London Town



St. Paul's Cathedral

 I guess you can't really call it London town as it is a huge city with about 5 million people scurrying about. I took Sunday off as a rest day, then headed out early Monday morning to take in a few sights - St. Paul's Cathedral being one of them.
The towering dome is an easy landmark to find, and a quick walk from the underground. Took the time to listen to a choir and steep in the enormity of the cathedral.  It is an active church with several services each day, which the paying tourists are admonished to respect people at worship.
You also can't take photos in the church, so the following is a photo of a sign depicting a portion of the interior.  Parts of the exterior are undergoing a facelift.  Many of the city's icons are getting spruced up for the impending 2012 Olympics.

In the plaza next to the Cathedral is a monument...that you get to by walking through an old archway with medieival wood and metal looking gates. People were sitting eating their lunch and enjoying the sunshine...and with all the different languages being spoken you could have been at the Tower of Babel.
It was a good spot to people watch, as are the tube and trains.  I've noticed that people don't smile alot, maybe something to do with the gloomy weather. But they are always willing to answer my questions and give directions which bodes well as hosts of the Olympics.

Monument by St. Paul's Cathedral

 I hopped a bus out front of St. Paul's headed to London Bridge, which by the way is NOT falling down...where I ended up was a huge, bus, train, tube station a couple blocks from the Thames river walk. So I strolled to views of the Tower Bridge and stopped in at London City Hall.  City Hall sort of looks like a off balance easter egg - distinctive but I'll take Edmonton's glass pyramid any day.  Inside was quite sterile, airport security check and people all locked behind doors. Council chambers had a nice view of the river though (just in case business gets too boring).
I have to get ready to head out to the theatre - going to an afternoon matinee of  'WICKED' - sort of a prequel to Wizard of Oz.


London City Hall