St Paul’s Cathedral and lovely High Tea

 2/17 - Monday 

First thing Monday morning, we braved the cold and took a walk around our Mayfair neighborhood.  Apparently, it is a Ritzy area of town.  We are near Buckingham Palace and some other royal residences, but that is for later in the week.  We really just walked around, learned the neighborhood and saw the place where Queen Elizabeth had been born.  The house was no longer there, but it was just in an unassuming row of townhouses down the street from our hotel.  Our walk took us to the Green Park tube station.  We hopped on a tube and road over to St.Paul's Cathedral (St Paul is the patron saint of London) .

The Cathedral was built by Christopher Wren from 1675-1710, and was done in the classical baroque style.   The current St Paul’s is the 5th St Paul’s to stand on the site. The 1st was built in 600ad and was made of wood.  The most recent before this one burned down in the great London fire of September 2, 1666.  Christopher Wren rebuilt this one as well as 51 other churches in the city that had burned.  It was threatened during the blitz.  There were 38 straight nights of bombing and the main altar was destroyed as well as part of the crypt.  It is so hard to take pictures of a very big church….

As soon as I found out that we could climb to the top and look out over the city, I chose to climb the 528 steps up and was rewarded with a great view of the city.  

At the top of the dome, just below those columns is a railing and a walk area.  That is where I was!  

I did regret it latter when my knee started to hurt - dang this getting older. Oh well, it was worth it. 

Then of course like every good cathedral there was a crypt.   

Florence Nightengale was buried here. 

Admiral Lord Nelson above and Christopher Wren below. 

After looking around the Cathedral we met outside and took a walk through London City. It was super cold, but we walked thru expensive shopping areas and the main financial hub of London and the Bank of England (like our federal reserve).   London City itself is only approximately one square mile, but there is a lot packed into it!  

Next we rode the tube to the Bloomsbury district where we had afternoon tea together.   Here Chenette (social worker out of an LA hospital)  are enjoying the food. 

Then just down the block was the British Museum, and we headed there next.  Highlights included the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon Marbles.   But the museum was very very packed with visitors, and I only looked at a few things before heading back to rest my knee for the night.  And of course, pictures in a museum are not easy to take well. The Parthenon Marble are controversial because Greece wants them back, and Britain isn’t really willing to do that at this time.   1st picture is the Rosetta Stone, next, the Parthenon Marbles, then an Easter Island obelisk and finally some carvings from old Assyria which is modern day Iraq/Iran.