IN DECEMBER 1996 our family traveled to England for Christmas - one of the few occasions that all four of our families have been able to get together. We took my mother-in-law, Betty, along with us. She had never been outside of North America and she will never forget that Christmas. We started our stay in London and spent a day walking to Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, the War Museum where Churchill bunkered down his headquarters during WWII, Westminister Abbey, The Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and Downing Street, ending up at Trafalgar Square where our son was deluged with pigeons. By then we had walked enough and hailed a taxi to take us to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.FOOTBALL
The next day my brother Gordon, with his wife and family of four met is in West London and we traveled together by Underground to watch Chelsea FC beat West Ham FC 2-0 at Chelsea FC's home field of Stamford Bridge. After a weekend with Gordon in Romford we drove up to Cambridge to stay with my sister, Adrienne and her family.
CAMBRIDGE
On Christmas Eve Betty and I opted to take a walking tour of Cambridge and we will never forget the experience. We showed up at the Tourist Information Office at 1:30 pm to discover that we are the only two for that day's tour. So we had our own private guide who led us around Cambridge. We visited many of the colleges including St. John's, Trinity, Caius, Magdalene, and others; we learned about the churches, including St. Mary's at the city center and The Round Church; we saw buildings dating back a thousand years; we crossed the River Cam and saw the Bridge of Sighs (modeled after a bridge in Venice). It was a chilly day with a fairly strong breeze requiring frequent wiping of noses and covering the tips of our ears. But it was a cloudless day and the western sun created beautiful lighting on the college buildings as we wandered along the Backs on the other side of the River Cam.
One building we really wanted to visit that day but were not permitted to was the Chapel of Kings College. Commissioned by King Henry VI in the fifteenth century it took over 100 years to build and is one of England's outstanding historic buildings. At 3:00 p.m. every Christmas Eve it hosts A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols which features the college choir and has been an annual event since 1918. The lessons and carols vary each year except for the first carol which is always Once in Royal David's City with the first verse a solo sung a capella by a young chorister. The BBC broadcasts the service around the world. As Betty and I walked along The Backs with our guide the setting sun lit the college chapel building beautifully and we observed the line of people waiting to be admitted to the service; some had perhaps been in line since 7:00 a.m. On later visits to Cambridge I have been able to enjoy the interior of the chapel, most recently in August 2007 when the picture above was taken.
Locally in Minneapolis A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols has been broadcast live by Minnesota Public Radio for 25 years at 99.5 FM at 9:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve and I have tried to listen to it every Christmas since that memorable visit to Cambridge.
The choir of Kings College Chapel will be touring the United States in 2008 and will sing at the Cathedral of St. Paul on April 8th.
rpk
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