Wild Church Views

On Friday morning, I woke up feeling like I was getting better. After grabbing some convenient eats from Marks & Spencer Simply Food, we were off to grab the earliest London double decker tour bus we could find.

In retrospect, the double decker tour was probably a little unnecessary – for some reason it felt boring and long compared to the tour I took in 2004. We got off near St. Paul's Cathedral, which was our next destination. Unfortunately, I was actually feeling bad again, and what's worse, JD was starting to feel a bit ill too. We made a quick pit stop at a nearby coffee house to grab some tea and then to a pharmacist for some medicine.



I never had a chance to visit St. Paul's the last time I was in London, which was funny since I stayed just down the road. After a quick walk around the cathedral, we made our way up to the Whispering Gallery – 259 steps up a winding staircase. The climb made it embarrassingly apparent to me just how out of shape I was. That's all I will say.

(St. Pauls shot from outside)

The Whispering Gallery is named so because of the perfect acoustics which allow someone on one end of the gallery to whisper to someone clear across the other end and they will be able to hear perfectly. No lie. JD and I tried this and it was true. Truly awesome.

Later we climbed another level above the Whispering Gallery – the Stone Gallery – which can be reached after over 120 steps. This "gallery" is really an outdoor walkabout around the cathedral dome with a short stone wall separating you from a 173 foot drop. The view was unbelievable. It was also unbelievably cold.





I was planning to climb to the final and highest gallery, the Golden Gallery, but because I starting feel really unwell, I let JD get there on his own. The Golden Gallery was an additional 152 steps above the Stone Gallery. In total, this precarious "gallery" is 280 feet from ground level. According to JD, he had to climb these outside stairs which became almost near-vertical at points to reach this spot. Once there, though, he said it was all worth it. Again, this gallery was outdoors and offered an unparalleled view. Next time we're in London, I promised myself that I had to get to it.

(A shot JD took while climbing the steps to the Golden Gallery)

When we left St. Pauls, both JD and I were feeling totally under the weather. We decided to scratch some things off our itinerary for the next few days, move some visits around, and go back to the hotel that afternoon for some sleep. We woke up 4 hours later in time to grab some dinner and go on a ghost walking tour.