We had planned on a trip to see Stonhenge and Bath today, but the Foot & Mouth problem has forced the closure of Stonhenge.
St. Paul's Cathedral
Another late start (hey we're on vacation) and spent most of the day at St. Paul's. Even had lunch at the Crypt Café (better than it sounds).
St. Paul's Cathedral
Impressive enough today, the effect that Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece must have had in the seventeenth century can only be wondered at. A Roman temple dedicated to Diana probably stood on the site where King Ethelbert built the first wooden church in AD604. Two more Saxon cathedrals followed (all three burned down), before the Normans constructed 'Old St Paul's' at the end of the eleventh century. This colossal Gothic building, destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire, was, amazingly, even larger and taller than Wren's successor. Today's St Paul's is one of the few cathedrals ever to be designed by one architect, supervised by one master builder (Thomas Strong) and built within their lifetimes (construction lasted 35 years). Wren's epitaph, inscribed on the wall by his simple tomb in the crypt, could not be more appropriate: 'If you seek his monument, look around.'
Rather like St Peter's in Rome, the scale of the thing means that any feeling of sanctity is sacrificed on the altar of grandeur, but there's a wonderful sense of proportion, space and harmony that even the endless stream of coach parties can't spoil. One of the biggest surprises is the dazzlingly rich, almost Byzantine-like mosaics of the Creation in the Choir; these, like Holman Hunt's incongruous Light of the World hanging in the south aisle, are late nineteenth-century additions. In the clock tower on the West Front hangs 'Great Paul', the heaviest swinging bell in England, some 3m (5ft) in diameter. It is tolled daily at 1pm.
St. Paul's Cathedral riding out the Blitz during WWII
Looking Straight up at the center of the dome
High up in the dome, frescoed with stories from the life of St Paul by James Thornhill, people in the Whispering Gallery strain to hear reverberating voices above the muffled din. Higher still are the viewing galleries: the Stone Gallery (at the base of the dome) and the Golden Gallery (at the top). It's a long, hard climb, involving 530 steps, but worth it for the unrivalled views over London. The bright, whitewashed Crypt (one of the largest in Europe) centres around grandiose monuments to the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Nelson; it raises a wry smile to see a modest monument to Florence Nightingale amid all the military bigwigs who did so much to keep her supplied with customers. Painters' Corner contains memorials to Reynolds, Lord Leighton, Alma-Tadema, Turner, Millais and Holman Hunt. The most interesting item in the Treasury is an extraordinary cope (a ceremonial cape), embroidered with the spires of 73 churches. Also down here are a decent cafè and restaurant.
It's worth doing one of the lively, anecdote-packed guided 'Supertours', which allow access to areas you're not normally allowed into, such as the magnificent choir area, with carving by Grinling Gibbons.
Nelson's Tomb in the St. Paul's Cathedral Crypt
The tourists were invited (encouraged) to join the midday service, which we did. This also gave us access to the choir area, with carving by Grinling Gibbons. Kathy took communion.
The tombs of Nelson, Wellington, Alexander Flemming, and many others including the architect Wren, are located in the crypt below the altar. Wren's epitaph, inscribed on the wall by his tomb, reads: 'If you seek his monument, look around.'
Nelson and Wellington are directly below the dome.
This is where the Crypt Café is located.
