The dome is very interesting. What you see in this picture is only the outer shell of the dome. Inside there is an inner dome, upon which elegant and extravagant paintings of biblical figures are placed. At that level sits the Whispering Gallery. One person can sit directly across the massive dome, and whisper along the wall, and the other can hear it clearly as if they were right next to them. Acoustically it was perplexing and fascinating. Very cool indeed. Now that inner dome is surrounded by the outer dome. Above the inner dorm is another dome with an oculus in it that peers down directly to the floor. All of these floors can be accessed and viewed. I do not suggest those weary of heights, stairs, exertion, spiral staircases etc... to make their way to the top. Its over 300 stairs and in tight cramped areas. I made it to the top where it gave me spectacular views of all over london. Forget the London Eye, this was better.
It is really interesting that the architect, Christopher Wren, in the two towers left one of the circular openings empty. When the cathedral was cleaned using very little water to get the grime off the stone work (using special methods), the cleaning revealed the intricate stone work. There are shapes on this front, such as apples, that are carved in so much detail, that a hand can be placed behind it. It's not really visible to the naked eye.
Outside St. Paul's are some protesters. I don't really know or care what they were protesting, but they smelled. Apparently they have been there for quite some time. They even got the cathedral to close for a few days. The cathedral did not even close during World War II, but protesters made it impossible for people to get in. Kind of funny, but also very sad.
I am going slightly out of order, so I will now write about how I got to St. Paul's, for that was a journey in itself. That morning, I took the train for the first time in London to Tower Bridge Station. From there I chose to walk across Tower Bridge. It's the really famous bridge that you see in movies and postcards. The iconic London bridge. I walked across the bridge taking pictures as I was going along, then walked past the Tower of London, where I was going later in the day.
The later half of the day was all about treachery, murder and execution. The Tower of London was the site of many secret power struggle murders, executions of famous people and traitors. These kind of stories seem to follow the English Monarchy quite closely. I will do my best to recall the stories that I heard, although gruesome at times. To make the subject a little lighter, I had a tour guide who was quite funny and made jokes about all the stuff. I was laughing so it had to be good.
The grass to the right was actually a large moat that connected to the Thames. The flow of the water cleaned out the moat every day, until the day when the Thames became the littering hole of the all of london did the moat become a cesspit. As you can probably see, the defenses of the tower are quite impressive. A norman castle (white tower) sits in the middle of the complex and was built by William the Conquerer. The more extensive fortifications were built by consecutive kings.
This is the site down the road that a scaffold once stood. Prisoners were held in the tower, and transferred here, to where they were hung or have their head chopped off. People would turn up all the time to see an execution. It was a family affair. Here is the gruesome part, the heads were put on spears and placed on London Bridge. The headless bodies were brought back to the tower and buried. I will get to that more later on.
The Tower of London was a prison. Very few people escaped. One man escaped by dressing as a girl. "They don't [the guards] to talk about it. The double gatehouse made a very intimidating entrance into the castle. The lion you seen in the foreground was the site of the lion menagerie.
Henry VIII's former wife, Anne Boleyn came through this gate as Henry's wife. She would later come through a very different gate
This is the tower built by William the Conquerer. It sits in the middle of the complex and served as the main residence for the kings of England.
This is where the Crown Jewels are kept. It is one of the most secure places in Britain. They have guards patrolling the entrance 24 hrs, and the jewels are in a massive safe. No pic's were allowed inside. It would be TREASON.
The Tower of London houses 6 Ravens. Legend has it, that if the 6 resident ravens leave the tower of london, the tower and London will fall.They are very important. They have one wing clipped so they cannot fly away. They are watched under a watchful eye of their caretaker.
This is Bloody Tower. The tower became known as bloody tower in the mid-16th century because it is the site where two Princes that were held in the tower were murdered by their Uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. It was not till hundreds of years later that the bodies were found by accident. They were presumed to be the lost princes. Their bodies were interred in Westminster in the Innocence corner.
I was not allowed to take a picture of the chapel, nor of the inside. The reason is that the Queen still uses the church as a place of worship, and any pictures would be punishable by treason. So it was wise to not do that. It was inside the church were we learned that when renovations were being made, the floors were found to be very uneven. Any guesses to why this might be? Sections of the floor had collapsed because the stuff underneath had collapsed also. Underneath the church floor were found over 1500 human remains. That is a large number of people. So that is all of the people killed/beheaded, and a large number of unknown reasons.They discovered the remains of three queens of England: Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey, and also two saints of the Roman Catholic church: Sir Thomas More and John Fischer. The countess of Salisbury was innocent of every crime, thus she did not place her head on the chopping block. Instead, she tried to escape, but was chased down by the executioner and hacked to pieces. It took 11 blows to kill her. They know the remains are her's judging by how many pieces she was in. Gruesome I know, sorry about that.
Traitors Gate
Inside the Norman Tower were some exhibits. Some where my kind of exhibits, simply because they showed off armor of past kings and their weapons. Who does not like suits of armor?
Above and Below: Henry VIII non-mounted armor.
Notice anything strange?
Edward VI armor
Chapel inside the Norman Tower. I was not supposed to take a picture, but I did. It't not treason. Lots of Romanesque features
Now this is a book. This is the first Harry Potter book before Rowling wrote her version. Actually its a book of receipts
James VI armor. Quite small, because its for a child.
Look at the tiny Armor
I am pretty sure this was the first MI6 weapon. It's a wheelock pistol and a mace. Tricky?
The notorious head chopping block. Many lives were ended on this block of wood. How painful the experience was depended on if the executioner could chop the head clean off in one stroke. My tour guide said on the tour, that Jane Grey (I think) was in the middle of a prayer when her head got chopped off, and for 11-20 seconds, her lips still moved. Our tour guide asked us "who was counting" [pun]?
I apologize for some of the gruesome descriptions, but they were real according to real witness accounts. I ended the day less dreary. I went to dinner with Charlie and heard his chamber choir rehearse which made me miss my choir friends back at home. I relaxed the rest of the night and prepared for the Oxford Chronicles.
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