Bath Organ

I forgot to mention something special that we did when we arrived in Bath. Just before we were about to leave, I noticed a nice lady in religious vestments standing at the now open door to Bath Abbey. Seizing the opportunity, I went right up and asked her what was happening. As it turned out, there was a pipe organ concert starting in just five minutes. I quickly grabbed the family and paid the nice lady for four tickets. My girls did not resist because they knew that that the pipe organ is my all-time favorite instrument, both for its complexity range of sounds. And it’s always been my dream to hear a pipe organ played in a real cathedral. This was my chance.

The concert lasted for 90 minutes and the famous organist even played a couple of familiar tunes. I was so moved I cried. My girls thought that was silly but I did and I freely admit it. As I was sitting in this grand space, I soaked in all the details of the Abbey. The stained glass windows were just vibrant with color. The stone and woodcarvings were incredibly detailed and all told a story. I looked to my left and both girls were asleep. To my right Sheri was nodding “yes” quite frequently. She, too, was dozing off. I didn’t care. I was in Heaven.

Immediately after the concert was finished the organist walked directly to us. “How did you enjoy it?” he asked. Looking directly at the girls he said, “You’re the youngest people here. Did you enjoy it?” They lied and said, “Yes. Very much.” We talked a bit more then decided that since we were inside, we’d take a look around. All the old people milled about and we started on our self-guided tour. Then a nice old lady came over to us and we had a lovely conversation. Just when it was getting interesting another old lady appeared and politely said, “Do you mind leaving right now, please?” In the U.S. that would have been very rude but since she had a British accent, it seemed like she was being polite.

We walked back to our car. We entered the name of our hotel into the brains of TomTom. The soothing British female accent led us to Bristol in the rain. It would be a soothing, rest-filled British evening.