Off with her head!

View of London from the top of St. Paul's



After a great night’s sleep (in a bed that is quite unusual), we are off for our first real day as a tourist. We have purchased a one week subway pass (the Tube, Metro or Underground), so off we go. Maridee navigated the trains to get us to the Tower of London—our first visit. We had to get one train and transfer to another. But we got there, first try! So the Tower of London seems mostly like a prison. It has rooms full of weapons like spears, guns, and cannons and an armory with all the armor worn by royalty as well as their horses. There are prisons, execution plazas, and residences for royalty as well as residences for their entourage from 1050 A.D. Of course today they also house the famous Crown Jewels (worn by QE2 today). They have lots of crowns, coronation regalia like spoons, chalices, platters, and the largest punch bowl I’ve ever seen, all made out of gold. There were lots of famous executions. It was interesting, in the prisons, there was a graffiti wall that was covered with carvings made by various royals who found themselves in there. They would always carve their name along with some other “last words”. (A toy in the gift shop was a movable executioner who either beheaded the toy or didn’t. You got to decide. I thought it was too gruesome to send to the grandsons though I am sure they would have loved putting it together and then watching the head come off when they said “off with her head!”)

Afterwards, we grabbed a quick lunch “take away” and decided to ride the Tube over to St. Paul’s Cathedral (two transfers this time!). As we walked up, there was a wedding going in a side door. Can you imagine reserving St. Paul’s for a wedding! This is the place where Prince Charles and Dianna were married. New author: Ok, St. Paul’s is incredible and it will be impossible to tell you all about it. It houses the tombs of so many famous Brits, John Donne, Duke of Wellington (who took down Napoleon), Florence Nightingale, Generals and military heroes, and Christopher Wren, the builder of this exquisite cathedral. We walked up the same nave that Diana and Charles walked. I suppose the most impressive of all is that during WWII this church was bombed over and over but was never taken down completely. It stood strong while the area around it was completely flattened. They say that the bombs seemed to bounce off of it. Jim got the energetic idea of climbing up to the very top of the 3 domes!!! 530 stairs no lift. So off we go. I soon realized that this must be like climbing out of the Grand Canyon so I packed Jim’s backpack with the extras I was carrying (much like a mule pack). This was his great idea so let him suffer! The first stop was Whisper Gallery at the base of the Dome. This was 10 stories high. A beautiful view as is looks over the nave and choir of the cathedral. I was hoping Jim would stop there but he said let’s go the rest of the way. Well let me tell you, this was winding staircases, narrow stairs, up and up and up. The second dome was even more beautiful and it let us out on the outside, the top of the 1st dome, and it overlooked the city. By then I knew we would have to go to the very top. I was just about ready to give up and a nice Anglican priest was there telling me that there were only 11 more stairs to go!!!!!! I could do it. The view was incredible from the top. Well worth the 530 stairs up and 530 down.

I figured that with all the stairs we climbed today we had to have climbed at least 1500. I guess the 50+ stairs to our apt in Paris won’t be so bad after all. By this time, both Jim and I were ready to go back to the hotel to lie down and rest our weary calves and thighs. Of course all this exercise called for a piece of chocolate cake. A great way to finish the day!
London is the most interesting place. The mixture of people is daunting. Truly the Anglos are not in majority at all. It is really a melting pot of so many cultures and people. We find them all very helpful and though they speak English we still have a hard time understanding them! And you have to remember to walk on the left- going up stairs is on the left, going down stairs is on the left. On the sidewalk it’s on the left, and we have a hard time remembering that. Don’t know how many people we have cut off. Hopefully we will learn after 10 days. Print this post