Well, off and on rain all day. The rain held off at the important times though, so it was okay.
Got up and made it into London with Katie (an anthropology grad student) by 10:20. I took the tube for the first time today. It's not that difficult if you know where you're going. And I have to say the Oyster cards are handy. We got a little turned around coming out of the station, and it took us a while to figure out that the Museum was on the skywalk, but after that, we made it to the Museum fine.
The Museum of London begins at that end of the last ice age and works it's way to present day London. Some of the stuff was really neat, but I enjoyed the gallery after the Roman gallery (which is what I primarily went there to see) which took you from the Anglo-Saxons, through the Normans, and up to King Henry VIII. It seamlessly took you through a whole lot of time in a fairly small space. I liked the museum, but I stopped after the Great Fire so I could go to St. Paul's.
St. Paul's was AMAZING! If you are ever anywhere near, I highly suggest you go. It's a little pricey to get in, but so worth it. Make sure that you climb to the golden gallery at the top. You can see FOREVER! I was so happy when it didn't rain while I was up there. I was able to take some amazing pictures The church is so beautiful. I'm sad I couldn't take pictures, but I can see why they wouldn't want you to. The audio tour is really good. They take you through the whole church and even explain things that a non-Christian might not be familiar with. The church is absolutely beautiful. They history of it is amazing, and the crypt is a history lesson all in itself. In the main church, behind the high altar, there is a chapel that is dedicated to the American soldiers who lost their lives in WWII in Britain or on the way to Britain. They have all of their names in a book and the page is turned everyday. They also have a beautiful painting that is called 'The Light of the World' and shows Jesus holding a lantern and knocking at a door with no handle on the outside. It's supposed to be an allegory, that you have to let Jesus in. The church is the fourth (or possible fifth) to sit on the site. It was built after the Great Fire of 1666 burned the old one down. It had been hit twice by bombs in WWII, but the dome held, they rebuilt and it is still beautiful.
I made it back to the Museum to meet Katie (she didn't go to St. Paul's and really missed out) and all the rain clouds passed while we were looking around the gift shop, so we actually had sunshine for our walk to the tube station. We went back on the skywalk and got to see these apartments (sorry, flats) that were just beautiful. Almost every balcony was thick with flowers. They also had a pond and a space where you could actually sit below the level of the water. We made it back to the train station and it was pouring rain. Luckily the tube came up in the station so we didn't have to get wet. We made it back to Canterbury and the rain had stopped so we didn't get soaked on the way back, then I made dinner and came in to write up the blog and upload photos. I think I'm going to bed soon. All those stairs (and coming down on iron grate spiral stairs *shudder*) really took it out of me.
Oh, and speaking of amazingness, I got 100 on my first paper! Yay!
Night all. :)
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