Tourist Thursdays

{Westminster Abbey}

As we have limited time left in the brilliant city of London, we have been trying to do the last minute things and take full advantage of our days. Today my friend Katie and I were complete tourists and went to Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Both were absolutely gorgeous. Westminster Abbey had a lot of chapels inside the church and tombs of past Kings, Queens, and influential people.  The audio guide was excellent and we got to see Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin’s tombs there.  The ceiling had these beautiful arches and it was magnificent.  

{Cloister in Westminster Abbey}

{Westminster Abbey}

However, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral afterwards and I personally liked it better.  The audio guide was an iPod so that was cool, except all the excerpts were too long and made me not want to listen to them.  Regardless the cathedral is classy and elegant adorned with beautiful chandeliers and magnificent mosaic ceiling pieces.  Also, in case you don’t know, the church is known for it’s central dome. Christopher Wren designed the church and it’s a dome and above that in a cone structure, another dome is formed.  The inside of the dome is painted in different shades of one color giving it the appearance of sculptures. 

{St. Paul's Cathedral}

 You can walk up to the dome, so Katie and I decided that we would absolutely do that, especially since we heard the view is amazing.  We climbed up about 200 spiraling never-ending stone steps to the Whispering Gallery, which gets its name from the fact that if two people are standing on opposite sides and whisper they can hear across the dome. After that we walked up about 100 more spiraling steps to the stone gallery, which leads outside. And let me just tell you I forgot how terrified I was of heights until I was at the top of this dome. When I got to the Whispering Gallery I was like alright, this is high but there’s a high railing so it’s okay.

{View from Stone Gallery}

But when we got up to the Stone Gallery I realized I might be peeing my pants if I went any higher, especially with Katie how might be more scared of heights. 

{Me on the Golden Gallery}

So we continued, and the steps turned into a tiny metal spiral ladder in a barren cone of a structure that lead to the Golden Gallery. That staircase I was not okay with. And then it turns into a tiny little passageway that no fat or tall person is fitting through, and then you get outside to the top.  In total we climbed 528 spiraling steps up to a terrifyingly high dome with a magnificent view.

{Views from the Golden Gallery}

  We were literally holding on to each other and the railing. When the wind picked up, it was not fun, but I am so happy we did it especially towards the end of the trip because we could pick out all of the building and stadiums. 

After our fun filled tourist afternoon climbing over 1000 steps we ventured downstairs to the crypt and then figured we earned our lunch so we came back and stuffed our faces.

That evening we proceeded to the Tower of London (I went there previously with Ali) for the Ceremony of the Keys.  Tickets are free but you need to write in for them 2-3 months in advance because it’s so popular. It takes place a little before 22:00 and it’s a tradition that has been performed every night for over 700 years to lock the gates of the tower.  The Royal Regiment and a few of the beefeaters at the tower were in the ceremony.  It lasted close to ten minutes but was very cool and slightly eerie since it was so late at night.  It was cool to be involved in a ceremony that has been going on for so long.  That’s one thing that Europe has over America, a long history and cool tradtitions that have stemmed from it.