View of the dome
Alter that's part of the memorial to the American soldiers
We got an audio tour with our tickets so it was cool to learn about all the history of the church. The cathedral actually has a lot of history intertwined with World War II as well. Since the cathedral was so important to London and its people as a haven and symbol, the Germans tried to take it down by bombing it to destroy the morale of the Londoners. For as much bombing as the Germans did, they couldn't take it out though. The cathedral was so important to the English that they had men posted on the roof of the dome to push off any bombs dropped on it and it worked. The cathedral also has a memorial to the Americans who fought in World War II in it and that was really cool for me to see. In addition to all the history of the cathedral, just like every other church/cathedral in England there are lots of dead people buried there haha. We got to go down into the crypt of the church and see a lot of memorials and graves which was pretty cool. I can't remember who was buried there though because they all kind of blend together in my mind now haha. After we finished out tour, my dad and I walked to the very top of the dome...this was no easy task let me tell you. Over 500 small stairs stood between us and the top of the dome and it was a little scary getting there I'm not going to lie. If you're afraid of heights, don't go to the top because I got a little freaked out and heights don't scare me too much. There are 3 different levels of the dome that you can climb up to. My mom went up to the first and then headed back down but my dad and I went all the way to the top. It was definitely worth it to get the views of the city but some of the staircases were very small and you could see down during the 3rd sections because the stairs were metal so I didn't like that so much. Coming back down was annoying as well because we were tired from walking all the way up but I guess what goes up must come down. Here are a couple views from the much anticipated top of the dome.
Zoomed in on the London Eye
View down of the nave of the cathedral
After spending a couple hours at St. Paul's, we got on the Tube and headed to Paddington station to catch a national rail train to Windsor. This was the same train that I got left behind on so I was a little apprehensive about that happening again. We all got on the train together though and made it safely to Windsor. I decided to go back with my parents because I loved it so much and I wanted to spend time with them. I also wanted to see St. George's Chapel because it was closed the day that I visited Windsor with my friends and that is where King Henry VIII is buried. For some reason I have a new found interest in anything doing with King Henry VIII and the royal family. Now I understand why British people love them so much but I can't really explain why. I'm now a huge fan of Kate and will definitely be keeping up with her and her style but that's beside the point.
We got to Windsor and headed to tour the castle again. We went to St. George's first because it closed first and that was the part that I hadn't seen yet. The chapel was amazing. So worth going to and I'm so glad I went back with my parents and got to see it. It's a gothic style church where the queen and the royal family sometimes come to worship and it houses the Order of the Garter, which is the highest honor of chivalry in the England. King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeths parents and sisters are all buried there along with many other kings and queens so it was cool to see that as well. I learned a lot about chivalry and the Order while there and I had no idea that something like that still existed today. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures in there either and there were way too many people who worked there watching so I couldn't sneak any. After the chapel, we headed up to Queen Mary's Dollhouse and the Staterooms. I didn't get to see the dollhouse when I came before so that was another new thing I got to see. This doll house was ridiculous. It was a gift to Queen Mary from one of her cousins because she loved dollhouses. Not only was it huge and extremely detailed, it had electrical lighting and plumping. A doll house having pluming? Something I will probably not see again in my life haha. It was really cool to see though so I'm glad I got to because I used to love my doll house and still have it today in my basement at home.
After viewing the dollhouse, I parted ways with my parents to explore the town a little since I had already seen the staterooms once. I walked around and shopped a little but found nothing of interest to buy. My parents met up with me about an hour and a half later and then we decided to head back because it was getting a little late and we really didn't have much else to do in Windsor. So we road the train back and then headed to dinner at a restaurant called Giraffe. It was really good and probably one of the best meals I had there so I would definitely recommend going there if you venture over to London. After dinner, I went back to work on my internship journal and attempt to blog. My blogging has been lacking I must say and I'm sorry about that but things just got so busy at the end that I didn't have the time or energy to sit down and do it. It gets harder to remember things the longer you wait though which is what I'm running into currently so if they start to get really short and scatter-brained sorry! But anyway, my friends and I tried to watch the Bachelorette that night and it didn't work so we just headed to sleep and I thought I had work the next day so I needed my sleep for sure.
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