Highlight of my trip

I'm in Bath now (close to Wales in western England), and goodness, I'm paying £1 per 20 minutes of blogging, so I need to be concise. (That sentence just cost me 5 pence!)

I got up early yesterday morning and checked out of the hotel and left my luggage downstairs. I took the Tube to St Paul's Cathedral in the business district and was there by 0830 when it opened. I felt especially conspicuous as a tourist during morning rush hour when everyone else was wearing suits and ties.

The cathedral is 550 feet long (read--massive) and 250 feet wide across the transcept. I like the nave a lot more--it was decorated according to Sir Christopher Wren's plan of elegant simplicity, whereas the choir ceiling glittered in a cacophony of colored glass mosaics, evidently to Queen Victoria's liking. Understated and inspiring it was not. I enjoyed wandering around and seeing various monuments--Sir Wellington (who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo) and Lord Nelson (who defeated the French navy at sea). Britain's history as a nation is so tied in with St. Paul's Cathedral that secular monuments such as these have found their way into the ancient church.

The absolute thrill, however, was climbing a few hundred steps first to the Whispering Gallery above the transcept at the very base of the dome, then to the Stone Gallery (outside, just before the dome starts to narrow), and finally to the Golden Gallery (outside, nearly 400 feet above the street below). There, I beheld London in the cool morning, with clouds streaked above the Thames. In the distance I could see the Houses of Parliament, and below men hurried to work and buses navigated the narrow streets, but up above the city lay in the peace of the morning.

My next stop was the British Museum where I saw many old things that were conspicuously missing from my parents and my tour of Egypt, as well as a good part of the Parthenon's art. I'm so glad it's here in London instead of all in Athens, so that more people can see it. It's really for the world's advantage.

I worked my way to Victoria Station and caught a three-hour bus trip to Bath, which I will write more on later. Suffice it to say that, although thankful to know now what it's like to stay in a hostel, I now better appreciate a non-springy bed, complimentary towels, privacy and such.