London Walk #4: Fleet Street and St. Paul's Walk

I loved this walk. It was the first walk that we didn’t get lost in the middle of. AND, I got to see a major Harry Potter sight. Kristen, Taylor, Jason, Andrea, and I saw the bridge from the sixth Harry Potter movie. Remember when the Death Eaters attack that curvy bridge at the beginning? Well, we walked on that bridge. (That was a detour from the assigned walk.) Right next to the bridge was London City High School, where a man at St. Paul’s cathedral told me Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter actor) attended. He also showed me a pub Daniel often goes to on Fridays…so, I think I know where I want to have dinner this Friday.

The Millennium Bridge that is destroyed in Harry Potter 6 movie (and the nasty brown River Thames behind it. I just read about this river for my history class. In 1858, it was so contaminated with chemicals and waste that it stunk up the whole city, which is why this year is known for "The Great Stink." Two boats collided, and the people that were tossed into the river didn't necessarily die from drowning, but from being in and swallowing the water. Some people drowned too, but EW)

We walked through the heart of London’s financial and business center. There were lots of good looking people in good looking clothing. Everyone was fancy in this area. Except the tourists. The tourists kind of stood out.

We passed by an awesome church, St. Bride’s Church, where we went inside and there was a lady playing beautiful piano music. She was practicing for a concert. We went downstairs to the crypt where they had many historic artifacts and plaques of description around. Taylor and I were fascinated by a tiny iron coffin they had on display there. There was actually a dead body in it at some point and we shuddered at the thought. Furthermore, that body had to have been tiny, even though it was an adult sized coffin. After seeing dresses and men’s clothes at the Museum of London the other day, and this coffin, it has become apparent that people back then really were much smaller than we are now.

Me, Taylor, Kristen, and Andrea at the entrance to St. Bride's Church

The walk brought us past Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great British author’s former home. On September 20, 1777, he said, “You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” I am starting to understand why a man would say such a thing. There is so much to do here. I don’t think I would be able to fit it all in if I were here for two years!

"Dr. Samuel Johnson lived here."

After the walk, we toured St Paul’s Cathedral. It was amazing. The architecture is brilliant. Sir Christopher Wren designed the Cathedral, which was finished in 1711. He was an architectural mastermind. Wren designed everything from the structure of the building, to the tiles on the floor, to the wood carvings in the quire. St. Paul’s Cathedral is his masterpiece. The inside has such ornate decorations. The ceilings have sparkling mosaics made of ½ inch tiles. The wood carvings are very detailed and beautiful, made by the best carver England has ever seen. The dome is 100 ft in diameter, the second largest dome in the world, after St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. At the end of the tour, we hiked up hundreds of steps, first to the whispering gallery, where you can look down at the inside of the cathedral from the top. If you whisper against the wall to someone across from you, the sound waves will travel around the dome, and they will be able to hear it!

We continued up the stairs to the very top of the dome to where we could go outside and look at all of London from that incredible height. It was beautiful, and we could see everything. I won’t lie, going up those tiny narrow stair cases that were spiraled all the way up was unnerving. I didn’t like it one bit. I felt dizzy, terrified of the height and almost claustrophobic, but it was worth it to see the view.

You can see the London Eye (the ferris wheel looking object). This is one of the many gorgeous views from the top of St. Paul's.

The cathedral had a dedication to the U.S. soldiers, who died while helping England during WWII near the altar, which I thought was pretty awesome. I can’t do this place justice by just describing it. My neck got sore from not wanting to take my eyes off the ceiling.

The crypt was also pretty amazing. There are a ton of people buried down there, including famous artists, musicians, army generals, and more. The Duke of Wellington had one of the biggest graves. Admiral Horatio Nelson’s tomb is located in the crypt directly under the dome. He was important because he defeated Napoleon, and his tomb did a great job of honoring him.

The staircase leading to the library in the cathedral is a large stone spiral staircase that looked oddly familiar. Each step was laid into the wall only four inches. They were mainly supported by each other. Each step overlapped the next by one inch, supporting the step on top. That Sir Christopher Wren was one talented engineer. My dad would have absolutely loved this tour. I’m telling you, dad, you HAVE to come to London. You would just love it! I think St. Paul’s would be his favorite, as he is an engineer himself and very interested in architecture and building. I wonder if Wren is one of his heroes?

Anyway, the staircase looked familiar because they used it in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. They were the stairs that led the students up to divination class. WOW! Another Harry Potter sight. Can’t wait to see the rest.

In front of one side of St. Paul's Cathedral

That night we saw the Royal Ballet perform Cinderella at the Royal Opera House. The theater was beautiful and I pretended that from my very high up seat (which I could see very well from) that I could see Queen Victoria in one of the boxes below peering through some old binoculers. I pretended Queen Elizabeth II was in the next box over. It made the experience more fun:) The ballet was incredible. These dancers are the BEST of the BEST. The ugly step sisters were played by men...which was strange and shocking at first, but it ended up being hilarious. They were UGLY.