London: Old & New

After breakfast on Boxing Day we walked over to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a proper tour. The present St. Paul’s is the fifth that has stood on this spot since 604AD and was built between 1675 and 1710. We walked around admiring the glass mosaic and paintings on the ceiling as well as the ornate golden alters. We decided to climb the 257 steps to the whispering gallery in the dome, then the 119 steps to the stone gallery where we could get outside and see the city, then the 152 steps to the golden gallery where we felt far above the city and took pictures of the horizon. After we climbed back down all those steps, we descended into the crypt that houses the Chapel of St. Faith and many tombs including Admiral Nelson, A. Sullivan, a composer, and Lord Wellington.

From there we walked down the street and across the Millennium Bridge where a Japanese lady was hanging decorations on the bridge for a religious holiday. I asked her what they were for but her English was very limited and I cannot remember the name of the holiday was.

Next we toured Shakespeare’s Globe, which was opened in 1997 as the dream of Sam Wanamaker. It was hand-built using authentic materials to recreate the experience of 17^th century drama. Our lady guide was wonderful as she showed us around and told us about how the globe was built and what roles the actors play. She told us that we all had to come back in the summer because the Globe was hosting all 37 of Shakespeare’s play in various languages for the Olympics. We just had a half-day today because a lot of transportation still wasn’t running. We went back to the hostel and took a nap, then had dinner at Pizza Express which was really good!