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Posted July 2025My husband and I recently returned from a fifteen-day Viking Cruise from Barcelona to Reykjavik. Yes, we'll be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while. But first things first. For those of you who wanted a full and complete report as soon as I got home, here it is:
It was great.
No, seriously, we had a wonderful time. Those folks are professional. All we had to do was to get to Atlanta and back, and they took it from there, including picking us up at the airport in Barcelona and dropping us off at the airport in Reykjavik, well, actually Keflavik. Who puts an airport thirty miles outside town?1 The food on the boat was tasty, and service was impeccable. The experience was, however, a vivid reminder of why you should travel while you're still ambulatory. The only serious injury we saw was when a lady tripped over a misplaced walker and face-planted on the sidewalk.
The cruise is not exactly the subject of this article, though; instead, it's churches. The buildings, that is. I've visited many in the U.S, and, of course, you can't tour Europe without seeing lots of churches. Big churches; little churches; fabulously beautiful churches and butt-ugly ones.
I have a friend from the U.K. who, on her first visit to Mississippi, was “amazed at how religious you are.” “Why do you say that?” “Mississippi is full of churches!” “Isn't Britain full of churches, too?” “But you go to yours!” She's got a point. Christianity seems to be taking a nosedive in the United Kingdom, even faster than in the States, especially when compared to Islam or no religion at all. London's Daily Mail estimates that over 3500 “Christian worship centers have been shut and repurposed into mosques, nightclubs and homes . . . in the last ten years."2 As a result, I can understand the pastors who have decided to try to buck the trend and make their churches more attractive by offering more in the way of services. This church in Seattle may have gone a bit overboard:
I once teased a Methodist friend by noting that no one ever comes back from Europe with pictures of Protestant churches. But I was totally wrong. Liverpool might have been our favorite port, and our tour guide was lively, proud of his city, and funny as hell. He promised to show us both Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral, as well as its Anglican Cathedral, which are both on the same street. The Catholic church was first:
Remember what I said about butt-ugly churches? Here it is: Our Lady of the Cell Phone Towers. Just kidding, that's the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King.
Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King
Liverpool Cathedral of the Church of England
I was so disappointed, I couldn't even get out of the bus; my husband had to take that picture. A couple of blocks down the road was the Liverpool Cathedral of the Church of England.
Not fair; this church is much prettier! Of course, I confronted the tour guide and asked if this was some sort of Cromwell thing? Is it mandated that the Catholic churches are so ugly? He admitted to never having heard it put that way before, and I let him know that we were still bitter. We had a good laugh and a big hug over it, and I don't believe there was any international incident. I'm waiting to see if there will be any word from the authorities.
The Gothic features make the church look like it might have been built at the same time as Notre Dame. Not so; the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool was built entirely within the twentieth century. If you look more closely at the interior of the church, you will notice that there are no pews. Another guy asked about that, and our tour Guide said that it was intentional, so that it could be rearranged as an event space. Huh?
Look again, and you can see a stage set up in front of the altar, complete with drums and an acoustic guitar. A youth service? No, it was set up for the David tribute band that was going to play that night. Actually, the Cathedral is the perfect place for a rock concert, since it also houses the Welsford Bistro and Restaurant, where you can get a casual meal, along with Welsford's Lager or IPA, red, white or rosé wine, or a prosecco. And in case you feel that you're overdressed for drinking beer, the gift shop next to the Bistro sells Beatles t-shirts. Finally, as the tour was ending, someone else asked about the dogs milling about with their owners. It seems that, under the guise of having something for everyone, dog walking in the church is encouraged.
So, I have to admit that the church building is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and, according to the schedule, has a Eucharist service every Sunday. Still, I wonder what Jesus would have said about this spiritual Buc-ees. Would he demolish the stage, turn the tables over in the Bistro, or break all of those Beatles teapots? Or would he just be happy to see average folks in his house. My guess (as long as it's not Sunday) is that he'd grab a beer, sit in a folding chair, and enjoy the friendly people. And the dogs, of course.
