London Day 2: St. Paul's Cathedral

A St. Paul's church of one sort or another has stood on the site of St. Paul's Cathedral since the year 604. Fires have destroyed the building twice, the most recent in 1666 during the Great Fire in London. Following the Great Fire officials commissioned the architect Sir Christopher Wren to rebuild the cathedral. The foundation stone was laid in 1675 and was finished about 40 years later. The cathedral stood for several hundred years until damaged by bombs during WWII. Local fire brigades, understanding the significance of this treasure, worked tirelessly to limit the damage from bombings. Even Sir Winston Churchill insisted that the cathedral be saved at all costs. St. Paul's Cathedral is the nation's church and has been the site of many state events. Sir Winston Churchill's funeral was held here, and Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married here. Martin Luther King stopped here on his way to collect his Nobel Peace Prize, and next month the Dalai Lama will receive the Templeton Prize, a world science and religion award, here.

The dome is 360 feet high, making it the second biggest in the world after St. Peter's in Rome. It is actually 3 domes, one inside the other, and weighs 65,000 tons! It is possible to climb to the top, and the views of London are magnificent. Scott, of course, had to do it and so he climbed all 527 steps to stand and gaze at the city around him.

Like other cathedrals in the city, many people are entombed at St. Paul's. Lord's Nelson and Wellington are entombed here, as well as Sir Christopher Wren, the architect.

The inside of this cathedral is fabulous, but, again, no photography allowed. Here are a few more pictures of this beautiful cathedral...

This is actually a photo of  one of our postcards.
You can definitely get a sense of the beauty of the cathedral!

Oh, by the way, did you notice the blue sky in the pictures? Late in the afternoon the clouds finally parted and the sun made a brief appearance. And, yes, we did get to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace although it was still quite cloudy and foggy. I managed to get a little video, which won't load on the free wireless here at our hotel. So, our Changing of the Guard blog will have to wait until we get back home this weekend. 

Of course, after St. Paul's we headed to Harrod's, London's most famous department store. Scott has been quite under the weather this week, and I was not feeling at all well by the time we arrived at Harrod's so I was expecting to just dash inside, look around quickly, and go back to our hotel. Scott insisted on going to the top floor and making a tour through each level on our way down. He did, however, give up on shopping once he discovered a pair of teeny tiny short shorts, complete with frayed edges and worn spots, for f190. That's roughly $370 US!! We did take a couple of pictures though, just to say we were there. This photo was taken in one of the food markets inside Harrod's. Those counters are marble, in case you were wondering.