Week 1 in London, Part 2

Continued . . .

Thursday: I taught again, this time only from 8:30 to 11:30, then headed home utterly exhausted. (Although that morning, even though I still had work to do on my lectures, I woke at 6 AM!) On the way I passed a farmers' market, held every Thursday on the University of London grounds, so I bought my lunch there--a nice baguette with brie and cranberries, and a chocolate ice cream cone (yum!). I also bought a loaf of rustic wheat bread that I've been eating all week with a slab of very crumbly super aged cheddar.

Friday: Our first day trip. We all met at Gazzano at 7:15 AM, where we boarded a bus and headed out to Stonehenge. The students were very excited, and the travel fairies must have been busy last night, because it was slightly misty and there were huge ravens flying around the site and pecking at moss on the tops of the stones.

Welcome to Stonehenge (caw!)

Here are two more of my students, Kelsey and Laura, posing in front of Stonehenge.

Our next stop was Glastonbury, to see the Abbey and climb the Tor. We got there about an hour late due to slow traffic. We had to wend our way through 70,000 campers who had come to Glastonbury for the annual rock festival (as in rock music). I'm guessing they picked Glastonbury because it has become a New Age pilgrimage site, for mystics and earth-friendly types.

New Age Soul Rejuvenation

They don't specify what they grow at Bag End, but I suspect it was what some of the visitors were smoking on top of the Tor.

Actually, a chocolate love temple sounds pretty good to me.

John Cowper Powys wrote in 1933, "There are only about half a dozen reservoirs of world-magic on the whole surface of the globe--Jerusalem . . . Rome . . . Mecca . . . Lhassa . . . and of these Glastonbury has the largest residue of unused power." A more skeptical archaeologist said in 1991 that Glastonbury was the "mecca of all irrationality." While he was certainly commenting on the recent New Age vogue of Glastonbury, he's also undoubtedly referring to two older stories associated with the Abbey. One is that it was founded by Joseph of Arimathea, who came to Glastonbury when the Tor (a 500-foot hill looming over the town) was an island. He planted his staff in the earth and it flowered, becoming the "holy thorn" which bloomed every Christmas (until Protestant reformers rooted it up and chopped it in pieces as a popish relic). He also founded a church at Glastonbury, the first of four or five churches on the spot, and from there he and 12 disciples spread Christianity in England from about 60 AD onward. The second story is that the Tor (remember, it was once surrounded by water--something confirmed by archaeological excavations) was the Isle of Avalon, and that Arthur and Guenevere came there to die. Monks in 1191, on the prompting of King Henry II, dug in the grounds and discovered a grave with two bodies. One had long golden hair that crumbled to dust when touched. Beneath the bodies was a cross inscribed with words claiming this was the burial place of Arthur and Guenevere. News of that discovery, on the heels of the King Arthur story enjoying its first English bestseller status, brought thousands of pilgrims to Glastonbury, along with their money, which enabled the monks to rebuild the church, which had burned down in 1184.

Here are some pictures of the Abbey. Like other church buildings in England, it took a hit during the reign of Henry VIII, after he dissolved the monasteries, seized their wealth, and gave or sold their lands and buildings to favored followers. Much of the church was destroyed, but the small chapel known as "St. Joseph's chapel," associated with Joseph of Arimathea, was valued by both Catholics and Protestants and was largely preserved.

St. Joseph's Chapel at Glastonbury

Our living history guide, Alyce, with Jacob Cardinal

This is our living history guide, Alyce. She was fabulous. She dressed one of our students, Jacob Roman Cardinal (how's that for a Mormon name?) in a monk's outfit and informed him he had taken a vow of perpetual durance, so the rest of us were free to go, but he would have to remain at Glastonbury forever.

St. Joseph's Chapel plaque telling the Somerset Tradition

A plaque in St. Joseph's Chapel tells about the "Somerset tradition" of Joseph of Arimathea--and even of Christ himself--establishing the Christian Church in England. There's not much evidence for it, but it seems like the myth must have come from somewhere. I do know that God loves all his children, and that it would certainly make sense for Christ to visit his "lost sheep" here as well as other places. The story continues to resonate with English people, whose national hymn is "Jerusalem" (from Blake's poem), which invokes the story that Christ came here in ancient times. Every year at the end of the "Proms", a month-long musical festival in London, the closing night's audience stands and sings "Jerusalem." I love the fervor with which they do it here, from the 2011 Proms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9Ww3rmT7I

After our tour of the Abbey, Alyce suggested we visit the still-intact Abbot's kitchen, and asked if we had any singers in our group, because the kitchen had marvelous acoustics. We did have one soloist, and she agreed to sing for us--"And this is my Beloved," from Kismet. 

Jessica Frazier singing a solo from Kismet

Alyce was right: the acoustics were amazing. So we decided to sing some hymns: "The Spirit of God," "America the Beautiful" (we figured that, since it is set to the tune of "God Save the King," it was OK), "Abide with Me," and "I Need Thee Every Hour." It was glorious.

We only had 45 minutes before we had to leave, so we did a mad dash through the town and up the slopes of the Tor. There was a stunning panorama on top, and gale force winds!

The Tor at Glastonbury

Me at the top

Our students at the top

Our next stop was Bath, to see . . . wait for it . . . the (Roman) baths. Mike and I went there ten years ago. It was interesting, but it has been utterly transformed since then, with a multimedia walk-through, more excavation, and headsets for everyone going through with commentary geared to either adults or children, plus occasional reflections by Bill Bryson, a transplanted American who has become a "cultural ambassador" for England. It was very informative, and I took lots of slides for future use (next time I teach Study Abroad in London, I mean!)

Roman Baths at Bath

I also visited the Bath Abbey, which was lovely.  See the fan vaulting on the ceiling?

Whimsical angels above the choir stall at Bath Abbey

But my favorite thing in the cathedral was modern: a series of diptychs, one side calligraphy and illustration, the other side textile artwork, of the Savior's life. It was stunning.

Diptychs on display at Bath Abbey

Overlooking the front of the cathedral is a statue of Henry VII, who defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485 and was the monarch in power when the Abbey was built.

Henry VII statue at the front of Bath Abbey

Getting out of Bath took about an hour--very crowded, and we didn't reach our flats in London until nearly 9 PM (yawn!). I spent much of Saturday getting organized after my crazy week. Today was my first day at our assigned ward. (A former stake president, George Chittock, distributes all the BYU students where they are needed.  Pianists are particularly in demand, as many of the wards are made up of immigrants from Africa and southeast Asia who don't have a tradition of piano lessons in their cultures.) Our ward, the Mitchum ward, meets late, from 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon, and they were very happy to see us. Kaylee Pence was immediately recruited to play the piano for sacrament meeting, and afterwards Kaylee, Jordan Rippy, and I were taken to Primary, where I taught the kids how to sing one of the songs for their upcoming Primary Program, Kaylee played the piano, and Jordan rode herd.  All of us were assigned lessons to teach in primary next week. All of the members of the bishopric were Africans, as was most of the ward, from Ghana mostly, but some from Uganda and Kenya. The primary president was a new convert from Uganda, and she was fabulous, taking the kids' rowdiness in stride and reminding them "no one is perfect" as she urged them to try again. It was lovely, and I look forward to spending more time there.

Sorry for the very long post!