Our first day in London was so wonderful! I couldn't imagine things could get better, but they did!
Day 2 - St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
This was the day of history and cathedrals. We had an amazing tour guide with our group who told us all about the city as we made our way to our destinations. The English love their history, and I can now retrace most of the monarchy!
Our first stop today was St. Paul's Cathedral. It is beautiful and you are not permitted to take pictures inside as it is a place of worship that is still used today. The inside was breathtaking. What I was most surprised at was a special memorial located inside the chapel for the American soldiers how lost their lives fighting in World War II. I definitely got teary walking through this memorial and felt so blessed to be an American. It was even more inspiring to see the appreciation from the English for what the Americans did.
As I've mentioned many times, I love the view from the top of a building. At St. Paul's Cathedral there is an option to climb to the the very top! Actually, there are three stops. The first stop is the inside of the rotunda that views the inside of the entire cathedral. The second stop is higher and a small area outside the cathedral. The final stop is the tip-top of the cathedral. Count me in!! Except, you have to manually climb the stairs and they are very tight. There is no lift! The tour guide told us it was over 500 steps, which didn't sound too terrible to me! (To put that into perspective, I climbed the stairs to the second floor of my work building this week. It was 30 stairs...which would equal 16.67 stories!) Only a few girls and the two instructors made the trek. By the time I got to the top, my legs were shaky, wobbly, and weak and I was sore for several days after. BUT, the view was WORTH IT!
After visiting St. Paul's Cathedral, we traveled over to Westminster Abbey. We had a long tour there, for which I am so thankful. I loved every second of it. Again, this was one of my favorite things we did. My favorite part of the tour was getting to stand in Poet's Corner and see where so many great writers are buried. What a special experience!
And, our final stop for the day was to Paddington Station! The birthplace of Paddington the Bear.
No comments:
Post a Comment