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Published: June 14th 2017
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Geo: 51.5205, -0.123871
Today was about the divine and the materialistic.
We started the day at St Paul's Cathedral - which should be the divine part of the day. We had never entered St Paul's, either when we lived here or in 2010 - I think each time, the exorbitant entry (£50 for the family!) put us off. When we entered, it is clearly a beautiful church, and the dome is very impressive (second largest in the world). We wandered around for a while, looking at the graves of famous people.
Then up, up, up 300 odd stairs spiraling up to the Whispering Gallery, which runs around the "bottom" of the dome. No surprises that it wasn't Tom's idea of fun. We struggled for a while to get he "whispering" happening, but eventually had it working (people in between the whisperers block the sound!). Then, because it was a one way system, poor Tom had to join us to walk up to the Stone Gallery - another couple of hundred stairs and opening to an external gallery that runs around the outside of the Dome. At this point, Tom expressed forcefully that he had been pushed enough and was feeling very ill
with vertigo. Steven and the boys made their way down, whilst Georgia and I went up ANOTHER 200 stairs, this time using rickety metal spiral stairs that weaved between the inner and outer shells of the dome. We were so high, but still both shocked when the guide showed us a small glass "window" in the floor - we were standing above the central rose in the very centre of the dome of St Paul's. Amazing! The gallery views over London were good - it was the first grey, foggy day we had experienced in London, so visibility was limited. We returned down to the crypts, exploring the graves of Nelson, Wellington and Florence Nightingale then headed off.
We went to Lambs Conduit for lunch - a semi-pedestrian street in Bloomsbury where Dickens frequented. It wasn't as picturesque as I remembered - maybe not a winter destination! - but we found a pub that had been rebuilt after a zeppelin bomb destroyed it (the stopped clock is still in the bar) that did great sausages and mash and gravy - then a little afternoon kip!
Later, we headed out to Regent Street - the materialistic part of the day!. From Leicester
Sq, past the buskers to the new Lego Shop on Piccadilly Circus (great lego murals and statues!) to the M&M shop (nauseating smell of chocolate) to Lillywhites to buy Tom an Everton football scarf, then up Regent St to Hamleys toy shop (Matt and Georgia and I could have stayed there for hours - magic tricks, flying UFO, returning planes, bubble guns), popping into Liberty's (just because it is beautiful) and walking up Carnaby St. The crowds were festive, the street decorations were beautiful - angels with wide glittering arms and wings that seemed to move - and the air was crisp and lovely.
By the time we got to Oxford St, we were keen to finish our shopping - we were headed to Mark's &a Spencer's to buy some good thermal underwear! - and then keen to be finished.
We found a Pan-Asian restaurant off Oxford St - lots of fun and everyone was very happy to have Asian food rather than pub food. Home and off to sleep - we had walked over 19000 steps, or 14 km!
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