Views from St. Paul's

So, after being inspired by the Cathedral floor at St. Paul's, you are also given the opportunity to visit the upper reaches of the Dome (including the exterior with great views across the whole city).

(Look I snuck in another shot of the Tower Bridge, upper left!)

Unfortunately, there are no elevators lifts, so in order to get a view like that you have to climb the stairs.... all 528 of them!  The first 257 steps are easy, as they are fairly short, winding around a column, and taking you up to the Whispering Gallery at an elevation of 30m from the Cathedral floor.

The Whispering Gallery is a ring around the base of the dome, and the name comes from the fact that you can hear somebody whispering from the opposite side because of the acoustics of the dome.  You can also get a great view of the Cathedral floor by looking over the railing.  (Sorry no photo, too many attendants present).

The next stage was harder, another 119 steps, much steeper, and taking you up another 23 metres (now 53 metres above the Cathedral floor) to the Stone Gallery.  I had to stop to rest twice, as my thighs and calves were starting to ache.  The Stone Gallery is an outdoor walkway around the Dome's exterior, with some pretty nice views of the city:

You can see one of the Church entrance towers, and way off in the distance you can see the London Eye.  The last leg of the journey is a killer - another 152 steps, this time on a spiral metal scaffold-like staircase that is not for anybody with a fear of heights, followed by a very narrow set of spiral steps with a very low ceiling that is not for anybody with claustrophobia.  Again, this took a long time, and was very tiring.  Here's a look coming down (which was much easier, by the way):

At the top, you are 85m from the Cathedral floor (which thankfully you can no longer see) and are on the Golden Gallery with spectacular views of the city.  Here's a shot looking out over the front of the Cathedral, way above the towers at the entrance:

Another view, zoomed in on the London Eye (notice the blimp in the photo too):

Here's a good look at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (which I hope to visit one day), on the south shore, that shows how it is an open-air theatre:

Overall, it was worth the effort to get to the top, but it is not a trip for the faint of heart, and my legs and feet are reminding me of that today!

After that, I spent a few minutes cooling off on the Cathedral floor, then journeyed down into the Crypt.  It would have been nice to spend more time there, but I was exhausted (physically from the climb, and mentally from a long day), and decided just to head home.

I didn't actually take the open-top double-decker tour bus, but it drove by just as I was leaving the Cathedral, and I just liked the shot, so I threw it in here.

I also liked this shot of the iconic red telephone booths found across London with the Cathedral in the background.

Today, I have tickets to go see Beach Volleyball at the Horse Guard's Parade venue, which looks amazing on TV.  The matches start at 2:30pm, and I'm usually asleep by 4:30pm, so if I want to stay for a few matches, I might be pretty tired tomorrow.  See you then!