Last of three parts
The second part is available at thevoice.us/absorbing-a-european-trip-in-1979-paris-vienna-bonn
My 11-year-old daughter, Suzanne, and I, arrive in Wimbledon, United Kingdom, almost three months since we left America, and enjoy accommodations at a bed and breakfast home. We took the train into London many times. Enjoyed Westminster Cathedral and seeing High Tea at The Ritz. A minister of Parliament had been brutally assassinated in a bomb blast of his car just outside the Cathedral. The London police were everywhere in 1979 which wads at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The days are cool and clear.
We spent some enjoyable time doing brass rubbings at the Cathedral. We were guests in the House of Lords Strangers’ Gallery when the ministers spoke on the question of activities for the International Year of the Child. Later we attended the Westminster Abbey evening service and listened to the choir. We ate large oranges in Trafalgar Square.
In 1850 Pope Pius IX re-established in England the normal forms of Church government, which had been over-thrown by the Reformation. The newly-elected Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Wiseman, found himself without any church which could be used permanently as a Cathedral.
His successor, Cardinal Manning, bought the site on which the Cathedral stands. Built in the early Christian Byzantine type of architecture, it required 12.5 Million hand-made bricks to construct. The High Altar is a solid 12-ton block of Cornish granite, uncarved and undecorated, except for the five small crosses cut on its upper surface which mark its consecration.
There is a fine bronze of St. Theresa of Lisieux modelled by Giacomo Manzu and a remarkable alabaster statue of Our Lady and Child that is enshrined in the nave beneath the 13th Station of the Cross. We are aware of the great historical significance of this Cathedral, its majesty and eloquence.
It is the ambience inside a cathedral that gives the building its soul. The body of the cathedral is what the architects build. Antiquity, yet perpetual youth, form a union in the cathedrals of Europe. They are temples of great mystery. Their high traceries windows, objects of art, beauty, and silence all invite us to think about the past.
Glory, Glory, Alleluia! The cathedrals are extraordinary spiritual temples. Pillars round catch the aroma of incense. The faithful come and depart.
It is almost time for Homecoming.
The memories made allow this fulfilled pair of adventurers to have life-long joy and to reflect on the marvels of travel. I recall being on the train with our Eurilpass to London, and Suzie was nowhere to be found. I asked the conductor if he had seen a blonde little girl and he replied that she was in the next car. But that car, he continued, was going on to Scotland. I raced to the car, found her and escorted her back to our car and told her in no uncertain terms, that she was not to leave my side, ever again because she would have ended up in Scotland when I would have been in London with both passports. She didn’t think it was any big deal and she would have handled it! Kids!
I remember being in Copenhagan, Denmark and Suzie was ill. Terrified, I asked the hotel manager if there was a doctor available. Not just now, but there was one a few blocks away, he said. The symptoms seemed to be a 24-hour bug. I waited until morning when she was much better and she even went downstairs for breakfast, but that was rather scary. My family called us by telephone at the hotel, but was told we were not guests there! My guess is that someone looked for Higgins, instead of Fredell Higgins.
So the stay-at-home directive brought me to these journal entries and to relive such a remarkable journey. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have in remembering it once again.