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St. Paul’s Cathedral

Next stop today was St. Paul’s Cathedral. But on the way…

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First glimpse!

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In the gardens at the rear.

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It was only here that I realised that I hadn’t budgeted my time to include waiting in a long queue! Well, to my surprise, there was absolutely no queue!

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Photography is not allowed in St. Paul’s, so you’ll have to go here to see some of the wonders within. It was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined… The £18 entry fee included a very good audiovisual guide that let me explore at my own pace.

One thing I didn’t realise you could do was climb the dome! You start up a wooden spiral staircase to the interior Whispering Gallery, then climb to the exterior Stone Gallery through a narrow stone staircase. I thought the Whispering Gallery was alarmingly high up until I got to this first exterior gallery…

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You then climb a series of metal spiral staircases to the Golden Gallery. Total steps from the ground: 527. OUCH. But the view!

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The main things I took away from St. Paul’s:

-How controversial the design was for the day. The Protestants were used to Gothic architecture with its arches, not the domes of the Baroque style;

-This ornate church was more Catholic in style, but was very much tailored to Protestant practice;

-St. Paul’s survived the Blitz almost undamaged thanks to a fire brigade that patrolled the roof. Only one bomb got through.

-Almost nothing of ancient London survived the Blitz. This is why the city looks so modern and is so drivable as it was rebuilt after the Second World War.

Last glimpse!

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I had about an hour and a half to my tea reservation when I came out St. Paul’s. When I had set out in the morning, I regretted scheduling tea for midafternoon, but it wound up being perfect timing since I was famished when I came out of the cathedral!  I wandered around the area a bit, stumbled onto another major Sherlock shooting location that delighted me, and then took the Tube from St. Paul’s Station to Oxford Circus on the Central line, then I rode one block south on the Victoria line to Green Park.

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That reminds me that I forgot to give my Oyster update! A newsagent on the way to Kensal Green Station was able to sort out half of my Oyster problem, ie. putting money on the card so I could travel today and tomorrow. I’ll sort out the other half when the charges post…

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Guildhall Art Gallery & Roman Amphitheatre

I’d asked my best friend Bast what she would like to do in London. Most of her list was of interest to me, but the only thing on it that fit in with my itinerary was the Guildhall Art Gallery & Roman Amphitheatre. It was about halfway between the Tower of London and St. Paul’s. Considering what an amazing find this amphitheatre was, it really isn’t that well known. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Bast!

London is really easy to get around. There is tons of signage everywhere, so even getting to something a little off the tourist path was super easy. I never did get a SIM card for my phone, so I couldn’t use it for directions and I also never got a paper map. I didn’t need either.

On the way, I decided to mail Bast a postcard. That was… trying. I passed a business marked “Post Office,” but it didn’t say Royal Mail anywhere. I logged onto the free WiFi provided by the Tesco Express a couple of doors down to confirm that “Post Office” is just that and that Royal Mail has been privatised. So I went back to Post Office and a very large and scary looking man demanded to know what I wanted. I said that I wanted to mail a postcard and he looked at me like I was a complete idiot (maybe that’s not how you say that in the UK?) and told me to use one of the self serve machines.

I wasn’t keen on doing that and tried to get to a counter, but he blocked me and repeated that I had to use the self serve machines. I went to a machine and poked around the menus for a bit until I was fairly confident that I had located the correct postage. I then had to figure out where to insert the coins I wanted to use for payment. That done, a stamp printed, but I had no idea where to mail my letter. I went back to the entrance and found two slots marked “Franked mail”, one for 1st class and the other for 2nd class. Mr. Big Scary Dude was gone and there was a long queue at the service counter, so I went back to Tesco for their WiFi to look up which slot I should drop my letter into and got nowhere. So I went back and stuck it in the 2nd class slot… Bast, I hope it gets to you. If not, I tried my best! 😀

I then found the Guildhall Art Gallery, located in a pretty courtyard. The amphitheatre is below it. The entrance is to the right where you can see people queuing. Admission is free, but you have to put your bags through a scanner, hence why it took some time to get in.

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The amphitheatre was found during the construction of the art gallery and was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in London in over a century. The discovery meant that major changes had to be made to the art gallery’s design.

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The amphitheatre would have been oval. You can see here a drawing of what it would have looked like.

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I liked this door. 🙂

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Remains of the wooden drainage system.

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The ruins were amazing!

It was already past noon by this point and I knew St. Paul’s could warrant a couple of hours, so I didn’t visit the art gallery, although I did check out a couple of works that caught my eye.

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Morning At Tower Bridge

It’s a good thing this was my last full day in London since I’m exhausted and my legs hurt! 😀 Last night, other guests were extremely loud and traipsed up and down the stairs into the wee hours of the morning and then got up at the crack of dawn, so I didn’t get much sleep. I’m definitely ready to be in my own space again, and especially my own bathroom!

I spent some time on Google Maps last night trying to come up with an itinerary that would get me to Piccadilly for my 3:30 reservation for afternoon tea without spending a lot of time going between places and still allowing me to cross off a few things on my list of things I thought I might want to see while I’m here. I still had two big and expensive things left, the Tower of London and St. Paul’s. Having poked through ancient castles before, it was very easy to decide to just look at the exterior of the Tower of London. Plus, a fellow I met on the London Eye had told me that Tower Bridge, which should have been on my list, would be a great place to view St. Mary’s Axe/the Gherkin.

If I started my day at the Tower of London and ended it at Piccadilly, I could fit it in St. Paul’s and the Roman amphitheatre as they were right between the two points. So there was my plan for my last day!

To get to Tower Bridge, I rode the Bakerloo Line to Baker Street, then the Jubilee Line to London Bridge. There, I wandered around for a bit as the area was interesting.

The Shard rises above London Bridge Station.

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This was an interesting foot path. Don’t want to misstep!

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First glimpse of Tower Bridge.

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The Gherkin at last!

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A lot of folks think this is London Bridge, but it really is called the Tower Bridge.

 

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The Tower of London.

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Before crossing the bridge, I decided to explore this unusual street, Shad Thames.

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So much history in these worn steps…

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I think the Gherkin is rather beautiful…

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I hadn’t had coffee or breakfast yet and was starting to get peckish. I passed this restaurant on the way to a café that looked promising.

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Found a Café Rouge on the St. Katharine Dock and enjoyed breakfast while looking at the activity on the quay.

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Pain aux raisins and an Americano count as breakfast when you’re on vacation and spending a lot of time on your feet! The pastry was not what I was expecting at all, but dang was it yummy! I was surprised when the bill came since the coffee was about £3 and the pastry about the same, but my bill was only £3.85 with the service charge. Must be a coffee and pastry deal. I’m trying not to freak out over prices (and doing a really good job of it), but that was appreciated.

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After breakfast, it was already past 11:00 and so it was time to hoof it to the amphitheatre. But first, a few more glimpses of the Tower of London.

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And a purple cab for Vicki.

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And a closeup of the top of the Shard. Wow!

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A Day at the British Museum

The only thing on the plate for today was to spend it at the British Museum! Getting there was super easy. I just had to take the overground from Kensal Green to Euston Station, then walk a few blocks down Gower Street. Since the exterior set for “Sherlock” was literally on my route, with no detours, I stopped for a picture and to have breakfast at Speedy’s Cafe, also featured on the show.

I got to the museum just before 11AM. I had a plan to tackle it. I would start with what I came to see, the Rosetta Stone and the Egyptian artifacts, then work my way down from the top. Ha ha ha ha ha. The British Museum is a warren of rooms and staircases and it was impossible create any sort of logical path through it. I ended up doing the museum very haphazardly, often doubling back multiple times to the same rooms by a different staircase. I’m pretty sure I got to every room, but, obviously, I did not read everything!

I had lunch in the Great Court on the ground floor, a wonderfully flavourful baguette loaded with cheese, pickled onions, Dijon, and more. I could not believe how good it was! A few hours after that, my aching legs shaky, I went to the Great Court restaurant upstairs to have a cream tea. As research had told me, service was dire, but it was nice to sit for almost an hour with my treat and work on my Bulgarian. 🙂 A cream tea is a pot of tea with scones, jam, and Devonshire (clotted) cream. I have a full afternoon tea booked for tomorrow!

I stayed at the museum almost right to closing, going back to see things in less crowded conditions. The order of my pictures will reflect that.

The British Museum was everything I’d dreamt it would be and MORE! One thing that really delighted me was that there were “touch stations,” where you could handle real ancient artifacts.

After the museum, I thought of doing “something else,” then realised that I was completely tuckered. So I headed home, going out again about an hour later to the Kensal Rise high road to get some fish and chips for dinner. That walk did me in. My legs are sore!

Tomorrow is going to be interesting because of my Oyster/public transportation problem. More on that after the pictures. I’ve got some notes, but the pictures are more meant to be things that caught my attention than a way to educate my readers. 🙂

So my Oyster problem. The Oyster card is a prepaid card. You tap it when you start a journey and tap it at the end and whatever your fare is gets deducted from your card balance. I only had enough money left to travel today. I tried to “top up” three times today and each time, the transaction failed. No one at the ticket booths could help me. I called the bank and they said that the money was charged. I called Oyster (yay for Skype on both accounts) and they said there was nothing to do for me since they only refund money to UK residents with a bank account here. So now, I’m out about 60CAD (!!!), although I’m pretty sure I can get my money back by filing a fraud report with CIBC once the transactions post, although that will very likely take months to sort out. But what do I do tomorrow since there’s not enough money on my account to go anywhere? Needless to say, I’m not giving Transport for London my credit card again! Public transit in London is excellent, but you have to be very self-sufficient as there is no help available and the payment system is unnecessarily complicated and convoluted. What I will try tomorrow is a newsagent on the Kensal Green high street who has an Oyster symbol. Maybe I’ll be able to pay with cash…

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Madame Tussaud’s London

I had a voucher for Madame Tussaud’s so I was told to go to a fast track window to exchange the voucher for a real ticket. Madame Tussaud’s really dropped the ball here. They had one person working the counter and she got stuck on a couple of customers, taking ages to process them. There should have been someone else working to do the exchanges for customers without problematic situations. I’d already queued a very long time twice at the Eye and when it took almost 15 minutes for them to process two customers and then a further 10 minutes to let my group into the museum, it was a bit demoralising. I was tired by this point and starting to regret not waiting to go another day. But we were finally let in and the wait was worth it!

I’m not going to share photos of everything I saw, just my favourites and those that turned out well. The first statue I saw was of Morgan Freeman.

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Handsome George. He looks a little less lifelike than other statues, though. His eyes are wrong.

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Aaaaaaah. The most gorgeous man in entertainment.

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Look at those cheekbones! Those eyes! That Cupid’s Bow!

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Okay, I’m a tad obsessed. 😀

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Sir Sean Connery.

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Sir Patrick Stewart. He looked really lifelike!

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Colin Firth.

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John Wayne.

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Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen (that reminds me I need to catch up on the Hunger Games).

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Marilyn Monroe. Men (and I use the term loosely) tried to get a look up her skirt when it would blow up.

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Dame Judi Dench as M.

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Daniel Craig, my favourite Bond.

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Bruce Willis. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator was next to him, but I could not get a shot as he was too popular.

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Steven Spielberg was the most lifelike. Very eerie!

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Alfred Hitchcock.

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Henry VIII.

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Princess Diana also looked very lifelike.

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The process for making the statues is very intimate and Madame Tussaud’s has managed three sittings with the Queen over the years!

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Three different statues of the Queen.

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Queen Victoria.

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The Royal family. I could not get a better picture as it was SUPER busy. I imagine they’ll be adding Prince George and Princess Charlotte at some point.

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Vincent Van Gogh.

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Stephen Hawking.

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Albert Einstein was also very lifelike!

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Charles Dickens.

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Pablo Picasso.

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The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

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Churchill.

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A very young looking President Obama.

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John F. Kennedy (doesn’t really look like him…) and Benazir Bhutto.

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Desmond Tutu.

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Part of Madame Tussaud’s birth certificate.

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The other half.

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Madame Tussaud.

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It was interesting to learn here how far back these wax likenesses were made, right to the 18th century! Some of Madame Tussaud’s methods are still in use today!

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There was information about how the statues are made. The measurements sound very invasive and speak to how respected Madame Tussaud’s is for people to pose for statues.

Next came a fun ride through London’s history in a black cab. No photos allowed for this. The evolution of the city was striking. I really enjoyed this.

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The last bit was a treat, dedicated to the Marvel superhero movies. Here’s Hawkeye.

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Hulk.

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Wolverine, the first Canadian I saw in the whole museum… *wry grin*

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Captain America.

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The last bit was a 4D movie of Spiderman, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, and a woman I didn’t recognise saving Buckingham Palace. It was a lot of fun, especially since I like those movies!

There was a Star Wars thing after for an additional £3, but I wasn’t interested in that at all.

I really enjoyed Madame Tussaud’s, but it was incredibly rushed and busy. It would have been more fun to go with someone so we could take pictures of each other with the statues (which you can touch!). A really kind man offered to take a picture of me with Benedict Cumberbatch. Kind of a shame my coat almost matched the background!

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I was peckish when I got out of Madame Tussaud’s, so I went around the corner to see if the sushi place I’d scouted yesterday was still open. Nope. It was getting late on a Sunday night… I turned around to go to the Tube station, figuring that I could just stop at Tesco Express and grab something to nuke at home, when a man thrust a flier into my hands for the new Holmes Grill (so new I can’t find anything on it online). It’s a Lebanese place! It’s at 220 Baker Street, not quite in front of 221. £4 got me the best falafel sandwich I’ve had in far, far too long. It was sooooooooo good. If I ever need to move to London and can afford to do so, I’m moving to the 200 Block of Baker Street since it hosts all my favourite cuisines. 😀

I was tuckered out by that point, so I jumped back on the Tube and headed home. It’s now 11PM and I’m not even sleepy! I’m not in a rush to get up tomorrow, though, since I don’t want to get on the Tube until past 9:30 (cheaper) and the British Museum doesn’t open till 10:00 anyway. I’ll very likely brunch at Speedy’s restaurant and won’t do anything else all day.

It’s been a very full, but lovely and unhurried, first day in London. I am really loving this city. With it being the least expensive place to fly to from Canada, I suspect I will very likely be back. Funny how I never had any desire to come here and now I’m already planning future trips!