Since putting the trip’s false start(s) behind us, in the last day and a half we’ve been doing a lot of walking, thankfully not much getting lost, and have been seeing a lot of the sights.
The British Museum was top of my list (not exactly sure why), and since it was a short walk from where we were staying, we began there yesterday afternoon. It has an amazing collection, which we had to rush through, but we saw the most important pieces – Rosetta Stone? Check. Parthenon Sculptures? Check. Easter Island giant head? Check. If you visit, it’s probably best not to think too much about the slightly questionable sourcing of some of the artifacts though…
This morning it was off to Holly’s top pick – St Paul’s Cathedral. The walk there took us through squares (Leicester and Trafalgar), past the original location of Scotland Yard (and the Sherlock Holmes themed pub across the road), and then along the Thames, with a brief stop at Cleopatra’s Needle (seeing an ancient Egyptian object that had been given to the UK was quite refreshing).
Having previously watched Kevin “Grand Designs” McCloud get rather excited over the architecture of St Paul’s, I was quite interested to see it in person. I was not however ready for the enormity of the building. Even when we were still quite a way off, the dome of the cathedral rose above the city skyline, emerging from the fog that lingered late into the morning. Up close it dwarfed everything around it, and the climb to the top of the dome certainly made its magnitude felt with every one of the 528 steps. The inside of the cathedral is equally impressive and there’s something for everyone – Holly got excited by a John Donne memorial, and I by Alexander Fleming’s presence in the crypt.
After some lunch in the crypt (only now do I realise that’s perhaps an odd place for a cafe), we crossed the Thames and spent the afternoon at Tate Modern. And just because it was close, we finished up walking past the Globe Theatre, so that can be crossed off the list too. The Tower of London, Westminster and other “must sees” may have to wait until we return to London in a few days time – tomorrow we collect a car and drive out to Salisbury and Stonehenge.
FYI Crown Solsers – we ran into Cheryl Drummy at St Paul’s. I guess it really is impossible to escape the public service.