We started the day with a tube ride to South Kensington, where we got on a hop on hop off tour bus. While looking for the bus stop, we found a farmer's market and tried the best blue cheese I can remember eating - but we didn't buy it because we were just starting the day and thought refrigeration might be important. Pierce also had a burger (which was kind of a funny second breakfast), and then we found the bus.
We rode around maybe half of its first route, and hopped off the bus at St. Paul's Cathedral. I had wanted to visit it in the evening, because they have music at 5pm, but since we were passing by we went to visit.
It's huge and gorgeous.
When we went in, it was perfect because there was music! They were having a service (unfortunately I think it was a military funeral) with this HUGE organ, singing, and then at the end there was a brass band! It was awesome. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside.
Next we climbed the dome. It's 365' high, and 528 steps. We went up and up and up and up, and that was to the first level.
Then we went up a couple hundred more steps, which was interesting because they have obviously expanded the dome - we were climbing inside the current dome but there was another dome inside it. Anyway the view from the top was amazing!
Then we went back inside and sat down for their service. It was interesting. I was hoping for more music, but this was a spoken service. It was dramatic, and in this absolutely gorgeous building with gilded ceilings, and the priest wore very dramatic robes. But I just kept looking around at all the glitter and wealth and thinking about Jesus, teaching humble people by the side of the lake. It seems a little incongruous. But I did enjoy it, especially sitting down. There were also crypts in the basement, which we enjoyed, and I broke the rules and took this picture of Lord Nelson's crypt because of one of my favorite lines ever:
"terminated in the moment of victory by a glorious death". I need to find some reasons to use this.
And as long as I was breaking the rules to take pictures of the monument, I went ahead and took a picture of the ceiling too.
(And, can I add, the Chinese tourists were taking pictures all over the place all the time, so mine was hardly the only illicit picture taken.)
From the top of the dome we'd seen an interesting looking bridge, so we went off on foot through these very very charming streets.
We loved this living wall. There were a few of these, another one in Paris.
Looking back at St. Paul's from the bridge.
Crossing the Thames.
Right across the bridge was Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We got tickets for a tour and before it started we watched a sword demonstration, then got to hold the swords.
The theater is new, but constructed according to the original plans (I think it's at least pretty close). The original location was farther away from the river, but they couldn't build there because there was another historic building built at that exact spot after Shakespeare's time. It was interesting to see. We weren't allowed to take pictures because the actors were rehearsing. (I got in trouble for taking this one, but as you can see I'm not violating copyright because their faces aren't even visible.)
Then back to walking. We wove around the busy streets, finding the Borough Market, which was super super cool. We bought some food and kept walking because we really wanted to see the Tower Bridge. Finally we found it!
The view from the bridge. We didn't go up in the high bridge - Pierce wasn't so inclined and all of us had some pretty sore feet by this time.
On the other side of the bridge is the Tower of London, which is a GREAT national park, but it was going to close soon so we put it off until the next day.
At this point we split up, and Matt and the girls went off to see the Bodies of London exhibit, and Pierce and I went to see the Churchill War room museum. We all enjoyed our choices. The War Room is a museum put in the bunkers where Churchill lived and worked during the war - it was very well done. (But I don't think we were supposed to take pictures, or anyway I didn't take any.)
Pierce and I had a plan to go look for show tickets in Leicester Square, but we got distracted by St. James's Park on the way, and decided to stick around and see the park instead.
It was so beautiful! A huge park - you would never know that the busy London streets were just half a block away.
While walking by the lake, we saw a sign that has my other favorite line from the trip. It explained that this lake houses pelicans gifted from Russia, and how the "diplomatic exchange of pelicans" began.
Walking, walking, walking. It's a beautiful park!
At the end of it is Buckingham Palace. We went to see whatever we could see (which was just the front gates).
The gates are very gilded.
Lots of people, but we didn't see the queen. There are tours of Buckingham Palace, but only in the summer months when the queen is not in residence. So we just hung about outside the gates, like everyone else.
We sat down by the fountain to look for a restaurant, and found another great fish & chips dinner that we all took the tube and met at.
Zoe really wanted to see the Eye at night, so we went back over to see that. There was also a street performer magician guy (lots of talk, not too much magic) and the Eye was very pretty. Night came late so we had to wait past 9:30 to see the lights.
Our subway line passed the stop for the Tardis, so we hopped out at Earl's Court and took a couple of pictures in front of the Tardis (unfortunately it was locked, so we couldn't tell if it was bigger on the inside). We collapsed into bed when we finally got back to Acton Towne.
Mattie's fitbit logged 18,171 steps. It felt like more.
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