London: Sep 8: St. Paul's Cathedral, British Museum, and more

On Tuesday, I met a friend of mine, J, for lunch and to explore St. Paul's Cathedral.

We met at The Wine Tun, where we sat and ate in the sun. I had a fine open-faced portobello sandwich, topped with a fried egg. Eating in the sun was nice, as the day had perfect weather -- definitely one of the nicest days I've had in London, on par with bank holiday weather.

St. Paul's Cathedral is majestic. Designed by Christopher Wren, it's an elaborate, ornate, baroque building rightly called a masterpiece.

Sorry, like Westminster Abbey, photography wasn't allowed inside. I did, however, take pictures outside and during the rest of the day.

The interior layout is spare and open. It's the flourishes on the arches and the columns that make it special. Indeed, there's something ineffable about the interior architecture, something that makes me agree with the quote that the design shows "mastery of space and light."

The ceiling has beautiful frescoes and mosaics, though they're perhaps a little more decadent, more glittery, than I prefer. I really liked the sepia-toned old stone feel of the dome's fresco by Sir James Thornhill.

Monuments are sparsely placed around the periphery of the cathedral -- nothing like the overwhelming density of Westminster Abbey. There are pretty metal screens by Jean Tijou placed near the high alter, and many mosaics throughout. Unobtrusive / well-integrated grills are placed in the floor; they provide central heating.

J and I climbed to the Whispering Gallery, which gave us an amazing view of the interior and the paintings. Ceiling painters should not be afraid of heights! I think the cathedral's design, with different inner and outer domes, is an elegant solution to making the cathedral look good inside and out.

We climbed higher, to the Stone Gallery, which is outside the dome (but at its level), for a nice panoramic view of London, and higher still to the Golden Gallery (above the dome), which had an equally good view. The latter gallery was smaller and therefore more crowded, but, on the positive side, the view is less obstructed by railings.

In the crypt, which is not overfilled as in Westminster Abbey, I found tombs of Wren, Turner, and Lawrence of Arabia, among others.

After St. Paul's, J had to leave, and I took the tube to do a walk and finish exploring the British Museum on the way. First I walked through the well-used park named Lincoln's Inn Fields, through the cute and quiet Lincoln Inn (a small enclosed district used by lawyers) with a prettier green space, and through Gray's Inn, which has a similarly nice "garden"-park but has much more boring architecture than Lincoln's Inn. After passing Bloomsbury Square Gardens park, which only appeared nice from a distance, I was at my second major destination for the day.

Once in the British Museum, I breezed my way through an exhibit on coins and the remaining exhibits on Greece, Rome, Etrusca, and Cyprus. I particularly enjoyed the room devoted to Greek and Roman life; it has many interesting panels (along with appropriate objects) on aspects of life ranging from children, games, and medicine, to armor, chariot-racing, and wrestling. I wish I'd scheduled my afternoon to allow myself time to read all the text in this gallery.

I walked more, passing the nice Queen Square park (well, nice after one ignores the flowerbeds, which could use more attention), the still very nice Russell Square Garden park, and the Woburn Square Garden park. I also walked by some University College London buildings, including the Greek-style main building. There were many people in graduation caps and gowns running around. It's a decently nice campus for a city university. Finally, I took the tube back to work, returning much later than I'd hoped.

During the day, I passed a couple of supposedly-noteworthy museums but decided to skip them all. Given how beautiful the day was, I wanted to spend as much time outside as I could.