Last Day in the UK

St. Paul’s Cathedral, Last UK Day
XXIV BLOG Toto Travels
3 June, Friday

Up for a light breakfast and Mike went to the post office to get some boxes to mail our souvenirs home. We always seem to get a bit carried away with our purchases. Packed everything to mail and took the packages to the little post office. We were STUNNED at how much it cost to mail two packages home, well over $100. Yowser!
Fiona offered to call a taxi for us to go to Heathrow Saturday morning. We accepted her offer with relief! She has been so very helpful.

I asked Mike it if was okay if we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral today. In my 3 trips to London – all brief – St. Paul’s was one place that I had not been that was on my “most desirable” list. He said that was okay with him. So here we go on the tube again, avoiding rush hour and off toward St. Paul’s Cathedral.
We were both a bit impatient this morning and it always seems a bit confusing when we emerge from the underground. So I am peering at the map and Mike is yelling – at least it sounded like yelling to me – about where we needed to go. Sure enough, there is a sign that says “St Paul’s Cathedral” with an arrow. It usually makes me cranky when he is right! Sigh.

My first memory of St. Paul’s Cathedral is from the movie Mary Poppins when Julie Andrews romanticized feeding the birds on the steps of St. Paul’s. In reading and in watching movies about WWII, I learned about St. Paul’s becoming the symbol of resistance. During 57 nights of bombing, the cathedral was not destroyed because of the diligence of St. Paul’s volunteer fire watchmen who stayed on the dome to extinguish fires. Although there has been a church on this site since 604 A.D., this structure was the inspiration of Christopher Wren built between 1675 and 1710. I learned this was the first cathedral built after Henry VIII established the Church of England.

St. Paul’s did not disappoint. Magnificent as we entered, there was also a reverent atmosphere. Again, Mike and I decided that it would be wise to make a time to meet since we would go at different paces and be interested in different aspects.

I picked up the audio tour and listened, not too carefully, but followed the tour for the first 30 minutes or so. Interesting that St. Paul’s offers daily communion services and hourly prayers. Visitors are encouraged to stop each hour and participate in prayers, and guests are asked to honor the silence. Of course, it is a London landmark and so is intertwined with the history of the city with public and political figures memorialized and some are buried at St. Paul’s.

Although I could have spent much more time in the cathedral and in the crypt, I decided to wander up to the whispering gallery and take a look at the central part of the cathedral from above. It was impressive of course. Then I decided to walk on up to the Stone Gallery to take in a view of London from the dome of St. Paul’s. I am not sure what possessed me to continue on up to the Golden Gallery for the complete panoramic view from near the top of the dome, 528 steps above the floor. It may have had something to do with asserting my ability to climb steps after I had fallen down a couple of steps the day before. At any rate, with more ambition than brains but I made it up ALL 526 or 528 steps to the top observation deck to the Golden Gallery. Quite proud of myself I am.

So to celebrate, I went down to the café to meet Mike and smugly announce my feat while munching on a muffin. I have to admit, I was tired and as the day progressed, I was plumb tuckered. Mike and I spent some time in the Gift Shop and picked out a couple of gifts for my cousins. Mike also bought me a very sweet nativity set as a remembrance of our trip, nice souvenir. Thanks to Mike for honoring my request to see St. Paul’s Cathedral, it was a special treat to be able to visit this landmark.

We walked across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge, wandered around briefly and then had a late lunch at The Swan at the New Globe Theatre. Not a great place to eat in my opinion, the food was pretty greasy. We have done quite will selecting good places to eat, but this one was acceptable. The atmosphere was, of course, charming.

I was really tired after lunch, THAT will teach me to climb over 500 steps and still walk around London! We made our way back over the Thames across the Millennium Bridge and toward St. Paul's to catch a bus back to Parsons Green. After some checking, we picked Bus 11 which was great fun for me as the route was along The Strand past the Strand Palace and The Savoy and past Trafalgar Square, tracing all the sites that are London favorites. At some point as we looked at bus routes, we changed to #22 because we knew it went along Parsons Green. Success and a fitting end to our sightseeing in London.

We needed to get back and pack for morning. We had a late lunch and neither of us were hungry, but I did stop for milk and cookies at the store on the way back to the BnB for a light snack. Mike was tired and ready to tuck in even though it was quite early.
I had my milk and checked email on Fiona’s patio. Her son, who lives in the basement area and owns half the flat, came out for a smoke and a chat. It was nice to meet him.