Recommend: St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's is amazing. Hands down. But let me mention the crowds at the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. As someone who wasn't expecting it, I was surprised by the thousands of people gathered to view something I didn't know about until that morning. I guess I was never one for all the royal pomp and circumstance. I only watched the royal wedding because I was up all night working, and I couldn't even watch it for that long even then. I never cared much about the royals at all. So, the crowds were really not worth it. We stayed for the changing but the band was still playing as we were escaping the crowd. I do want to go back and do the tour of Buckingham Palace, but not when the changing of the guards is happening. I suppose I should get used to crowds since I am going to be going to many different World Heritage tourist sites.

After escaping from the crowds and going under Wellington's Arch again, we headed to St. Paul's. I wasn't über-excited about it, but I loved the beauty of the paintings, the sculptures, the frescos, and the dome. It was all wonderfully beautiful. It was so beautiful and I probably would have cried at certain points if I hadn't been so tired. The faith that created it and kept it up was amazing. While I wasn't allowed to take pictures, I wish I had been.

Then after climbing many many many stairs we got to the whispering gallery, then out to the outside of the bottom of the dome, then to the outside of the top of the dome. All of these provided amazing views of London, and made me appreciate the sunny day we came up on. London was spread out beneath me and was wonderfully large with very few skyscrapers. After that I went around Covent Garden to get some gourmet ice cream (loved it) and crepes (good) and watched a street performer put his entire body through a tennis racket. Then we wandered over to see Matilda the Musical. I liked the book better.

But I am tired. I'm not sure if it is all the walking, only sleeping six hours a night, or remnants of jet lag, but I am tired. I wish I could just keep going, but I may need to slow down a bit. But it's London, and there is so much to see and do and I now have the chance.