The interior of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

I am back for a special occasion edition of The Itinerant Chorister, after traveling to London over Thanksgiving. Although I didn't participate in singing with a choir, I attended the Thanksgiving Day Service for the American Community in London at St. Paul's Cathedral.

It seems like Thanksgiving is a bittersweet time for Americans living abroad, but they had an interesting, large gathering that included the ambassador from the U.S. to the U.K. I was very surprised at what they did with the U.S. flag during the service. My experience at nearby Southwark Cathedral, where I had planned to actually sing in a choir, was less positive.

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Brent Lofgren is an Ann Arbor scientist who, now only occasionally, writes about singing as a guest member of various church choirs. He can be reached at itinchor_at_gmail_dot_com.