Day 77: London

Today we went to Solemn Mass at Westminster Cathedral here in London. The Mass was said in English with Latin propers and ordinaries. The Cathedral was very beautiful, you can look up some of the music from their choir on youtube - I highly recommend it! Their choir sounds gorgeous! They played a Bach Prelude in Eb major at the end of Mass. I ran into Hannah briefly at the cathedral, but we had to run to get to the British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta Stone!  I got a postcard of Raphael's Virgin and Child (which was originally there, I guess, but now its at the National Gallery), and I also got a mug with some Persian poetry on it. It was much bigger than I thought it was going to be! After the museum we went to Vespers at the Brompton Oratory. They sang Vespers according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and had Benediction afterwards. The Brompton Oratory was one of my favorite churches, I think. It was a modest Baroque church. When we first entered the church, the air was misty from the incense from Sunday Mass. The music was, again, very beautiful. The organist played Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E Minor "The Cathedral" afterwards, one of my favorite Bach pieces. My organ professor went to both the Cathedral and the Oratory when he lived here in London, and had recommended both of them to me. He used to practice on the organ at the oratory, so it was cool to hear it. After Vespers we went back to the cathedral for a half-hour organ concert. The organist played Buxtehude, Bach, and a more modern composer. They have one of the best organs in the country, so I enjoyed hearing it. We went to a bar and grill for dinner, where two of us got fish and chips. I got a sandwich and a cider, which was pretty good.
I also got a pipe today for really cheap. It's very plain, small, but hand-carved - and since I probably won't use it, it serves its purpose. ;-) We're off to Oxford tomorrow, than we have to travel back to London to take our ferry to Dublin, Ireland. We will be traveling on the ferry overnight. It's going to be a long, crazy day tomorrow, so pray for us!