530 steps...

They twist up narrow towers and between walls, worn and smooth from centuries of footsteps, lined with stone walls carved with graffiti from the ages...but, the view at the top is worth the effort... It is probably the best view in London. The 360 degree panorama from the Golden Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral is spectacular. From it, you have vistas down the twisting canyon of Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street and the Strand to the West End (pictured), across Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Art Gallery south, over the jumble of streets to the brutal towers of the Barbican Centre to the north and to the east the view is down the block between Cannon Street and Cheapside toward the Financial District somewhat dominated by Architect, Norman Foster's, Swiss Re Tower better known as "The Gherkin".

But I have started at the top... I should return to the Cathedral floor...

St Paul's is one of the great buildings of the world (according to the recorded tour I hired anyway). Designed by Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed its predecessor, the current building is the latest in a series of Cathedrals on this site dating from the at least the early 7th century.

The building is a masterful manipulation of space. The stonework towers over you as you approach the grand west doors, but once inside the space is bigger than you could have imagined (a 17th century tardis top use a Dr Who analogy). The vaulted arched ceiling seems impossibly high and the Nave disappears into the distance ahead of you, and on the day I was there, the sunshine streamed in through the huge clear glass windows highlighting the interior with dazzling shafts of light across the Nave. The interior is surprisingly simple. Most of the walls and ceiling are unadorned which highlights the monochrome, early 18th century paintings on the underside of the dome and the glittering 19th century mosaic ceilings of the Quire and Apse. One monument dominates the Nave. Wellington's Monument is immense and quite difficult to appreciate at the close quarters from which you see it. At 8 or 10 metres tall, it is layers of marble arches and columns topped with a bronze figure of Wellington on his horse Copenhagen, and this is just his Monument. Wellington's body lies below in the Crypt in his equally impressive tomb...

I always expected a crypt to be a creepy place, but not at St Paul's. It is brightly lit and adorned sculpture and plaques identifying the tombs and memorials of some remarkable people; Nelson is there, as is Wellington, the Architect Christopher Wren is also there, and there are memorials to Florence Nightingale and Churchill to mention.

The Crypt also had a very nice refectory which served a delightful baked ham roll with gravy and salad (hmmm, food at tourist attractions is becoming a theme...)