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St Paul's
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| Quire |
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Any trip to distant world cities is dominated by visits to buildings and museums that are the roots of the city's foundation and culture. London has never fallen into this category, it is a place to pass through or to do business and my only regular visits have been to the National Gallery or the Tate. Last week was different we had a couple of free days and we happened to be walking past St Paul's cathedral as we alighted from a bus during the underground strike. We decided to take a tour of St Paul's as the morning showers graduated to afternoon sunshine. We bought tickets for the well produced multi media guided tour and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of hours in the spectacular interior of St Paul's.
The unexpected highlight was the ascent of 259 steps to the Whispering Gallery, which runs around the interior of the Dome. It gets its name from a quirk in its construction, which makes a whisper against its walls audible on the opposite side. We continued upwards to the Stone Gallery, the first of two galleries above the Whispering Gallery that encircle the outside of the dome. The Stone Gallery stands at 173 ft (53.4 metres) from ground-level and can be reached by 378 steps. The clouds were in retreat and the clarity of the views was perfect. Th entry fee was worth it for the view alone.
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| View to South West from Stone Gallery |
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| Shard to the south east |
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| The city from the Stone Gallery |
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