Thanksgiving Day In London

I had originally thought I'd be working this Thanksgiving but for various reasons I got rid of my trip yesterday. So I decide to go up to London and do something I've always wanted to do. There is an American Thanksgiving service at St Paul's every year and I've never been so this was the year to go! 2016 is the 58th year that this service has been held at St Paul's and the two American/international churches in London and Surrey run most of the service. The Cathedral was packed with about 2000 people.

Afterwards many of us visited the American Memorial Chapel in the cathedral, created after WW2. There is a book with all the names of all 28,000 American servicemen who died while based here in the war and the case is opened daily to turn one page. There are three stained glass windows with the emblems of all the US states represented. It was all very moving. One of the guides was so informative and he mentioned that he had written a book about the relationship between the American people and the Catbedral. It was obvious how much he loves us! I bought the book afterwards and will enjoy reading it.

After the service we were able to look at the rest of the cathedral. It had been many years since I've been there so I enjoyed that - and no entrance fee! After a delicious lunch at Wagamama I walked across Millinium bridge (see extra photo for a good view) and browsed a bit at the Christmas market in front of the Tate Modern. It started to get very cold but I enjoyed some warming gluhwein as I browsed.

I loved the view of the skyline, the bridges and the river once the sun had gone down. Perhaps not the best quality picture, but I'm actually quite surprised I got anything decent in that light with just my iPhone!

This view is looking east towards Southwark bridge with Tower Bridge in the distance and The Shard to the south.