Over five years in London and I haven’t stepped one foot inside St Paul’s Cathedral though I have admired it form a far. Rita’s time is running short in London so she’s trying to knock off as many sights as possible including this one. Rache said she’d been here before but thought she would join us anyway. We decided to join one of the Cathedral’s “Super Tour” which at £3 for a 90 minute tour tremendous value for money. There is something so much more engaging with someone telling you a story than listening to a bland audio tour or trying to wander around yourself. Plus you get access to areas not normally available for the general touring public such as the geometric staircase and the Quire. You climb the dome separately from the tour.

The Old St Paul’s was gutted by the Great London Fire of 1666 and although it may have been able to be re-built it would have been practically from scratch so a new cathedral was commissioned. The primary architect was Christopher Wren. Christopher Wren went through a few designs before reaching the design that we see today. Internally he wanted lots of natural light so he refused to use any stained glass but plain glass instead. This was also for another reason – at the time he wanted people to learn how to read. Stained glass is historically used to tell biblical stories but he didn’t want people learning about the bible stories through the glass but by learning to read and write. Christopher Wren was not alone in his contribution to the Cathedral and the talents of many artists and craftsmen were necessary for construction and design. For example, Grinling Gibbons was responsible for most of the woodwork. Interestingly he had a way of demonstrating to the public who had or hadn’t paid their bills. Hidden amongst his carvings are pea pods. The unopened peas signify non-paying customers and opened one paying customers. The joke was that the Church always paid so the carvings were always opened pea pods.

No photos are allowed inside the Cathedral though you are allowed to take them in the Geometric Staircase – one aspect of the Cathedral which truly showcases Wren’s technological advancement. Apparently it was even used in one of the Harry Potter movies. When you see the stairs you wonder just how they manage to stay up – with each step supported by the one below it it would only take one step to be damaged for the whole thing to come down.

Another stunning aspect of the Cathedral are the Great West Doors. Each door weighs and astonishing one tonne! They are mainly used for Royalty and Lord Mayor entrances, not for us ordinary people. They are 72-feet high and absolutely massive but thanks to engineering genius can be opened simply using one a small twizzle type stick smoothly and without any great creaking.

You could imagine that building such a giant architectural marvel would cost a pretty penny but the Church absolutely loved Wren so he had access to the necessary funding. An example of this was when the Church said it was running out of money so they could only afford to pay everyone at half pay. Christopher Wren refused this and said I’ll take half pay and my craftsmen (who could get paid from their other jobs) would take half pay but not the workmen because they would starve without the money. And the Church paid up!

The greatest masterpiece of Wren’s has to be the Dome. The Dome was controversial because half of London didn’t want a dome and the other half didn’t think that Wren would know how to build one. He proved them all wrong. Wren wanted something huge and as a result the Dome is actually constructed of three domes – the inside dome, the outer lead dome and the middle dome made of brick to hold the outer roof up. You can climb the 530 steps to get to the top of the Dome for sweeping views across London.

Though you’d imagine that Wren would have a right be proud he proved to be a modest man. The only memorial for him is an inscription around the floor at the centre of the dome and on the plaque on his plain tomb in the crypt: “Lector, si monumentum requiris, Circumspice” meaning Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.

The tour takes you through all this history as well as a quick look at the crypt and its famous occupants (including Wellington and Nelson.) In the crypt is also the Order of the British Empire (OBE) Chapel where you can get married (for a substantial price) if you can prove some connection (however distant) with an OBE recipient. In fact we arrived at the Dome just to see the end of a wedding! I was too late to snap a picture of the happy couple unfortunately:

After the tour was finished Rita and I made our way to the top of the Dome. The climb isn’t as hard as you imagine as there are three stages of the climb. The first break is the Whispering Gallery which comes after climbing 259 steps,

the next break is at the Stone Gallery which is after 119 steps (where you get your first glimpse of the promised view from the top)

before you take the final 152 steps to the Golden Gallery and the peak of the Dome. The final climb to the top is slow because you have to wait for the small area at the top to clear before you can get up there. It took us about 40 minutes slowly climbing to get up there. Definitely worth the wait on a clear day.

After the long day at St Paul’s we retired to a local pub where one of Rache’s roommates was a manage rand indulged in some Pimms. Rache and Rita couldn’t wait for glasses so started drinking from the jug ….