Wednesday, April 6, 2011
London England
Another big day planned today. We met Tara for lunch today at 11:30pm at her office, then off toward Carnaby street to an eatery called 'Mother Mash'. All they serve there are mashed potatoes and gravy, and meat pies or sausages. The mash is either creamy or lumpy (yes, the Brits like theirs lumpy) and there are about 8 varieties of gravy, about 6 varieties of meat pies, and about 8 varieties of sausage. All together, very tasty, and we have been here several times with Tara in the past - it is always a treat. After, we went with her to a really neat department store called Liberty, just off Carnaby street, and then she steered us to the Oxford Circus tube stop and we were off to Moorgate to visit Leanne for a brief time. This is the week of board meetings for the company that Leanne works for, and she is uber-busy but has a moment for us. We deliver to her some pasta we brought from Spagetti Factory in Gastown, Vancouver and a Seattle Seahawks football jersy. She introduced us to some of the officers and directors, very nice as we get to put faces to the names.
Off then for a short walk toward the Bank tube stop, then a short jog to the right, a bit of a wander, and we arrive at St. Paul's Cathedral. One of the truly remarkable buildings of the world, just a short walk from where Leanne works, amazing, we'll never get them to come home again to Vancouver or 'the wack'. Their home is here in London, and rightly so. Went in on a tour of St. Pauls, 14.50 pounds each but worth it. We wandered around, it looks like so many cathedrals that we have seen on these trips but no matter as they are all historic for their own reasons. This one survived the London Blitz, though it was damaged severely in some places. The church had placed 'watchers' around the roof of the building, and they fought the fires caused by the German incendiary bombs that landed on or in the cathedral. This small group of faithful are credited with saving the structure from being destroyed by fire, as a cribbing of timbers is central to the walls and particularly to domes and their supports, and a fire there could never have been contained if it had not been attacked quickly and vigorously.
We wanted to see the dome from the inside, so we found our way to the staircase and began to climb. This staircase is within the walls of the cathedral, and is narrow and winding and very confined, surrounded as we were with rock. Around and around we went, spiraling around a central rock pilar, lit from within but very little opportunity for viewing. A long, steep climb. I went to the lower dome (the so called 'whispering gallery' because you can hear sounds from the vast distance to the other side amazingly clearly, even whispers) and stopped there, but Jan went higher, up to the top. Very brave of Jan on a sunny hot day, and quite a hike too, but the photo opportunity was worth it as you see below.
After exhausting both ourselves and the viewing opportunities in the dome and on the cathedral floor we exited to the basement, the 'crypts'. There we found many famous people entombed, including Horatio Nelson among many. The others will forgive me for not mentioning them, I trust. Finally, out the door to the sunshine.
For the next act of today's drama, we took the tube to Sloan Square and then walked the short distance to Pimlico Street and Promemoria where our niece, Alison works. We met her there at 6:00pm, and walked to her new apartment in Battersea via the Chelsea Bridge.
We met her new room mate Nick, and his girlfriend, and Alison prepared a superb Spagetti dinner with Pesto and Garlic sauce. Spectacular. A cab home, the driver using a long route via the Wandsworth bridge, but who cares as it was fixed-price so we got a tour for free. Home by 10:00pm, and welcome as we are both still jet-lagged in spite of the melatonin diet that we have been following.
