London Day 4

My last full day in London and luckily I woke up well rested. If you are planning a trip to London my best advice is to figure out at least the most important things you want to do and see and make a reservation for them. You are guaranteed to get in and not wait in long lines. So my first stop of the day was St Paul’s Cathedral. St Paul’s is England’s national church, and has been on that spot since 604. Not this building which unfortunately didn’t survive the Great Fire of 1666, but it’s the church they built after the fire on this same spot. This was where the wedding of then Prince Charles and Lady Diana was held, and also the funerals of Churchill and Thatcher. There is also a very large and very high dome on top that you can climb all the way to the top and be rewarded with a spectacular view of London in every direction.

I’m so glad I got a ticket to see this. I thought it was beautiful. Not to compare as Westminster Abbey has a great history but I thought St Paul’s was more beautiful and I loved how open it was - it feels huge. It actually is Europe’s 4th largest church.

And the dome! It’s actually three domes with 3 galleries you can climb up and visit. The Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery. A total of 528 steps to climb to the top. The dome weighs 65,000 tons and estimated to cost $850 million in today’s dollars.

Did I climb it? Yes! I don’t love heights but wanted to make my children proud. It starts out easy. Nice big wide stairs - not claustrophobic at all. Then the second part much narrower stairs and concrete walls on all sides - oh I’m feeling a little stressed. Then the last part is like climbing an old fashioned fire escape. Open see-through iron bars in a tight circle. Just look up I tell myself - don’t look down. Keep climbing and hang on to the railing. Then I realize it’s probably the same coming down and I can’t go down while trying to look up!😱 You have the option to bail out but not between the levels so once you start climbing there is no going back. I decide I will just live at the top. Here is a picture on the second level I had someone take of me.

Here I am at the very top!

But what a view!

Well I did make it down. Luckily the vast majority of people don’t make the climb so it wasn’t crowded at all on the stairs. I just hung on to the railing and looked straight ahead and kind of felt my way to the next stair. If you had seen me you might have assumed I was blind. Then the other two stairways felt like a piece of cake. I did it!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Now onto the Tate Modern Museum. It is right across the Thames on a bridge that basically connects St. Paul’s to the Tate. It’s called The Millennium Bridge and it is the first new bridge in London in a century. It is nicknamed Blade of Light and is very cool. I took this picture on the Tate side facing St Paul’s and if you look closely at the sides you can see the aerodynamic handrails that deflect wind over the heads of pedestrians.

I love art but I confess modern is not my favorite. The older paintings I can appreciate but the really contemporary pieces I just usually don’t understand. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think they belong in a museum. I love the creativity and I embrace the fact that new interpretations make us all richer and more interesting. Plus I love architecture and heard the repurposed building it’s in is amazing. I found that to definitely be the case. The Tate is in a decommissioned power station and if you have been to NYC and seen the Whitney and walked on the High Line - then it reminded me of both in some ways. A huge space with massive walls - a perfect space to display art. Here is the outside coming across the Thames.

Now the inside. I can’t explain any of these pieces but thought they were cool.

I also loved this area of London. Way less crowded than Central London and when I return (because I will) I plan to spend more time exploring this area. Saw this really adorable building just while walking around. Hello Friar Tuck!

I’m getting a bit hungry and the concierge at my hotel had suggested strongly that I stop at the Borough Market. And lucky for me it’s close to the Tate. I am putting this market right at the very top of my must do’s in London. It’s London’s oldest vegetable market (only if you consider 1000 years as old) and now also the best. Open every day of the year but since I went on a Saturday I have to believe the busiest day of the week. It’s huge and was wall to wall people. It has everything you can think of and more. Fruits, vegetables, cheeses, fish, prepared foods, bakeries, coffee, smoothies and on and on.

I had what very well might be the best donut of my life. Prior to this crème brûlée confection my best donut was in Oahu at Leonard’s Hot Malasadas (Portuguese donuts). I would have to have them side by side to place them at #1 and #2 but right now I’m going with this bundle of happiness from Bread Ahead at this market. Was there a line for a donut that cost 5 pounds each? ($6.70 US) Yes! Was it worth it? Yes! Did I eat every bite? Yes!

So many happy people enjoying a Saturday. And if you are a Harry Potter fan here is a tidbit of information. In one of the movies they used the Market Porter Pub as the exterior of the Leaky Cauldron! Sorry but I read that after I left the market otherwise I would have tried to find it and take a picture.

My next stop was the US Embassy. It was the day of the No Kings massive protests in the US so if I had been in Chicago would have been with 250,000 like minded people making my voice heard for democracy. But since I wasn’t, I attended a friendly peaceful group of about 1000 people outside the Embassy. It’s too important to sit on the sidelines wherever you live.

This also brought me to another area of London I hadn’t been in and it was quite modern. Tall buildings that looked to be high end condo’s and upscale shopping and restaurants. It’s an area called Battersea Park on the south side of the Thames River.

I had gotten a recommendation from a friend that knows London well about an Indian restaurant called Dishoom. She said they have a number of locations in London and she always makes a point to eat there when she is in town - but hard to get in without a reservation. I looked it up and sure enough they had a location in Battersea Park so I stopped by at like 4PM and sure enough they told me they could seat me in 30 or 40 minutes. It took almost exactly that amount of time but I sat at the bar and had a delicious mocktail and I can’t remember having a nicer experience as far as how I was treated by every single staff person. So friendly and when they came to show me to my table they actually asked if I liked the table. I was feeling fortunate to get in at all and they wanted to make sure I liked the table! I don’t eat much Indian food so the menu was confusing to me. The wait staff was very patient and helped me make two great selections. A spicy chopped broccoli salad that I do believe I would like to purchase by the bucket full, and a grilled paneer with pistachios and pomegranate seeds. I ate every bite of the salad and half the paneer and was full. Thanks for the recommendation Jill!❤️

Back to my hotel to pack up as I needed to leave fairly early in the morning and start the journey home. I had a wonderful stay at the St. Ermin’s Hotel quite close to Buckingham Palace. There was a tube station 150 feet from the entrance so very convenient. It’s a beautiful hotel that as I mentioned was a splurge from where I normally stay - but it’s a birthday gift to me so I enjoyed the lovely setting and delicious breakfast immensely.

Another interesting twist for this hotel is that they also host 350,000 bees! Yes bee’s! Not on the roof but on a large balcony off the 3rd floor. A number of hives and also a bee hotel. They are Buckfast Bee’s which are a special breed of honey bee that have a lower tendency to swarm and are resistant to a number of diseases. So the honey in the restaurant is delicious and very fresh.

So that’s my trip! I walked 41.2 miles and took too many trains and tube rides to count. I checked off everything on my list except the National Gallery, but my favorite travel writer Rick Steves says always make sure you have a reason to come back to a place you loved. And I did love London. I’m already thinking about when I can return. I always say Paris is my favorite city in Europe and I have been there enough times to feel like I know it well. London might just be the next city in Europe I try to know well. Thanks for coming along. 🩷