Saturday, October 4th
This morning I decided to sleep in a little bit and attempt to catch up on some much needed sleep. This combined with trying to research trips and activities for the day put me to a late start in sightseeing for the day.
The final plan ended up being a trip to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was absolutely fabulous. Cody, Rachael, Michelle, and myself went to this awe-inspiring cathedral and were absolutely amazed. The outside has beautiful architecture, Corinthian orders, and much of the wedding-cake-frosting decoration, with a huge dome in the center. The inside glitters with gold mosaic tesserae, and has beautiful vaulting, statues, and of course the huge dome.
We walked through the nave, examined the high altar, and each individual apse on the sides, accompanied by the sweet sounds of an organ player the entire time. The organ was rather unique in the fact that the pipes were all horizontal and coming out at you, rather than pointing upward. We then, finally worked our way up to the whispering walls. When you go up to the middle level, there are a bunch of holes in the wall around the dome where you are supposed to be able to whisper into, and someone on the other end can hear you. We tried to speak by these means, as the monks used to many years ago, however were unsuccessful.
We climbed yet more stairs, winding and scary, to the top of the dome to take a look at the entire city. I thought the stairs in the arch d’triumph were a lot- this was incomparably more! It wasn’t really the fact that there were so many, as much as how intimidating it was to climb up these incredibly narrow, spiral, stone or metal staircases. There were often really narrow passages with super low ceilings and we had to crouch down to get through. It made me wonder how anyone who was larger than us could get through…
We took lots of pictures of the overview of the city, and tried to walk around without our hair blowing all over the place… impossible. Not a good day to forget a hair tie… I looked like cousin it. There were so many people crowded into this tiny walkway around the tip of the dome that you literally could not move. However, well worth it.
After a while, we ventured back down again, and went to see the crypts. In the very center, lining up perfectly with the dome, is the tomb of Admiral Nelson. As I am learning so much more, he is one of the biggest heroes here. He is basically the British equivalent to George Washington, or some other prominent figure we would have on that level. They really idolize this guy. It has been interesting learning about everything this man has done. Also in the crypts is a statue of Lawrence of Arabia. Not sure if he is supposed to be buried there or what, but I will have to look it up. I was never sure if he was a fictional character or not, but I will have to see…
We looked in the gift shop for a while, and I was hoping to get some holy water but couldn’t find any. When I asked the sales clerk, he responded that I could get some water from the café and have the priest bless it for me. Didn’t think that would be quite the same… Everything started to close, so we were kicked out and decided to explore around the area for a bit. We went into a discount bookstore where Michelle and I both got super excited. Michelle is a English and Literature major, so she really enjoyed it as well.
After that, we attempted to go to Saint Brides Church. Michelle had been here already and told us about how cool it was. This church was bombed and a bunch of Roman ruins were found below where the crypts are now. The inside is very fancy as well, but unfortunately we didn’t get to go inside because there was a wedding. I will have to come back another day.
We decided to walk further and see if we could catch a glimpse inside of Tower Bridge before it closed. We walked for quite a while along the Thames, taking lots of detours and climbing little fenced due to construction, but by the time we got there, it was closed. We decided to just settle for walking across the bridge, and taking the tube back on the other end.
Due to several closings in the tubes, we rushed like crazy to get back to ISH before dinner closed at 7:30. We made it with 10 minutes to spare, and were greeted by our favorite lunch attendant, Issac. He has befriend Rachael and myself and its so much fun to strike up a conversation with this guy. He absolutely loves us. Issac is the most friendly, cheerful person I’ve met here, and always gives us tips on our adventures. He is always eager to hear about the escapade of the day, and usually hooks us up with some extra benefits on our meals due to our shining personalities. Its to the point where he has memorized our usual orders. He makes our day! Sometimes it pays to be nice and friendly!
I spent the remainder of the evening looking up research for Paris and Greece planning, and now I am here journaling… goodnite.
This morning I decided to sleep in a little bit and attempt to catch up on some much needed sleep. This combined with trying to research trips and activities for the day put me to a late start in sightseeing for the day.
The final plan ended up being a trip to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was absolutely fabulous. Cody, Rachael, Michelle, and myself went to this awe-inspiring cathedral and were absolutely amazed. The outside has beautiful architecture, Corinthian orders, and much of the wedding-cake-frosting decoration, with a huge dome in the center. The inside glitters with gold mosaic tesserae, and has beautiful vaulting, statues, and of course the huge dome.
We walked through the nave, examined the high altar, and each individual apse on the sides, accompanied by the sweet sounds of an organ player the entire time. The organ was rather unique in the fact that the pipes were all horizontal and coming out at you, rather than pointing upward. We then, finally worked our way up to the whispering walls. When you go up to the middle level, there are a bunch of holes in the wall around the dome where you are supposed to be able to whisper into, and someone on the other end can hear you. We tried to speak by these means, as the monks used to many years ago, however were unsuccessful.
We climbed yet more stairs, winding and scary, to the top of the dome to take a look at the entire city. I thought the stairs in the arch d’triumph were a lot- this was incomparably more! It wasn’t really the fact that there were so many, as much as how intimidating it was to climb up these incredibly narrow, spiral, stone or metal staircases. There were often really narrow passages with super low ceilings and we had to crouch down to get through. It made me wonder how anyone who was larger than us could get through…
We took lots of pictures of the overview of the city, and tried to walk around without our hair blowing all over the place… impossible. Not a good day to forget a hair tie… I looked like cousin it. There were so many people crowded into this tiny walkway around the tip of the dome that you literally could not move. However, well worth it.
After a while, we ventured back down again, and went to see the crypts. In the very center, lining up perfectly with the dome, is the tomb of Admiral Nelson. As I am learning so much more, he is one of the biggest heroes here. He is basically the British equivalent to George Washington, or some other prominent figure we would have on that level. They really idolize this guy. It has been interesting learning about everything this man has done. Also in the crypts is a statue of Lawrence of Arabia. Not sure if he is supposed to be buried there or what, but I will have to look it up. I was never sure if he was a fictional character or not, but I will have to see…
We looked in the gift shop for a while, and I was hoping to get some holy water but couldn’t find any. When I asked the sales clerk, he responded that I could get some water from the café and have the priest bless it for me. Didn’t think that would be quite the same… Everything started to close, so we were kicked out and decided to explore around the area for a bit. We went into a discount bookstore where Michelle and I both got super excited. Michelle is a English and Literature major, so she really enjoyed it as well.
After that, we attempted to go to Saint Brides Church. Michelle had been here already and told us about how cool it was. This church was bombed and a bunch of Roman ruins were found below where the crypts are now. The inside is very fancy as well, but unfortunately we didn’t get to go inside because there was a wedding. I will have to come back another day.
We decided to walk further and see if we could catch a glimpse inside of Tower Bridge before it closed. We walked for quite a while along the Thames, taking lots of detours and climbing little fenced due to construction, but by the time we got there, it was closed. We decided to just settle for walking across the bridge, and taking the tube back on the other end.
Due to several closings in the tubes, we rushed like crazy to get back to ISH before dinner closed at 7:30. We made it with 10 minutes to spare, and were greeted by our favorite lunch attendant, Issac. He has befriend Rachael and myself and its so much fun to strike up a conversation with this guy. He absolutely loves us. Issac is the most friendly, cheerful person I’ve met here, and always gives us tips on our adventures. He is always eager to hear about the escapade of the day, and usually hooks us up with some extra benefits on our meals due to our shining personalities. Its to the point where he has memorized our usual orders. He makes our day! Sometimes it pays to be nice and friendly!
I spent the remainder of the evening looking up research for Paris and Greece planning, and now I am here journaling… goodnite.
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