London 5 - St Pauls & Tower of London

A ten minute walk from home, we toured St Pauls where Charles and Diana were married. The Cathedral has survived fires, wars (including a partial bombing) and struggles for power since its establishment in 604. The modern version we see today is substantially due to Sir Christopher Wren. We are loving his visionary architecture with huge ceilings and windows that frame the view. The dome is quite stunning but alas we didn’t have time, or inclination, to climb the 506 stairs. In the crypt there is a special chapel reserved for use for those who have been awarded MBEs, OBEs, CBEs, Knighthoods or Damehoods where they and their children can be

married …amongst dead people, including old mate Lord Horatio Nelson and Sir Christopher Wren.

Outside St Pauls we ate our homemade lunches, much more efficient than trying to find GF food, and carried on to the Tower of London. A substantial and dominant footprint alongside the Thames River it was very busy in the warm, early afternoon. We paid extra for the very ordinary audioguide but it did mean we didn’t get caught up in the huge free guided tours moving around the site. The crown jewels were impressive, especially the massive gold baptismal fonts. Large grassed areas with big courtyards make this a pleasant place but would have been grim place for prisoners brought through the river gates and up into the towers. The unfortunate Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower and buried in the chapel here which is a rather nice building.

We had about 30 minutes before the closing of the Tower Bridge & Engine Room entry, so hiked it over there. The towers are essentially used as large stairwells and then you can walk across 63 feet above the river. I’m sure someone can tell me how much 63 feet is in metres but it feels quite high walking across the glass panels looking down on the traffic.

Sore feet by now and we caught the tube home at 6.30pm on the circle line. We thought it might still be rush hour, but it wasn’t that busy and we managed to get seats. When we came out of the station, we were confronted by heaps of people drinking outside two of our locals. Rush hour is like a progressive dinner I guess and it starts at the pub. We thought we had earned a drink and we may as well join them. The first English pub had no English beer, so we settled for cider and a corona. The second pub did have English beers and we were able to get a seat inside - because everyone was outside. We could get used to this lifestyle.