St. Paul's Cathedral

You would think I would be better about blogging as I don’t have any real commitments here, but for some reason, I have been struggling with it lately. Not that we haven’t been doing fun things, but every time I sit down to write about them, I just end up staring at a blank document or taking numerous Pinterest breaks. This means that I have about a month’s worth of activities to write about.

Here’s one of them.

St. Paul's Cathedral

 One day while my dad was visiting, Adrian took the day off work and we decided to climb the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Lucky for us, the cathedral is less than a mile away from our flat, so we didn’t have far to walk before the climb.

From the cathedral's website

We started up the wide, stone staircase to the Whispering Gallery. Looking back, this was definitely the easiest part of the climb as the steps were shallow and there was enough room for people to walk up and down.  Roughly 250 steps later, we reached the Whispering Gallery.

Photos are not allowed in the cathedral, so all interior photos come from St. Paul's website.

The Whispering Gallery is a kind of a balcony that wraps around inside of the cathedral’s dome. Because you are in the dome, you can look straight down at the floor and not see the walls holding you up. I thought it was really cool and Dad and I spent a long time looking down at the checkerboard marble floor. Adrian was a little less enthusiastic and after a short period of time, went to sit on the benches that lined the walls. When Dad and I joined him, I realized why it was called the Whispering Gallery. Because of the shape of the dome, it is possible to sit on one side of it and carry on a conversation with someone on the opposite side simply by speaking in a normal voice with your face against the wall. I of course found this fascinating and went to various points around the gallery to test it. Adrian and Dad were over a hundred feet away, but I could still hear them as clearly as if they had been sitting right next to me! It was super cool!

We eventually left the Whispering Gallery and started on the truly difficult climb to the next level – the Stone Gallery. Although it was only about 125 steps up, it was much more difficult than the climb to the Whispering Gallery.  Whereas the first climb had wide, shallow steps, the second climb was the complete opposite. The stairwell was only wide enough for one person and each stone step felt as though it was a mile high! They had obviously not been designed for someone of my diminutive height. It was as if someone had taken a normal staircase and smooshed it sideways and then stretched it tall – the steps were barely large enough for a foot and so tall that I felt like I was in marching band again! I swear I could have sat down on one and dangled my feet! It was at this point that I began cursing my love of greasy takeaway and my hatred of exercise.

Finally, we reached the Stone Gallery. Unlike the Whispering Gallery, this balcony is on the outside of the dome and overlooks all of London. It was incredible to see the city from such a different point of view – to recognize landmarks that I had only ever seen from the ground and get a new sense of how they all fit together to form the city. I tried taking some panoramic shots with Adrian’s camera, but only succeeded in switching on the blue filter (not sure how that happened), so unfortunately most of my photos of the skyline are blue. Dad managed to get a lot of photos with his camera, so there are pictures without the blue haze, but they are not in my possession.

See those three towers in the center? Our flat is right next to those!

After taking in the city, we continued up to the highest level of the dome – the Golden Gallery. Luckily, the passageway up was built in the space between the inside and the outside of the dome itself, the climb was not as grueling. Instead of tiny, steep staircases, there were multiple spiral staircases with railings and landings, which made for a much easier climb. Right before we reached the gallery, we entered a small, round room with a glass hole in the floor that looks down at the cathedral floor. It was a small window at the absolute center of the entire dome. Oh my goodness! Of course I knew that I was high up, but for some reason, I never feel like you get the true scale of just how high you are when you are on a balcony outside. But this hole in the floor put it all in perspective. I was fascinated, but many other people climbing the dome (including Adrian and Dad) looked down briefly and, because of the height, had to walk away.

So high up!! Photo from this website.

The Golden Gallery was another outside balcony, but much smaller than the one below. Again, the views of the city from that height were amazing and totally worth the 528 steps!

After descending the hundreds of stairs to the cathedral floor (a much easier task than the ascent), we walked around the ground floor. It was huge! The ceilings were enormously tall and covered with intricate and colorful mosaic work. There were choirs of angels, beasts from the Garden of Eden, and images of Jesus surrounded by a golden halo. It was absolutely beautiful.

Looking up at the dome

Closer look at some of the mosaics

Maybe I am a morbid person, but the thing I found most interesting were the many memorials dedicated to those who died in the World Wars. There were plaques for British, American, and Allied soldiers, former parishioners who fought and died, and people who died during the Blitz. It was something I have never experienced before in a church, especially not one in the States. I have always been interested in the memorialization of wars and their impact on culture, so to see so many monuments dedicated to the wars was truly fascinating.

Looking toward the altar

After walking around the massive ground floor of the cathedral, we went down another flight of stairs into the crypt. We saw many national heroes of Britain buried there, including Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, and Christopher Wren (the scientist and architect who designed the cathedral). It was very interesting, but we didn’t get to stay long, as there was a wedding scheduled and we had to leave.

All in all, it was an amazing day in an absolutely fantastic cathedral and I am so glad that Adrian, Dad, and I were able to experience it together. 

Dover Castle

Oh my goodness – it has been over two weeks since my last blog post! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone!

As I mentioned in my last post, my dad came to visit us! We did and saw so much stuff! Every day was jam-packed with activities, trips, food, and museums. One thing I wanted to make sure that we did with him was take him out of London. My dad is a country boy through and through, so I wanted him to experience a part of England that wasn’t just a busy city. Ideally we would have taken him to the Lake District, but since he was here for such a short period of time, we decided to take the train out to Dover.

Firstly, let me just say that watching my dad see cows and sheep in the English countryside was fantastic! He got so excited! 

Stairs leading to the castle grounds.

We arrived in Dover and after a quick fish & chip lunch, made our way up a massive hill to Dover Castle. If you haven’t heard of Dover Castle, it is a 12^th century castle – the largest in England – that overlooks the English Channel. There is more to the grounds than just the castle, however. In addition to the keep, there is an old Saxon church, a Roman lighthouse (which was over 2000 years old!!), and “secret war tunnels” built in the Napoleonic era and used in the World Wars.

Dover

A view of the cliffs. In the background: France!

We climbed around the complex’s outer defensive wall and stood overlooking the Channel. Because it was such a beautiful day (which was a nice change from the weather we had been having), we were able to see clear across the water to Calais, France. Looking down the shoreline, we could see the White Cliffs of Dover hugging the coast.

Making our way up the defensive walls.

We continued across the walls toward the castle itself, frequently stopping to look at the various cannons and hideaways built into the side of the defenses.  In one corner of the grounds, there was a medieval lookout tower – Adrian said it looked like I was walking through Rivendell! – covered in dates and initials carved into the stone. Some were recent, but most of them were much older. The oldest carving I found was from 1794!

I just need a long, flowy dress!

 

The castle

After making our way around the outer wall, we proceeded towards the castle itself. The stone walls were massive, but we were determined to make our way to the top. We entered the keep through the kitchens, which were set up as a medieval kitchen would have been. Dishes sat upon tables, waiting for someone to come and fill them with food.  Bread, wine, apples, and animal carcasses (all fake) covered work surfaces or hung from the ceilings. There were giant cauldrons where a servant would have done laundry. It honestly looked as if it was a working kitchen and all the people had just stepped out of the room for a moment. It was a really engaging way to see what life would have been like.

View of the kitchens

The practice was carried out through the entire castle. There were rooms decorated as bedrooms, where you could lie down in the little straw bed, throne rooms, and feasting rooms. On each of the four stories, the rooms were set up “as they would have been” when Henry II lived there. It was a really neat experience to be able to walk into a room and see what it looked like centuries before I was born! 

I wish I had more pictures of the rooms, but we used my dad's camera mostly and I forgot to download the photos before he left.

Finally we reached the top of the castle. The view was amazing! From the top, I could look down upon the lighthouse, the town of Dover, and see the entire castle complex. It was majestic! Seeing things from a different viewpoint is always something that I enjoy.

From the top of the tower

The top of the tower from the ground.

After the castle, we visited St. Mary in Castro, the church built on the grounds. There are references to the church being on the premises as early as 600 AD, although it was restored in the 16^th and the 19^th centuries. It was a very beautiful church, filled with mosaic-work on the walls and old stone archways. One of my favorite parts of the church was a Saxon doorway. On a wall in the middle of the church, about halfway up the aisle, there was a break in the tile work decorating the walls. In this break were some incredibly old stones in the shape of an archway. The door was walled up, but still recognizable as a door, even though it was obvious it had fallen into disrepair long before it had been sealed. I just thought it was really cool the way they left an impossible-to-use door in the design of the church.

Inside the church

 

Some of the tile work.

Blocked Saxon Doorway

Adrian with the Roman lighthouse.

Straight out of Doctor Who!!

The final thing we saw in Dover was the secret wartime tunnels. The tunnels, originally built in the 18^th century, were refurbished and used in the Second World War, first as air-raid shelters and then as a command bunker and military hospital. Perhaps what they are most famous for is Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940. Apparently the tunnels go on for about 6km, but we were only able to tour a small portion of them. 

The entrance to the tunnels.

I was not allowed to take photos in the tunnels, but I am not sure what I would have photographed, as the majority of the tour was multimedia. There were a couple rooms at the end of the tour set up as communication centers, but that was about it. My favorite part of the tour was actually the tour guide. He was very excited because they were about to film a couple scenes from the upcoming Into the Woods movie at the castle and he was hoping to get a picture with Meryl Streep! He was really excited and really knew his musicals!

All in all, Dover was a really cool trip. I’m really happy that we were able to take my dad out of London and share this awesome experience with him!