434 Steps

Saturday morning I did the proper tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral. I even bought the additional audio so I could take it all in. As I walked towards that beautiful dome, I was thinking about my first visit to London after I moved and how St. Paul’s was the first magnificent landmark that I came in contact with. Seeing it again almost six months later, I felt so much more settled in my environment. That first weekend I had walked into the church, lit a candle, and talked to God. I couldn’t take in the beauty around me because I was still too afraid this move was a crazy idea.

February not exactly a tourist heavy month, and having arrived not long after the doors had opened, St. Paul’s was more peaceful than ever. I highly recommend getting a chance to be standing in that building without a tour group hot on your heels.

I climbed up to the Whispering Gallery, but having no one to whisper to, I’ll take the audio tour’s word for it that you can hear someone whisper from the other side of the dome. After the Whispering Gallery, you can climb up to two other galleries that allow you to walk around the dome on the outside. To the top is 434 steps, and while I thought I might die, I did it. It was a beautifully sunny day so the pictures I got were worth it and a little exercise didn’t hurt either.

You can’t take pictures in St. Paul’s but if you go to their website, you can take a virtual tour. This is probably additional evidence of me watching too many movies, but when I was standing at the ledge of the Whispering Gallery looking down on the beautiful floor below, I was thinking, it would be a great scene if there was a fight in the Whispering Gallery with someone plummeting to their death down on the Cathedral floor. Do the virtual tour and tell me that the floor of the Cathedral would not make a good death scene!