St Paul's to Billy Elliot

Off we went with great confidence to Westminster Abbey. We did a complete lap dodging large groups of Japanese (all posing or walking backwards with cameras) before discovering that it doesn't open till 1.00 on Tuesdays. Dang!

So we caught the no.11 bus to St Paul's Cathedral. There were 20 minutes till the next verger led tour, so Lyn gave me permission to climb to the top. What a climb it is. The stairs get narrower and the roof gets lower. When I finally reached the viewing platform at the top the view was stupendous. I reached for my iPad to take a photo and ... realised Lyn had it. Google it.

I nicked this pic from the net. It shows the view down into St Paul's from the stairs going up to the top of the dome.

Then I hobbled back down the stairs past slowly expiring Large Americans and reached ground level to be in time for the verger’s tour. She was a retired school teacher who so had the hots for Sir Christopher Wren that you couldn't help but share her enthusiasm. We trampled over numerous dead people and were mightily impressed.

We then escaped to a great burger and a better pale ale and then back on the no.11 bus to Westminster Abbey where another verger took us around. This place was even more overwhelming. The stone tracery of the Ladies Chapel, St Edward's shrine, the RAF shrine, Poet's Corner and innumerable tombs and memorials ... It went on and on.

The tours are terrific. Who better to tell you about a place than somebody who loves it? I love the little details like the St Paul's Watch in the Blitz putting out the incendiaries that fell on the domes, and the shrines stripped of their decoration by souveniring pilgrims in the Middle Ages only as far as their hands could reach.

We took the bus home and Lyn had a 10 minute power nap then off to Billy Elliot in Victoria Square. We stumbled upon a really good Japanese noodle bar, and then, purely by accident, Westminster Cathedral (the RC one), which is sort of faux Byzantine and quite fascinating. We enjoyed a terrific show. The no 38 got us home and we are both exhausted. Lyn visited three churches today so she hit the candles pretty hard. If she has any influence whatsoever then you should be all pretty safe for the moment.