Our first full day in London started with a beautiful morning walk to St. Paul's Cathedral. If you're a Mary Poppins movie fan, this is where the Bird Woman sits on the steps to feed the birds... We spent some time enjoying the beautiful interior of the Cathedral before climbing the steps to the Whispering Gallery just inside the base of the dome. From there we continued our climb up spiral staircases, through narrow passages, and up steps that twisted this way and that as we made our way between the interior and exterior of the dome finally coming out to breathtaking views from atop the dome! Check out the photo!
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| St. Paul's Cathedral from the Thames River |
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| View from above the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral |
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| Walker organ at St. Martin-in-the-Fields |
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| St. Martin-in-the-Fields |
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| Window above altar at St. Martin-in-the-Fields |
After walking around the city for a while we arrived at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. This church is famous both for its beauty and also its continued mission work toward the homeless. Even as we visited (no admission fee--very uncommon) there were homeless individuals resting on the pews amongst the tourists and visitors. We were particularly touched as we watched a homeless man walk quietly down the side aisle as he was going to leave. He stopped at the rack of memory candles (tealights which visitors may light as they say a prayer--coin box and recommended donation requested), he lit a candle, paused with bowed head, then dropped what sounded to be a couple pence into the box, and quietly slipped out the side door. It was wonderful to see God's work in this city!
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| Lunch in the Crypt |
We also enjoyed lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Many churches in the UK have cleared out the cobwebs in the lower level (crypt) where the floors are covered with epitaphs for those buried within the church. St. Martin's is one of these. If you look carefully at the photo to the right you can see the outlines of the stones on the floor and maybe get a glimpse of some of the lettering.
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| A tour via the Thames |
Later in the day we took a boat cruise down the Thames (Tems) River. It was a beautiful afternoon--sunny with a light breeze. A refreshing change from the heat as we arrived in London. The boat tour was very informative and gave great views of famous and infamous landmarks and provided an opportunity for views not often possible because of the close proximity of all the buildings.
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| Tower Bridge |
We took advantage of our pass to ride the double-decker bus tour again in the afternoon and spent a lot of time walking around and enjoying all that London has to offer.
That evening we purchased discount theater tickets and saw a British performance of the musical Chicago. It was fun to see how the show was staged across the pond!
-J
