Day 4: Part 1; Museum of London and St. Paul's Cathedral

We started Day 4, and our last full day in London, with a trip to the Museum of London.  Wow is all I can say.  That city has such a history!  It's hard for most Americans to understand the layers upon layers of civilization that forms many cities, especially in Europe.  I can sum Londoners up with one word; Resilient.  So many many things happened in that city that should have caused complete and total devastation and yet they rebuilt and rebuilt again.  Great museum and the only picture I took was of a dress on display that London women wore as some point way in the past.  Sure would be nice to hide hips in this dress.

 When we left the museum, it was lunch time and we were hungry and tired.  We were curious about this restaurant called Pret A Manger, which we had seen everywhere in London so this became our lunch location.  The name means "Ready to Eat."  Makes sense because everything was right there in cases ready to grab.  It was a very popular place with Londoners.

We had a warm soup of some kind and a meaty sandwich on baguette.  I also ordered a red berry tea and got my first piece of "oh this isn't America" when I took my first drink of STEAMY hot tea....I was expecting iced tea.  :)

After resting our back and feet for a while, we headed for St. Paul's Cathedral.  I love this picture because it melds old with new.  This specific cathedral was finished in 1710. You can see part of St. Paul's in the background while a Starbucks sits in it's shadow.  Shawn was taking advantage of the free wifi and calling home to check on the kids.

I think I can say this was my favorite cathedral to visit and now I see what all the fuss is about.  It is magnificent.  Every bit of it is awe inspiring.  So much work was put into every minute detail and I'm a detail type of person so I loved looking at every nook and cranny.

A view of the ceiling

Being the cocky "young" people that we are, we marched right up to the entrance leading to the way to the top of the cathedral.  There were ominous signs posted politely trying to let visitors know that there were 528 steps going up so to be thoughtful about whether you could complete it or not.  IT.WAS.HARD.  Never ending, tiny, narrow staircases leading up and up and up and thinking you'll never see the light of day again and questioning whether you're really claustrophobic or not and wondering if the people in front of you feel the same and if the people behind you are going to catch up!  (Okay so there's lots to think about when you are just walking in a spiral, upward in a tiny space for 528 step.)

And then......a glorious view of the city....all 360 degrees!

 

A panoramic of the city

Tiny narrow spaces...any taller...any wider and there would have been trouble.

 After drying out on top of St. Paul's and taking in the city and realizing that our leg muscles were spontaneously and uncontrollably twitching, it was time to take more tiny, narrow, claustrophobia inducing staircases back down the 528 steps.

Looking back, it may not have been the best idea to put a heavy walking day along with St. Paul's cathedral....although our legs were shot, there were still miles to go....so we must press on.  I can definitely say I'm going to need to order dessert at dinner that night.