Elevation (and sundry updates)

The papers are all reporting that this has been the wettest summer in 60 years. There is talk of the possibility of the Thames River flooding (not in London, but further north), and as you can imagine, this means that we have been seeing a good deal of rain here.

But on Saturday, the sun rose bright and glorious, spreading its light upon the poor muddy island we know as Britain, and Michelle and I decided that this would be a good day to go into London. So without further ado, we quickly ate our breakfasts, got the children ready, and headed in to Charing Cross station.

Charing Cross is a very well located train/tube station, being on the north side of the river just across from the London Eye and the County Hall, as well as being just a little way from Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. You can also walk up to Covent Garden or Trafalgar Square from there in a few minutes, and you can also get to Green Park in a few more. So, all things considered, whether your idea of fun is to go to the park, or to go to a gallery, or go shopping, or to a show, Charing Cross is one of the best stations for it all.

We opted to go for the London Eye. It affords great views of London, including all of the above listed places, and we had been waiting for the right day to ride it - even though there have been days without rain, it has certainly seemed to always be overcast, or threatening to rain, or the like, and so, we seized upon the first opportunity that we thought was good. The London Eye is on the south side of the river, and there are two pedestrian bridges across from the Charing Cross station. Both give good views of the surrounding area as well, as you can see from below. Once you make it to the south bank, there's a carnival-like atmosphere, with mimes and buskers of all types. There's also a little merry-go-round. Saturday was the first time I had actually been there, so I'm not certain whether it is like that at all times, just on weekends, or what.

So, we made our way through the crowds, hopped on the London Eye, and took our ride. I can't say I was disappointed, however, I can say that I wasn't overwhelmed. It was enjoyable, but perhaps wouldn't make my list of Top Ten for London. More on that in a moment.

After making our way round, we got off and headed back across the bridge to get something to eat. Michelle got to experience eat. for the first time, and the kids got bagels from a little shop a short way down from that. We then went into the park which is right there, and as I saw an open bench, we scurried towards it. As it turns out, it was open because the guy on the next bench was clearly insane. All throughout our quickly eaten lunch, he kept banging on his guitar, mumbling to himself, getting up, walking around, occasionally getting louder in his ramblings, until at last, we finished up as it began to rain.

Some of the more astute among you may notice that some of the pictures above are definitely NOT taken from atop the London Eye, or indeed, from any height whatsoever, and are the front facade of some building. This building is St. Paul's Cathedral, which is where we headed after the London Eye - seeking a different sort of elevation, I guess.

A bit of quick history about St. Paul's... there has been a St. Paul's in London, on the same site since 604 A.D. However, the current building was designed by Christopher Wren (who also designed a great number of other churches and buildings in London) after the previous St. Paul's burned in the Great Fire of 1666. It is remembered by many as the place where Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married.

The building itself is quite large, and is worth an afternoon, and perhaps more. Unfortunately, you cannot take photographs inside, which explains why all that is above is the pictures from the outside. If you're interested, click on the link above and explore their website - they have some beautiful pictures on there, if some of them are a bit smallish. You can also climb up the steps to the Whispering Dome, and then further up to the Stone and Gold galleries. Now, here is why I think the London Eye is overrated. Ultimately, what you get to do on the London Eye is to have a view from very high over the city. You can get roughly the same view from various other places, including St. Paul's. The small benefit of the London Eye is that you don't have to climb the stairs to get there. You do have to climb several sets of stairs to get to the top of St. Paul's.

After we had been around a bit - we went up to the Whispering Dome, and then to the Stone Gallery, and then down to the Crypt - we were told that St. Paul's was about to close, unless we wanted to stay for the Evensong service. We did. We sat in the quire, next to the choir, and across from the organ. It was nothing short of awesome. The reading that evening was Psalm 76 and 77, which was sung back and forth between the two sides of the choir. In addition, after each reading, the choir would sing again, and finally, at the end, we sang as well. It was pretty much unbelievable to think that we were worshipping in St. Paul's.

Afterwards, we headed home - and now for the sundry updates:

We saw a slug, and this time, took a picture with Dalton's hand in it for reference.



I'm also updating the previous posts with a picture of Dalton in school uniform, and the shells I collected from Littlehampton.