St. Paul's Cathedral was going to be one of the venues for the day, but ended up being the only one. We arrived just in time for a guided tour which took us to areas of the cathedral open only to visitors paying for the tour--for example, the Geometric Staircase (seen in movies including one Harry Potter film). We learned about the two large bells, Tom and Paul, in the clock tower. Tom rings on the hour and Paul only sounds at 1 PM daily. We just missed hearing "him" so we may have to go back. We learned all about Christopher Wren, and how it took 35 years to build the cathedral (making Wren one of the few cathedral architects to see his work completed) but it took 60 years to build the Wellington Monument inside. Our docent also told us about how a group of people took turns staying in the cathedral during the London Blitz, to put out any fires from the bombings, thereby saving it from destruction. We also learned how Queen Victoria had the beautiful mosaics added to the nave. We went through the American Memorial Chapel and then on to the famous painting Light of the World by William Holman Hunt. We saw the tombs of Christopher Wren, Lord Leighton, Turner, Millais, Admiral Nelson (laid to rest in a tomb that was originally meant for someone else), General Wellington, and monuments to Florence Nightingale, John Donne, Winston Churchill, to name only a few. We saw the replica of the original Gothic cathedral that was destroyed in the 1666 fire. After the tour we stopped in the Crypt Cafe to share a sandwich and then looked in the shop, but when we went to walk up the steps into the Dome, we discovered it was closed for the day. They marked our tickets so that we could reenter another day. It was almost time for Evensong so we decided to stay for that. We sat in the Mayor's seat in the Choir (or Quire) with its beautifully carved wood, with many carved cherubs, each one modeled after a different child so each has a unique face.

Met Gord for Indian food in Soho after walking partway across the Millenium Bridge for a nice view of the Thames as well as St. Paul's. Came home to plan for tomorrow's big day--visiting two famous stone circles.

Rain, rain, go away.