Thursday - the day of stairs!

Today we got up and headed out early to pick up our London Pass, which is a multiday pass that gets you into tons of attractions! We'd done it before in Seattle and its such a great deal! We had to go pick it up near Piccadilly Circus so we took the 87 out to Traflager Square so Mike could see that and walked a short ways to Piccadilly Circus. We found the place, got our passes, little guidebooks and headed to the nearest Tube station to head to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Of course on our way to St. Paul's Cathedral Bree was hungry again so we had to grab a bite before going in. The Cathedral is most impressive, with the highest dome next to the Vatican. It is a little disappointing that you can't take pictures inside but its meant to keep the interior preserved. We walked along the ground floor which has several tombs and memorials similar to Westminster Abbey. We walked under the large central dome, considered Christoper Wren's masterpiece when he rebuilt the Cathedral after the 1666 fire. There has been a church on that site for a long time but this most recent one is breathtaking. From there we walked down into the crypt and saw more tombs and memorials to such famous English people as Lord Nelson, Christopher Wren himself and Florence Nightengale. Also down in the crypt was a fabulous projector display in a side room. It was new since Bree had been four years ago and had projectors aimed at each wall to provide an almost 360 degree image that changed in front of you. It started with a moving timeline of the church's history, moving left to right around the room. Then an animation of some of the construction and surrounding area. Finally it took you inside the church and slowly up into the dome itself. It was almost dizzying seeing the domb in all directions around you. Bree was doing ok until the image titled up so that it started at the first (Whispering) gallery and then peered up to the next (Stone) gallery. It finally wooshed through the small stone stairs we would later climb to take you up to the final (Golden) gallery and panned the entire view of London. It was a fabulous exhibit! While not the same, the Virtual Tour available on their website gives you some idea of the grandeur.

We walked back up to the ground floor and around the back of the low altar through the choir benches and to the other side of the church. There we found the entrance to the dome, which you can climb up to in several levels:
- Whispering Gallery (30 m & 257 steps)
- Stone Gallery (53 m & 376 steps)
- Golden Gallery (85 m & 528 steps)

We got up to the Whispering Gallery pretty easily but Bree was tired. The gallery is so named because as a large dome, a whisper can reflect to a listener on the other side of the dome. There were several school groups of noisy boys that we tried to beat to the next level. We walked up to the Stone Gallery which was harder. Unlike the large steps up to the first level, the stairs to the Stone Gallery are the original maintenance stairs and are fairly narrow. Several places you have to walk down a small corridor to get to the next set. By the time we were done with this set Bree was fairly winded. But the view from the Stone Gallery is beautiful and is a full panorama of London. Bree decided to sit while Mike continued up to the next level, the Golden Gallery; Bree had been up before.The view from the Golden Gallery is even more impressive as you are high enough above the dome that you can see more of the church itself.

After Mike came back down from the Golden Gallery we climbed all the way down to the ground floor. Even though it is easier to get down, you end up a little dizzy because you have to look down the whole time to keep your feet on the small steps. Since its a spiral staircase, you don't quite walk straight when you get down. We headed out of St. Paul's and around the backside to see the new pedestrian square. While we were there Mike saw a London Police car which is a lot different than the ones back home as they are completely covered in a reflective checkerboard pattern. We were going to wait til the policemen that were getting out moved so we weren't rude but were surprised that they had automatic weapons; especially since normal police on a walking beat, called bobbies, don't carry guns. So we let them go without taking a picture as they obviously seemed busy.

We started walking towards the Monument and then opted to take the tube. The Monument was built by Christopher Wren as a tribute to the victims of the 1666 fire. Its 202 feet tall which is the same distance from the Monument's location to the start of the fire. You can climb to the top, which Bree hadn't done before, so despite the recent trek to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral we decided to do it. Bree was again quite tired by the end of it. But the view was nice and we got a certificate when we got back down that said we had done it.

After we huffed and puffed our way back down, we stopped at a little deli near the Monument for lunch. It was called Mamma & Mia and it was delicious! Bree had a cheesey vegetable pasta dish and Mike had a warm chicken Italian sandwich. As we were eating we could look out onto the square in front of the Monument which is surrounded by office buildings. There was a homeless guy talking to himself, and yelling at everyone else, roaming about the square for awhile. The poor Monument workers tried to come out and tell him to move on. He didn't like that very much and they ended up calling the police on him. Eventually a Bobbie came up and Mike noticed that there were two more bicycle cops coming up and blocking the other exits. As soon as the Bobbie got there, the man was quiet and was talking to him very fervently. The Bobbie was able to walk him away quietly and the other two bicycle policeman wandered off the other way.

From the square we headed back to the tube and took it over to the Tower of London. Bree loves the Tower of London and was excited to share it with Mike. It is such an impressive site and was quite busy. We walked through the medieval section first which had been redone since Bree was last there. There were some nice videos throughout that explained certain time periods and great set-ups that explained aspects of the remains and what its used for. From there we walked along the East Wall Walk so that we could walk along the wall and see the exhibits on the guards and their defense. There was some construction on the White Tower so we had to walk around in order to get to where the crown jewels are kept. The crown jewels are amazingly brilliant and include some of the largest stones in the world including the Cullinan diamond.

From there we continued into the White Tower, which had a great exhibit called Fit For A King. The exhibit had armour from Henry VIII, his son Edward I, and various other nobility. The suit of armour for Henry VIII later in his life was absolutely huge! There were lots of examples of armour across several dynasties and examples of weapons throughout the years. The White Tower was very cool but it had many levels so there were more spiral stairs. It is the oldest part of the Tower, which has gone through many many revisions.

On the way out we stopped through Bloody Tower and the Dungeon exhibit to see some exhibits on the darker side of the Tower's history. There was a nice monument to all the nobility that had been executed on site, including Anne Boleyn, Jane Grey, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn. We hit the gift shop for post cards - the best way to get the pictures you can't get on your own. From there we got back on the tube, then to the bus to get back to John & Maggie's.

We had a lovely dinner at home and Ollie stopped by for a few minutes to tuck in as well. It was an "easy night" for Maggie of leftovers and cleaning out the fridge which was all delicious. We ate until we were past full before going to bed.