St. Pauls, The Tower of London, and Portobello Road

A view from the dome of St. Paul's

This morning I took an audio guided tour of St. Paul's Cathedral, which has had a church on the site since 604.  The great fire of 1666 incinerated the previous building.   Christopher Wren, who had been asked to refurbish the previous church, spent the next 40 years carrying out his vision for the church as well as the surrounding area in London.  I climbed the 530 steps up to the dome, which did offer great views of the city of London.

White Tower, Tower of London

I was able to take a fantastic guided tour of the Tower of London this afternoon, where I was able to walk the grounds and buildings in addition to learning more about the English history at the towers.  Many of the pieces of armor worn by England's past kings and princes is housed in the White Tower Museum.  I created a token of my visit to the London Tower by running a pence through a machine, an impression of a raven was impressed to the surface.  This common tourist item is accessible all over the world and kind of like our own modern day pilgrim badge, telling the people back home that we have been to the said location and all is well.

A photo of me in the White Tower

Animal Sculptures at the Tower of London

 Throughout the grounds of the Tower of London there were several animal sculptures as the English used to keep exotic animals on the grounds including an elephant and a polar bear that were gifted to them.  Later the animals were moved to the zoo.  Today the only live animals that are kept on the premises are 8 ravens.




Finally, at the end of the day I walked the markets of Portobello road, which reminded me of  one of my favorite movies, Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  There truly are trinkets to interest a diverse good of people, as well as tasty food booths.