Our first stop today was St Michael’s Church,
Cornhill. One of my favourite church composers, Harold Darke, was the organist there
for 50 years between 1916 and 1966 (with a brief break to deputise
for Boris Ord at King’s College during WWII). His “Communion Service
in F” is my favourite setting of the Communion Service. It is widely
accepted that the Cornhill Lunchtime Organ Recital series, begun by
Darke in 1916, is the longest-running lunchtime organ concert series
in the world. There have been only 16 organists of St Michael's
since 1684. Another famous one is William
Boyce who was there from 1736-1768.
The Pelican
The Lectern
Some of the floor tiles
The Sanctuary
Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist
The Sermon on the Mount
The Nativity
The Annunciation (detail of above)
The Three Kings speaking with Herod (detail of Nativity Window
above)
The Three Kings (detail of Nativity Window above)
Detail of
Nativity Window above
The Pulpit
The Symbol of St John (detail of above)
The
Symbol of St Mark (detail of
above)
The Symbol of St Matthew
(detail of above)
The Symbol of St Luke (detail
of above)
All the pews had carved poppyheads and each was different.
The Memorial of Harold Darke (The music is the beginning of
his carol "In the Bleak Midwinter")
We met a guy in a lift at Bank Station who told us to visit The
Royal Exchange and Leadenhall Market. Both buildings were worthy of
a visit. The Royal Exchange building was the inspiration for the
bank in “Mary Poppins” and the Leadenhall building was used as a
location in the "Harry Potter" films.
The Royal Exchange:
One of the proclamations concerning the new king was made from
the steps of this building
Interior of the Royal Exchange
Mansion House is
the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
Who needs the
mirrors at Luna Park when you can have the same fun in a
London Tube carriage?!
Our next visit was to “Sherlock: The Game is
Now”. This is basically an "escape room" in which one must
solve a series of puzzles in order to move from one room to the
next. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and other actors from
the BBC series "Sherlock" appeared in video clips to provide the
story and some hints. Satoshi and I were part of a team of five.
The other members of our team were a mother and two boys from
Israel. Despite working well together, we failed to complete our
mission within the hour time frame required. Nonetheless, it was
a fun and different experience. We were not permitted to take
photos during the actual game.
This was where we had to go for the
beginning of “Sherlock: The Game is Now”. It was a little
confusing at first, but the name gave it away fairly soon!
The waiting area is a bar set up to
look like it is in the Victorian era.
There was also a library...
...with some photos.
Dinner was at an Italian Restaurant
We then made our way to His Majesty's Theatre, via an Italian
restaurant, for a performance of "The Phantom of the Opera". This is
easily my favourite musical and I have seen it about 10 times over
the last 36 years. The production we saw was the original which, in
my opinion, has the best costumes and scenery. We could hear almost
every word, the singing and acting were excellent and the special
effects superb. The only negative was that the seating in the
theatre is very cramped and it was quite hot inside. Overall, it was
wonderful!