It felt a bit strange leaving South Island. It's a beautiful ferry trip down Queen Charlotte Sound before you cross Cook Strait and it felt like I was saying goodbye to something beautiful and irreplaceable. Part of the trip was over and a new chapter was beginning.
Arriving in Wellington convinced me that this is the way to enter a city for the first time. Maybe it's because you see it in the context of its natural surroundings especially since most older cities are where they are because of their harbors and other relevant geography. In any case I was in Wellington for a week to see the National Museum and check out the other sights in the Capitol. I took a tour of the parliament building, saw the museum and rode the cog railroad to the top of the hill to see the Botanic Gardens on the walk down. The two that I found the most interesting were two St Pauls Cathedrals.
During Easter time the city is a ghost town. Nice in some ways, boring in others. So just for something to do I went to the Choral Evensong at St Pauls Cathedral since it sounded more like a musical event that a church service. It ended up being a full communion service but featured some of the best choral singing I've ever heard. At the end of it all the organist just went off. I don't know where he was trying to take us but this was his big chance to show off his ability.
The other St Pauls was old St Pauls. I'm not sure why they needed a new one since this one felt so warm and welcoming inside compared to the sterile aloofness of the newer building. Built of local woods back when you could do that sort of thing I was surprised to see the flag of the US Marine Corps hanging prominently in the sanctuary. It turns out that during WWII the Marines based in Wellington adopted St Pauls as their home church and created quite a bond with the congregation which even the ruffled feathers over the Vietnam and Iraq Wars had not diminished.