Stuart headed out early this morning to grab the rental car from the parking garage, fill it up and return it to the depot. Once he returned at 8am, we all headed off again on another walk through London.
We walked the 2kms or so to St Paul’s Cathedral again, however this time we decided to pay the entrance fee and do the self-guided tour. The St Paul’s Cathedral must be one of the most amazing and beautiful buildings anywhere in the world and the current building is approximately 350 years old.
We walked around the various parts of the cathedral before undertaking the 528 steps to the Golden Gallery, which is the highest point of the building, circles the exterior of the dome and provides incredible views of the city. On the way we stopped at the Whispering Gallery level which is located above the base of the main dome and allows people to sit on opposite of the sides of the large dome and whisper to each other.
We continued on higher to the top. At times the stairway were through cramped spaces and lots of spiral stairs. It was just an experience climbing to the top and thinking of all the fascinating history the building has been through and the people who have walked through those spaces.
A photo of us at the Golden Gallery in the cool London morning
After St Paul’s Cathedral, we went to the Starbucks right next door and sat down for coffee and hot chocolate for morning tea. We then continued our walk west towards Trafalgar Square where we eventually sat near the base of the Nelson’s column and ate an early lunch.
We headed north towards the Lego Store and M&Ms world.
This is a large lego model of Big Ben which of course, chimes just like the real one.
We then walked towards Piccadilly Circus and back towards Buckingham Palace again.
After leaving the Buckingham Palace shop, we stopped off in St James Park and all took a seat on the grass for a rest.
We headed off towards Westminster Abbey (which was closed as it had only been used earlier the day for a remembrance service which the two Princes and Kate attended) and had a closer look at the British Parliament building.
This is a photo that Jenna orchestrated and had been planning for a couple of months, with the assistance of hands from Dad and Sarah.
We continued our walking towards 10 Downing Street, the Horse Guards and then back to Trafalgar Square … another solid day’s walking.
We returned back to our apartment for dinner and began packing for our departure from London tomorrow. We are catching the train to Paris Disneyland on Thursday where we will be staying for 3 nights.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in London and the spring weather has been very kind to us. Very cool mornings followed by beautiful sunny days.
Glad you have had such a great time in London. Did you go on the Eye the view from there is spectacular and the weather was good. Well hope your train trip goes well. It goes very fast. Not much to see except a blur. Will you have time to see anything on Lille. We just saw the station. Luv xxxooo