Christmas Eve in London
 

Is it possible to go to Christmas Eve services at St. Paul's or Westminster Abbey? Are they open to the public and what time do they start? Will cabs be available (or the tube) to return to one's hotel around midnight or later on Christmas eve?

Hi, found two neat webesites for you. www.LondonTown.com. I went in and clicked on attractions and a box comes up on the left and you type in what you want info on such as Westminster Abbey and it gave me the hours, days, phone, price etc. It said the royal chapel is closed Dec 25 and 26. Now I don't know if this still means there are services or now? ph (0171)222-5151, Black Taxes same area 289-4371. There is also a web wherein travel agents answer your questions and it is www.murrayontravel.com/agents. They will send you a newsletter on events/happenings in London via E mail. Neat! Love the internet! Good Luck!

Hi, found two neat webesites for you. www.LondonTown.com. I went in and clicked on attractions and a box comes up on the left and you type in what you want info on such as Westminster Abbey and it gave me the hours, days, phone, price etc. It said the royal chapel is closed Dec 25 and 26. Now I don't know if this still means there are services or now? ph (0171)222-5151, Black Taxes same area 289-4371. There is also a web wherein travel agents answer your questions and it is www.murrayontravel.com/agents. They will send you a newsletter on events/happenings in London via E mail. Neat! Love the internet! Good Luck!

Date: 10/28/1997 6:30 pm


Yes: all Christmas services in cathedrals, churches, and the Abbey are open to everybody. Fo good seats at major servicesd you should arrive thirty minutes early. But no, there are no busses or tubes from about tea-time on Christmas Eve, so you would need to walk. I'm not sure about taxis: I think they run, but are in heavy demand. If you'd like to tell me where your London hotel will be, I'll see whether a church within walking distance is mounting a service with good music.

Until teatime public transport does run, and throughout Advent there is especially good music in the cathedrals and churches of London. If all goes well, I hope to put onto the newsgroup rec.travel.europe about 2 December a note of such services and music. If you can't find the newsgroup please tell me, and I'll Email you a private copy.

I go to a fair amount of these events myself, and it is a special pleasure to sit with American, French, and other visitors who come to share what we enjoy. I only wish we could get you out to the suburban parish churches on Christmas morning, to hare our joy.

I look forward to your reply. I am [email protected].

Ben Haines

Date: 10/28/1997 6:30 pm


Yes: all Christmas services in cathedrals, churches, and the Abbey are open to everybody. Fo good seats at major servicesd you should arrive thirty minutes early. But no, there are no busses or tubes from about tea-time on Christmas Eve, so you would need to walk. I'm not sure about taxis: I think they run, but are in heavy demand. If you'd like to tell me where your London hotel will be, I'll see whether a church within walking distance is mounting a service with good music.

Until teatime public transport does run, and throughout Advent there is especially good music in the cathedrals and churches of London. If all goes well, I hope to put onto the newsgroup rec.travel.europe about 2 December a note of such services and music. If you can't find the newsgroup please tell me, and I'll Email you a private copy.

I go to a fair amount of these events myself, and it is a special pleasure to sit with American, French, and other visitors who come to share what we enjoy. I only wish we could get you out to the suburban parish churches on Christmas morning, to hare our joy.

I look forward to your reply. I am [email protected].

Ben Haines

Dear Ben,
I read your reply and thought you might be helpful to another traveler. My husband & I will be in London in mid November. Do you know of any Lutheran chuches in London or a good place for a tourist to worship on Sunday? Do you have any hotel or tourist recommendations? Is there an inespensive place that you recommend for eating? I'm not sure what to expect from British meals. When is tea time? Thank you for your interest. Becky

Certainly I know the Lutheran church, and I often go there for concerts and recitals at one o'clock on weekdays. The American Lutheran Church in London is at St Anne and St Agnes, on Gresham Street just north of St Paul's Cathedral. The phone number is 0171 373 5566. The building is seventeenth century and is by Christopher Wren: I think it one of his best. The Church of England has lent it on very long loan to the Lutherans. They often have recitals at 1.10pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, and on Sundays Choral Eucharist at eleven and choral vespers at seven. Their musical competence is high.

After that the city's your oyster. If you have time to pop into the City tourist office just south of St Paul's you can find a monthly free list of services, talks and music in the City, issued by the Diocese of London. You can look up services in the cathedrals and the Chapels Royal in the Saturday copies of the Times and the Independent. The most "touristy" service I know is at 11 15 am in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London. You turn up at the usual entrance at eleven, ask for free admission to go to the service, and get a beefeater's directions through the grey stone to the Norman chapel, where retired generals read the lessons, and they all end by singing the national anthem. Honestly.

But you ask about worship, not sightseeing. Well, at ten in the morning all over London Christians of many kinds start to praise God. Most of the churches are nineteenth century buildings. For my part, when in Germany or Transylvania I worship with Lutherans, the major church, and here in England you might well like to come and join the Anglicans at prayer. For one thing, we sing the hymns standing up: how the church that boasts Johann Sebastian Bach can sing sitting down I fail to understand. Your hotel ought to be able to tell you where the nearest Church of England church is. Some are a little dull, so if you'd like a lively, liberal, Anglican Eucharist you'd be very welcome with us. We offer the Bread and Wine to all adult members of Trinitarian churches. We've no incense, bells, impromptu prayer, nor Tudor English. We've many children, full use of lay people for all the tasks we can perform, a Zambian vicar, women priests, people of every skin colour known to God (and loved by Him), and coffee and biscuits after the service. Indeed, perhaps you'd do me the honour of coming to lunch (British -- roast leg of lamb, jam sponge) that Sunday: I live 200 yards from the church.

I'm little use to you on hotels, as I live here and never use them. For tourist recommendations could you kindly tell me of your professions, interests, and tastes ? I mean, we can offer early Tasmanian postage stamps, heavy rock from Ghana, and anything in between.

Why don't Americans use the good old word "cheap" ?
-- On Panton Street, just west of Leicester Square, are The Stockpot and Pierre Victoire.
-- On the south bank are several good spots. At the foot of Waterloo Bridge and to the right, is the self service restaurant of the National Film Theatre. At the foot of Blackfriars Bridge, and to the left, is the Founders Arms. Opposite London Bridge Station, in Borough Market, is the Market Porter (I think lunches only).
-- In Aldwych and Bloomsbury for lunch only there are good cheap places for academics, open to the public. Here is a note from my current list of free public lectures in London:
"Lunches with waitress service are served on weekdays from twelve until 12 December at the the dining room in the Norfolk Building, Surrey Street, Kings College (go upstairs to level one, through the union canteen, and down to the service dining room: suitable for Kings and LSE lectures), and the dining room of the School of Oriental and African Studies (go to basement level and the dining room is straight ahead: suitable for SOAS, SSEES and Institute of Education events). There's a good self-service restaurant at MacMillans, ground floor, Senate House (suitable for Senate House, SSEES, and the British Museum)."
To this you can add the normal self service student canteens of Kings College, the London School of Economics, the School of Oriental and African Studies, Birkbeck, and University College, but each is a bit of a bear garden.

If you're at a museum or two in South Kensington you might like the Daquise, five doors from the tube station. It's Polish, characterful, and cheap.

Tea time is four to five. Good tea rooms are still readily found in cathedral and other old towns in England, but not in London. The best I can think of is the front upper lounge of the Charing Cross Hotel, next to the station, with a view over the Strand. If you go there you might pop into the Betjeman restaurant, to enjoy its splendor. Also, at twenty pounds a head it serves historic British meals. The term "British meals" used to mean the sort of cooking in Mrs Beeton's book of household management (founded about 1890: I use the 1960 edition, with family improvements). You ask what you may expect from a British meal: I answer, the need for a short afternoon nap. But nowadays the Empire has come home, and we all eat from Bengal, Hong Kong, and the West Indies, as well as Italy and France. Then as to non- British, London has various forms of East European, Iberian, Maghrebi, West African, Middle Eastern, Jewish, Iranian, Far Eastern, Latin American, and so on. I'm afraid we no longer have any Scandinavian restaurant, and to my knowlege have never had an Inuit one.

I look forward to your next message. Welcome to London.

Ben Haines