Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Climbing Stairs. Many of them!


Yesterday, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I am running out of adjectives to describe all these glorious places. I love how all these cathedrals have such incredibly high ceilings; there is so much space to fill with gorgeous choral music.

We climbed the 528 steps up to the Inner Golden Gallery, and got a wonderful view of the city.





In the crypt is (among others) the tomb of Christopher Wren, who designed not only St. Paul's but many other buildings built in London after the Great Fire. His tomb is a simple stone slab. No ornamentation whatsoever or monument to the creative mind behind these exquisite buildings. His son put a plaque above his tomb which ends with:
"Reader, if you seek his monument, look about you."

Hmmm. Wow.

Then we went to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. I was in raptures.



At the British Library, we saw many incredible things, including Jane Austen's writing desk, many original musical scores by Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, the Magna Carta, fragments of the Gospel of John from the 3rd century, and a MASSIVE column of bookshelves filled with beautiful old books. I was also in raptures here.




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2 comments:

  1. I'm in 'raptures' just hearing about your adventures. Say hi to KeKl for me.

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  2. I'm so glad you enjoyed the British Library! I think it's my favourite place on earth...so far at least! The British Museum is a close second. Have you made it there yet? PS Can I steal your photo of all the gorgeous books? I want to make it my FB profile pic!

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