In Which I Climb 1,000 Steps

     Today was a windy and rainy day, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  It was the first day that I was able to use my umbrella, which made me more excited than I probably should have been.  In the morning we had classes and it seemed like most of us were actually able to stay awake this time around.  We talked about our readings (having read 12th Night to prepare for when we go to see it at Stratford as well as Arthurian legends) and went over more of the history of England.  Currently we are discussing the events of the Anglo-Saxons and the coming of the Vikings.  I have come to really appreciate Frank and Wade's teaching styles and that they can make the classes interesting.  Though most of us would rather be out exploring London, they manage to make the classes do-able.  

    When we were given time to run around and do what we wanted, I went with a group to see St. Paul's cathedral again.  We saw it a week ago when we went to see the London Symphony Orchestra perform, but we were not able to explore it, so we had to come back and see all the sites.  We were able to explore everything from the Crypt to the top tower! It was amazing! As much as I was in awe of it before, I have grown to love it even more.  First we climbed up hundreds of steps to go up to the Whispering Dome.  It leads up to the large dome above the chapel where you can whisper on one side of the room and people can hear you on the other side.  We got a good kick out of that as we sent "secrets" across the way.  We also got to see the painting on the sealing better.  It's amazing that they were able to create such beautiful art on the CEILING!  Just thinking about someone going up that high and painting upside makes me shudder.  We then took more stairs to climb even higher up the cathedral.  There were parts that we were squeezing into some pretty tight spaces and small staircases.  I felt like we were exploring secret passages!  We popped out on a beautiful balcony-like area that wrapped around in a big circle, giving a great view of London on all sides.  It was gorgeous, and extremely windy.  We all laughed as we found that we could lean into the wind and it would hold us up.

     After going up EVEN MORE STAIRS we came to a room that had a window in the floor.  If you look through the window you can see the floor of the cathedral below you.  It was funny because some people that were also climbing the tower refused to even look through it.  It was crazy to see how high up we were! I thought that the cathedral was tall from the ground, it feels even bigger when you are standing at the top of it.  Somehow there were more stairs to be climbed and we went up to a cramped little walkway that wrapped around the top spire of the cathedral.  It too was beautiful, but it was really cramped. There was probably about four feet of walking space between the building and the railing (a space made even smaller by tourists trying to take pictures of one another).  I just wanted to stand up there all day and just stare out at this beautiful city.  Instead we made our way back down the narrow and spirally staircases.  We eventually got to the bottom (Valerie counted 619 steps on the way down, which was actually less then the ones going up somehow).  Once on the ground floor we decided to go down into the crypt.  In the crypt we saw some statues as well as tombs for Horatio Nelson and other important figures in British history.  They also had exhibits set up telling about St. Paul's Cathedral during the Blitz and how it was affected in the Great London Fire.  It's crazy to think that the cathedral has been around longer than the US has been a country.  British excels in old things.  

     My group then made our way over to Camden market to do some shopping.  It's a big market similar to Borough in that it's a giant street market, but they excel in souvenirs and stuff that tourists love like mugs and t-shirts.  We didn't get to explore for too long before we had to go back to the center for dinner.  We attempted again to get tickets to shows tonight but most of them were sold out.  I want to see Les Miserables even more now because as of today Sierra Borgias will play Fantine.  (She played Ariel in The Little Mermaid on Broadway and also played Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in the 25th Anniversary concert).  So instead we came back to the center and decided to do homework instead.  Too bad we actually have to do work here too.  Oh well.  My legs were starting to hate me anyways.  I think I got my exercise for the week, and it's only Monday.

     Bother.  

 On the first balcony of St Paul's Cathedral

 The view from the tower

 Being held up by the strong wind.  

 The hole in the ground displaying the bottom of the cathedral

At the VERY TOP of the Cathedral

 Valerie displaying the little corridors we got to walk through during our climb.

Another view front he top (featuring the Shard to the right).

 SMILE!