Day 4 - Back After Technical Difficulties

Written by Chris

So the free Wifi in our hotel is a little spotty. For some reason it just dies at some point if we've been using it for more than 3 hours. We mentioned it to our hotel and something must've worked because here we are again! This post will be without pictures, however, until blogger.com fixes it's issues. We just can't seem to win.

We were supposed to go to Greenwich today, but we got up way too late to do so, so changed our plans to visit St. Paul's Cathedral.  This is perhaps one of the most famous Cathedral's in the world, and certainly an iconic landmark on the London skyline. We arrived around one o'clock in the afternoon and went down to the Crypt to have lunch.  What a feast we had - I started off with a "Taste of Britain" cider made from rhubarb and apples.  It was very tart and refreshing.  Chelsea had a gin and tonic with spears of fresh cucumber.  Hendrick's Gin (one of Chelsea's favourites) used for the G&T is made with rose petals. 

Our three course meals were delicious - I started off with a sweet corn cake (like a crab cake) with avocado and cilantro mash on the side, followed by pan seared bream (white fish) with a green curry sauce and carrot cannelloni   Chelsea had a mini jar of potted Duck and Guinea Fowl pate, followed by crispy, braised pork belly with potato gallette with sautéed apples and kale.  For dessert we had a chocolate mousse with salted caramel sauce and fresh berries, and a honey ginger parfait with honey cream, ginger cake, candied figs and ginger syrup. It was so yummy!  

Potted duck and guinea fowl

Mummy and her corn cake appetizer

Pork Belly

Bream with carrot cannelloni

Chocolate dessert

Ginger dessert

After lunch, we made our way to the Front Entrance of St Paul's.  It's a glorious Cathedral filled with grandeur and wonderful works of art from stained glass windows, marble statutes and incredible frescoes.  While the Cathedral was a wonderful site to see, the best part of our day was making our way up to the three different galleries on top of the Cathedral.  The first gallery was the Whispering Gallery which is 30 meters up from the Gallery floor.  We travelled up a wide stair case in a spiral formation to reach this gallery. At 258 steps, it was interesting to see the tourists make their way up to the first Gallery inside the dome.  Form here you can view the painted dome plus peer down to the Cathedral floor.  

View of the Shard from St. Paul's Cathedral

Stairs up to the Golden Gallery

View of the Thames from the Golden Gallery

The Globe Theatre

The next Gallery was outside the dome and called the Stone Gallery and it was 53 meters up from the Cathedral floor.  The steps up to this Gallery were in several tight, metal, spiral staircases.  If you had a fear of heights, this would not be the place for you!  Besides being cramped and high, it was hot as blazes in the staircases so it was great when we finally reached the Stone Gallery which was outside the dome.  It led to a railing outside which afforded great panoramic views of London in 360 degrees.  

From there you could see all the famous buildings of the London Skyline from the Gherkin, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and of course the London Eye.  The sun was sparkling on the brown waters of the Thames River and the whole scene was terrific.  We completed our lap of the dome and then made our way up the final stairs to the top - the Golden Gallery. 

If I thought the Stone Gallery was steep, the stairs up to the Golden Gallery were even more difficult.  They were carved from stone and were very high in step and the ceilings were so low you can to bend over to pass otherwise you'd hit your head.  I had a brief moment of claustrophobia, but the view at the top was so worth it.  The Golden Gallery is 85 meters up and is outside just a few feet away from the spire.  This railing is very tight and it's hard for two people to squeeze past, but the view is spectacular.  We made our way around slowly as people were stopping to take in pictures and to take in the sight. The Golden Gallery is so tiny only one to two people can fit between the railing and the spire. The view and the breeze were well worth it. Chelsea got lucky and had a short history lesson! A gentleman standing next to her was giving his daughter some history info as we waited for people to continue around the gallery. He pointed out the original bank of the Thames where a castle belonging to King Henry VIII once stood. The only bit of it still standing is an arch south of the cathedral. He went on to describe details of streams, buildings, and architecture that has slipped below the modern street level, some of which is still accessible.

I thought going up was hard, but I really think coming down was even scarier, especially the stairs from the Golden Gallery.  We finally made our way down to the wide stairs leading from the Cathedral to the Whispering Gallery, but going around and around made me very dizzy.  It was fun and the view was great so it was all worth the huffing and puffing to get there.

Finally made our way to the Cathedral floor and we sat in the main worship area to soak up the atmosphere.  A children's choir was practising and their lovely voices were picked up by the excellent acoustics. Gazing around we spotted huge chandeliers, marble statues dedicated to people like Lord Nelson and Melbourne and of course the beautiful stained glass windows.  It was late, so our plans to visit the National Portrait Gallery will have to wait for another day.  Tomorrow we'll be up early to visit Greenwich,  and the famous merchant sailing ship, the Cutty Sark.