Ups and downs

What a day! We didn't have the early wake-up time this morning like yesterday (and tomorrow when we head out early for Oxford), but our travels today presented a different set of challenges and highlights. I quickly learned that I am fairly horrible at taking action shots, or rather, thanks to my camera's kind attempts to be sophisticated and compensate for any blur or jarring in a given shot, I am fairly horrible at taking action shots. We had some free time in Trafalgar Square this morning before the National Gallery opened to take some photos and capture transportation and motion in the city. There is quite the mix: the usual cars, motorcycles, and bikes, along with more city-oriented mass transit like buses and taxis, and (my favorite) mounted police. As a pedestrian, it seems like traffic is constantly bustling around you and you'll get plowed over if you attempt a crosswalk against the light. Enter Murphy's Law...

Standing by said crosswalks to capture moving vehicles today, it seemed like every shot stalled out because of a red light. Perhaps it was the time of day or a poor location choice in the Square on my part, but I got some rather unusual shots and probably some strange looks since the tourists usually turn and face the buildings rather than traffic for their pictures. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience and really drove home for me the major differences in traffic and transportation here compared to IPC. It was also an interesting opportunity to people watch and listen to the sounds of the city. I did have to relocate after awhile because the beeping of the crosswalks every time it's "safe" to cross can get a little shrill after awhile, but it was still an interesting way to experience London and definitely a new experience for me.

After touring the National Gallery and eating lunch in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Field (so cool), we got to my favorite part of the day. I enjoyed touring Westminister Abbey despite its picture ban and really liked Salisbury Cathedral (and the Magna Carta!), despite not knowing of or about it really beforehand. Both were great cathedral tours and fascinating architecture, but by far, my favorite place I've been has got to be St. Paul's. The outside, which we saw on our bus tour on Sunday, was impressive enough, but the inside is absolutely beautiful. I'm not so familiar with the famous royal wedding staged there since it happened before I was born, so St. Paul's wasn't on the radar for me as a must-see. I was very pleased with our "supertour," though, and really enjoyed seeing all of the monuments and chapels inside. I was surprised but glad to get to sit in the choir area and then see the chapel behind the altar area dedicated to American servicemen of WWII. Not knowing what the Florida symbol would be in the stained glass windows, I couldn't definitively spot it, but I did immediately find Indiana's, along with Kansas and Nevada (which the tour guide lady thought might be Texas but actually spelled out NEVADA around the points of the star). It was a fascinating tour, and we concluded with the chance to climb up to the galleries, which were something akin to observation platform/walkways in the central dome of the cathedral. The whispering galley was the lowest (and had a view of the inside), while the stone gallery was higher and exterior and the golden gallery, some 528 steps or approximately 85 metres above the cathedral floor, topped out the gallery viewing tours.

I think living on the fourth floor here helped with making the trek up, because after the whispering gallery, the stairs get steeper and narrower and become one-way. Of course, when I was climbing the last 152 steps between the stone gallery, there was one lady who freaked out one flight of stairs into our climb and insisted on going back down. With the narrow staircases, this didn't work too well, and even though I was able to let her pass, I think the group of tourists behind me was giving her a bit of a hard time about it, which was kind of sad. Two seconds later, though, we reached a "mind your head" sign that was not exaggerating. The guy in front of me who was a head taller than I am, hit his head and backpack while climbing up this super short final set of stairs. He was teetering around on the stairs and I had visions of him falling backwards onto me, which would then send me down the rest of the staircase to the landing some thirty steps below. Not a happy thought indeed. He recovered, though, and we made it to the top; it was definitely worth all of the winding steps, even if the top gallery was super narrow and crowded. (Peep made the climb as well, but given the height and wind, did not come out for a photo op beyond the stone gallery level.) It's amazing to think of how old those staircases are, though, and what they might have been used for. It was also good exercise and helps me to appreciate that we have only 59 stairs up to our flat. :)

An illuminated Book of John in the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields

Winding staircase in the south tower at St. Paul's

Peep in the staircase

Peep on the Stone Gallery level of St. Paul's (afraid to get too close to the edge because of the wind and the fall)

A view from the Golden Gallery