London Day 6: St. Paul’s Cathedral – Part 2

After the guided tour, I went on to climb up to the Dome. Ben had done that before and he hated the narrow stairways up.

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He dropped me at the first level and waited there while I climbed up by myself. It was a windy day.

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View of the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul’s Cathedral with Tate Modern at the south end.

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These were the narrow spiral stairways that Ben did not like. (more…)

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London Day 6: St. Paul’s Cathedral – Part 1

We dedicated day 6 to two main attractions. Our first destination was St. Paul’s Cathedral, a Church of England cathedral. It is the seat of the Bishop of London.

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Ben purposely brought me to ride on Bus 15, an old fashion double decker bus.

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We got the front row seat.

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St. Paul’s Cathedral was designed by Christopher Wren. It took 9 years to get his design approved and it took 36 years to build. The current location had been occupied by 3 or 4 cathedrals. (more…)

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London Day 5: Harrods

We took the city cruise back to the city center from Greenwich.

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Ben decided to bring to Harrods to grab something from the food hall to bring back to the hotel for dinner.

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Got a slice of cake for dessert.

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Harrods is a high end department store, even the lift looks posh. There are even perfume bottles in the ladies room. We noticed a lot of middle east customers in the store. (more…)

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London Day 5: National Maritime Museum

It was almost dark when we completed our tour at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

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We had less than half an hour to visit the National Maritime Museum before it’s closing time.

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The above is Miss Britain III. It was the first single-engine powerboat to exceed 100 mph on open water and for several years remained the fastest in the world.

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The above 24-carat gold leaf gilded barge was designed and built by John Hall. It was built for Prince Frederick, King George II’s eldest son in 1732 andwas used for royal occasions on the Thames until 1846.

It is one of the museums largest objects with total length of 63 ft. . The carved work was executed by James Richards. (more…)

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London Day 5: Royal Observatory – Part 2

After visiting the surrounding area of the Royal Observatory, we went inside to the exhibitions.

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The entrance fees for both of us and one audio guide came up to 17.50 pounds. Ben had been here before, so he did not get the audio guide.

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The Time and Longitude gallery in Flamsteed House displays various time keeping devices invented for sailors and navigators.

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Harrison’s marine timekeeper number 4 (H4). (more…)

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London Day 5: Royal Observatory – Part 1

We only have half a day in Greenwich. Our first destination was the Royal Observatory.

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The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the world’s timekeeper.

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Peter Harrison Planetarium in Royal Observatory Greenwich.

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Astronomy Center houses the oldest thing you’ll ever touch; a 4.5 billion year old meteorite. (more…)

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