London - August 3 - 4 - Exploring

We spent a couple of days back in London and set out on foot each morning - logging 25K+ steps per day. On Monday, the only specific destination we had in mind was St. Paul’s Cathedral. Upon arrival, we still had enough energy to make the 528 step climb to the top of the dome. (Shout out to Dr. Osuch for my new knee!) In addition to the view of London from atop the dome, a couple other very cool things to see at St. Paul’s include the Dean’s staircase (aka the Harry Potter staircase) and the stained glass behind the altar which includes a panel for each of the 50 U.S. states to commemorate the soldiers who fought and dies on British soil during WWII. St. Paul’s Cathedral was designed and built by Christopher Wren and is generally considered his greatest work. His remains are buried in a rather nondescript tomb in the crypts beneath St. Paul’s. Sir Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, have grandiose monuments and tombs in St. Paul’s. From St. Paul’s it was a short walk to the remains of the London Wall, built by the Romans around the original City of Londinium. And, of course, we also found some stuff to buy for our grand-daughter to be. On Wednesday, we set off on another walking adventure that included a stroll through Holland Park (and the Kyoto Garden), a visit to Harrod’s, and a trip to the Belgravia neighborhood - where we found MORE things that our grand-daughter to be just needs to have. BTW - I am prohibited from saying anything specific about what we bought in case Kendall and/or Drew are reading this. Next step - Northern Ireland…a new adventure for us.