A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Tesco's...

View of St. Paul's Cathedral from Paternoster Square.
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I decided to spend the day by myself so that Tanya and Amisha could go take a tour of the Chelsea football stadium, which they were dying to do all week. In other words, I got to do and see whatever I wanted on my own time, and it was great. My first stop was St. Paul's Cathedral, a large gothic church, designed by Sir Christopher Wren (who rebuilt much of London after the great fire of 1666), that boasts a beautifully painted dome ceiling, a large underground crypt, and a tiring 500-step walk that leads to the whispering gallery and eventually the top of the cathedral itself. A person could easily spend two or more hours discovering everything the church offers, and is really a delight to see no matter what your faith is. That is exactly what I did - I made sure to see as much as I could. I went to the crypt, which lies beneath the church, and saw maybe over a hundred tombs of various English noblemen, scientists, literaries, etc buried there. Wren himself is buried there, although his tomb is quite modest, a testament to his humble nature while alive. In fact, in the middle of the church floor, you will find a Latin inscripture that translates "Reader, if you seek his memorial,

The front of St. Paul's.
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look about you". Indeed, the cathedral itself is like a grand memorial. Back on the ground floor, you can take a few hundred steps up to the whispering gallery, where if you whisper something very softly against the dome wall, a person on the opposite side can hear it, as long as their ear is against the wall too. Since I was by myself, I didn't have anyone to test it out with, but I did try to eavesdrop other people's whipered conversations. It worked a few times, but I think most people had trouble hearing anything - there were a lot of tourists all trying to do it at the same time. Another couple hundred steps upward, and a door leads you to the outside gallery of the very top of the church. From there you can see a 360 degree view of London (not as impressive as the view from the Eye, but exhilerating nonetheless). When I got there, it was very windy and cloudy, so I didn't feel like staying there too long. But I was happy I got to do it.

I went to the crypt, which lies beneath the church, and saw maybe over a hundred tombs of various English noblemen, scientists, literaries, etc buried there.

Bevis Marks Synagogue
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I then decided to take another London Walks tours, this time of Jewish London which was of great interest to me, being Jewish and all. Funny enough, I got the same tour guide that led my Jack the Ripper walk just two days before. It was very nice - we walked around some of the older parts of London that surrounds the main city where there used to be large Jewish communities, now mostly Bengali. The highlight was getting entry to Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest one in all of Britain. It is a sephardic temple, which can be seen in its Portuguese architecture, and dates back to the late 1600's. It is still active today. Famous guests have included Prince Charles and Tony Blair, and its most notable congregant was Benjamin Disraeli. The temple even marks the seat in which he used with red rope so that no one else sits there (except for famous guests). It is a fascinating building to see - I recommend it to anyone; you don't have to be Jewish to go. In fact, half of my tour group wasn't, and they really liked it.

At the top of St. Paul's.
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After a quick bite to eat from Tesco's (England's most famous supermarket/convenience store - literally on every corner), I headed over to the Cabinet War Rooms. This is an underground, 29-room (very large) bunker that was used by Churchill and other employees and contemporaries during WWII. The rooms served as a hideout from the bombings, and as office space from which Churchill carried out his plans for the war. It is now an impressive museum that includes an audio guide with admission. The guide takes you to all of the rooms, each serving a different function, from Churchill's bedroom to the cabinet rooms he used to plan his next move. If it weren't for the late hour, I would have spent more time. Plan to use at least two hours there.

View from the top of St. Paul's.
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The three of us met up at Westminster station, and we left for home.  We wouldn't be home for long, since we left that night for Amisha's other relatives in Croyden, who offered to have us for the remainder of our trip. We said goodbye to our hosts and to Kingsbury, and went off.