Ruth and Joe flanking a Yeomen Warder at the Tower of London
We flew to London for the weekend to celebrate Joe's 60th birthday, paying to stay with friends of friends and leaving as good friends...
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We got to sit together (the last two seats on the plane), and got great service from a wonderful crew as we flew overnight on May 21st, Thursday, arriving on Friday, the 22nd. We were so glad Mrs. Lee met us at London Gatwick and was waiting to take us home with her!
She fixed us a big breakfast and drove us to Dover, where we toured the castle, and then ate a picnic lunch she had prepared for us so we could go non-stop to the next destination, to Canterbury, where we attended the 5:30 evensong at the Cathedral with boys' voices (from Westminster Cathedral), and stayed afterwards to hear a 6:15 p.m. organ meditation (Olivier Messiaen L'Ascension - Quire).
Mrs. Lee fixed us a great supper that night—and every night—of our entire visit, also breakfasts! We loved getting to know her and her wonderful and welcoming family, who did everything to make our stay filled with the best of memories; we'll treasure them always. Mrs. Lee said to call her Misun, and we came to know her whole family on a friendly first-name basis.
The next morning after we filled up on a delicious breakfast, Misun drove us to the train station. We bought day passes for Saturday and Sunday, and for the next two days criss-crossed the city by train, subway, double-decker bus, and foot, to major tourist destinations: changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, St. James's Park (where we snacked, lounging in lawn chairs), took a walking tour of the British Museum (buy one, get one free, courtesy of our rail passes); Holy Communion at St. Paul's (then we went outside and down the stairs of the Gothic Cathedral that has dominated the London skyline for 1,400 years to the Cathedral Crypt shop, where I bought Joe a birthday present, and we bought and ate a delicious lunch there, adjacent to the gift shop), Museum of London, and Tower of London.
Misun fixed us a fabulous supper for Joe's 60th birthday, complete with a marvelous family celebration eating ice cream cake! Early the next morning after preparing us another superb meal, she took us to the airport and bought us a box of Swiss chocolates. We got two seats together (on the last row of the plane), and enjoyed a lovely return flight over the Atlantic with great service by a wonderful crew.
Joe's 60th birthday visit to London portrayed in poetry:
Sixtieth birthday:
London holiday weekend,
Better than we planned.
Photos and Webpage: (of and by) Ruth and Joe.
