in our faces as we ran up the steps.
The Temple Church was consecrated in 1185 as the English Headquarters of the Knights Templar; an unusual round church, it contains a remarkable series of effigies of knights…none of which we were able to see.
We were now old pros at Evensong at St. Paul’s, and knew where to sit in order to get a seat in the Quire alongside the choristers. It was a lovely service, though opinions were divided on a modern Magnificat.
During the service I received an alert from our favorite airline informing me that our flight tomorrow was delayed by a mere eight hours. We changed flights on the fly and plunged into the tube for our return to the hotel.
Dinner was at Assaggi, an Italian place in Notting Hill, where the crew was augmented by our friend Andrew D. Good food and good company, and lots of Sardinian wine.