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European cities tend to have iconic cathedrals. There's Notre Dame in Paris, Berliner Dom in Berlin, The Doumo in Milan; and London has St. Paul's - famous for that scene in Harry Potter.
I'm a little ashamed to say that after so much time in London I still hadn't been anywhere near St. Paul's until yesterday. So after Shannae and I both got a day off (beginning of the school year is not exactly boom time for supply teachers), we jumped a train and headed into town.
Now, I've seen St. Paul's - it's difficult not to, like most of London's iconic attractions it's a stand-out feature of the skyline and can be seen from many of London's plethora of vantage points. But seeing St. Paul's up close is another experience altogether.
I'm a little ashamed to say that after so much time in London I still hadn't been anywhere near St. Paul's until yesterday. So after Shannae and I both got a day off (beginning of the school year is not exactly boom time for supply teachers), we jumped a train and headed into town.
Now, I've seen St. Paul's - it's difficult not to, like most of London's iconic attractions it's a stand-out feature of the skyline and can be seen from many of London's plethora of vantage points. But seeing St. Paul's up close is another experience altogether.
Sir Christopher Wren was a genius. I've seen a bunch of his buildings now and they were all great, but St. Paul's is amazing. This had to be his proudest achievement, this is the one he told girls about.
Picture it, if you will; he walks into a pub, orders an Old Fashioned (note: they were called a Fashioned back then), sees a nice 17th Century hotty at the bar, walks over to her and says "Have you seen St. Paul's? You know, big dome, tallest building in London, probably will be for the next three hundred years? Yeah, I designed that". Easy. Historical pick-up lines.
Picture it, if you will; he walks into a pub, orders an Old Fashioned (note: they were called a Fashioned back then), sees a nice 17th Century hotty at the bar, walks over to her and says "Have you seen St. Paul's? You know, big dome, tallest building in London, probably will be for the next three hundred years? Yeah, I designed that". Easy. Historical pick-up lines.
We had lunch in the crypt, a large section of which has been converted into a restaurant, cafe and a little shop. I love a little shop. The crypt is unusual at St. Paul's due to the fact it spans the entire building. I don't want to go into Wren's structural engineering, but essentially the large crypt houses the huge foundation pillars required to hold up a big heavy building on top of relatively soft ground. I find it a little humbling that for all of our contemporary knowledge and technology, when you walk into that crypt underneath a stone building that weighs kilotonnes, you're putting your faith in the design and craftsmanship abilities of people who lived 400 years ago. Also, lunch was good. I had pasta bake and salad. Shannae had quiche.
We walked around the building for a bit, took some photos, weaved our way through the hundreds of people eating lunch on the steps and had a squiz inside. You're forbidden from taking photos inside so I only took a couple of dodgy ones with my phone. We also didn't go right inside because there's an entry fee for visitors (to-do list). But the interior is spectacular and I look forward to getting a good look at some point later on.
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Much love.
Thanks for reading, like and comment below and check out Shannaesmiles for more.
Much love.