St Paul's Cathedral & the Museum of London
Monday, January 27
I had tried to visit St Paul's Cathedral when I was in London in 2010. I remember the line being very long and then my card wouldn't work and I guess I didn't have cash on me. Things have vastly improved in terms of cards being accepted overseas.
I bought my ticket beforehand this time and there was no line to get in at about 10:00 am. The off-season makes a difference, I'm sure. Here are some photos from the outside of the cathedral.
I knew they offered free guided tours at certain times, so I inquired at the desk and waited a few minutes for it to begin. I thought it was going to be just me and one other woman, but a few other women joined at the last minute so we had a nice small group for this tour, which lasted about an hour. I forget the guide's name, but he was awesome.
It's so, so beautiful inside. It is hard to describe this type of beauty. Every detail is thought out. There is a purpose for each choice. The guide could explain about it all.
We had special access to certain areas because of the tour. The guide had to open an off-limits door for this spiral staircase (below). He talked about it a bit and I forget most of it other than it was featured on Harry Potter, because of course I remember that detail. Each stair is supported by only a few inches of the stair below it.
It's interesting to me that the different areas of cathedrals are called chapels. These are sometimes different rooms, but oftentimes just kind of separate spaces than the main aisle, side aisles, choir, and altar.
Oh this area was roped off too--the choir (below). I felt so special getting to go into these areas where other tourists had to stand behind ropes to take their photos haha.
The guide explained how the artist who created these cherub faces (below) used children as models, so each face is different and based off a real child. Carved out of wood! And the ceiling you see here is mosaic.
I had tried to visit St Paul's Cathedral when I was in London in 2010. I remember the line being very long and then my card wouldn't work and I guess I didn't have cash on me. Things have vastly improved in terms of cards being accepted overseas.
I bought my ticket beforehand this time and there was no line to get in at about 10:00 am. The off-season makes a difference, I'm sure. Here are some photos from the outside of the cathedral.
I knew they offered free guided tours at certain times, so I inquired at the desk and waited a few minutes for it to begin. I thought it was going to be just me and one other woman, but a few other women joined at the last minute so we had a nice small group for this tour, which lasted about an hour. I forget the guide's name, but he was awesome.
It's so, so beautiful inside. It is hard to describe this type of beauty. Every detail is thought out. There is a purpose for each choice. The guide could explain about it all.
We had special access to certain areas because of the tour. The guide had to open an off-limits door for this spiral staircase (below). He talked about it a bit and I forget most of it other than it was featured on Harry Potter, because of course I remember that detail. Each stair is supported by only a few inches of the stair below it.
He also took us into a gated chapel called the Chapel of St Michael and St George. Special services are held here and this seat (below) is where the Queen sits for those services. The chapel was founded to honor those "who have rendered important service overseas" (according to the cathedral website).
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| Waving like the Queen |
It's interesting to me that the different areas of cathedrals are called chapels. These are sometimes different rooms, but oftentimes just kind of separate spaces than the main aisle, side aisles, choir, and altar.
Oh this area was roped off too--the choir (below). I felt so special getting to go into these areas where other tourists had to stand behind ropes to take their photos haha.
The guide explained how the artist who created these cherub faces (below) used children as models, so each face is different and based off a real child. Carved out of wood! And the ceiling you see here is mosaic.
At the farthest end of the cathedral, there is an American Memorial Chapel. That part of the cathedral was destroyed during the Blitz, so they decided to memorialize the Americans who served when it was restored.
The flag for each state is depicted in the stained glass in this chapel and the tour guide pointed out Illinois for me. There is also a book on display with the name of each American soldier killed in WWII handwritten inside. One page of the book is turned each day.
The guide told a story of how a woman on one of his tours several years ago was there to see this chapel specifically for the book, to locate the name of her family member. The book is under glass, but they will remove it to show you a page if you request it. The book that day happened to already be on the page where her ancestor was listed. I got chills when he said that!
Our tour guide had mentioned that you could climb the stairs to the observation decks on the top of the dome. I thought these areas were closed, so I was happy to find out I could do that. He said it was over 500 steps and took about 30 mins to go up and back down with just a short stop at the top. I was kind of hesitant, but knew I had to do it because when would I be back?
It was intense. It started out pretty easy--fairly wide steps and not very steep at all. Then it turned into stone steps that were only as wide as one person. At one point I thought maybe I was lost? I was alone the majority of the time except at three different intervals where there were cathedral staff, probably just to make sure no nonsense was going on. I think it was better to be alone, though, because I was feeling a little claustrophobic and if there were people in front of and behind me, it wouldn't have been good. There's no turning around to go back down because the stairs are too narrow! I didn't take photos, but I found these during a quick Google search to give you a feel for how the stone stairs looked.
And then the stairs turned into these steel spiral staircases with holes.
These are actual photos inside where I was. Mostly I didn't look down because it was scary. You are so high up! You really felt like you were in the area of the building only meant for service people going up to fix something. Remember that I'm all alone here haha.
Maybe about 350 steps up (I just looked it up and it's actually 376 steps; I'm a decent guesser), you get a reprieve because there is the first observation deck called the Stone Gallery. This is the view from there! Very nice. Also pleasant to have fresh air and space.
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| See the London Eye over there to the left? |
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| The Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern across the Thames |
I still had many steps to go (the exact number of total steps is 528--nearly 365 feet) to get to the tippy top at the Golden Gallery. I kept going. I feel like I have pretty good heart health because of all the cardio I do, but I was struggling for breath doing this. Not for the faint of heart-health here.
Finally, you are at the entrance to the Golden Gallery--the highest you can get at St Paul's Cathedral.
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| Not much space at all to move around. |
I have some nice panoramic videos of the view up there, but I'm not sure how to post video to blogs. Anyway, it was a nice view and would've been super beautiful on a nice, sunny day. It's not meant for someone scared of heights. Your path to walk around the dome is only as wide as a small sidewalk. I was scared of dropping my phone haha. Very much worth the exercise for one time in your life. And then I had to descend all the stairs.
Here is a reference for where I was! Pretty cool!
I had afternoon tea in the crypt inside the cathedral and it wasn't anything to write about, sadly. I've kind of found that the food inside these types of places isn't always great.
After this I walked to the Museum of London, which was about 8 minutes away. The museum was free! It had a lot of cool exhibitions and I'm glad I went. It was all about London and I learned a lot. I didn't take any photos inside. I wasn't very good at that this time. Oh, scratch that--this is the only photo I took there.
I would definitely recommend this museum if you're around the area and looking for something free to do.
After this, I got to the Tube and went back to the area of my hotel. It was raining most of the day, so I was glad that I had brought waterproof shoes this time and that I remembered to bring my umbrella with me. I think I just ate dinner at the hotel that night? I saw this car right outside my hotel!
