Last day in 'jolly old england' !

So today was fun...long but fun! We left at about 10am and took the Tube to the Frontline Club. It is a famous resturant, club, and meeting hall that was started in London by journalists. We went up to the meeting hall/event room on the third floor to hear John F. Burns a New York Times writer and war correspondent speak.

It was an interesting talk. He spoke about his time in Iraq and what it is like reporting there. He talked about ethics, the soldiers, what censorship is like now compared to in Pyle's time, and even the time he was taken hostage!

The one piece of advice that I liked the most was to always remember that you are a citizen before your a journalist. What he meant by this was that that in some situations we will have to decide to do what is right for us either as journalists or as citizens. To put this in context he was discussing when interviews are on the record or off the record and how sometimes we may need to choose between being 'the journalist' and just a 'regular citizen'.

It was also very interesting to hear him talk about when he was taken hostage a few years ago. He and the other men came out unharmed but he was quick to point out that they were very very lucky.

After the talk we walked a few blocks back to the Tube station. I have to take one second to describe the 'lovely' weather we were having today. Like the receptionist said about yesterdays weather (which actually turned out to be nice) 'it's pretty much going to be the worst storm London has ever seen.' haha Wow!

So...walking the few blocks from the club to the Tube station was interesting to say the least. There were huge round rain drops. The wind was blowing every which way, whipping and weaving through the buildings. Our large group of 30 tried to keep an eye on our leader by barely peaking out from underneath our umbrellas, which on many occasions were blown inside out and upside down.

Many Tube entrances and streets were lined with broken and battered umbrellas. After dealing with the wind and rain for a few minutes we realized our umbrellas were pretty useless and just put up with the rain and unavoidable bad hair day to come.

For lunch me, Andra, Jennifer, and Lizzie went to a sushi place. I did not eat the sushi (yuk) but instead went a few doors down to Starbucks and got a BLT and Chai Latte. It was so delicious. But I must point out that I'm seriously considering checking out a sushi bar with Matt sometime when we get back to Bloomington. I'm curious...but pretty sure with my hate of seafood that it won't end well.

After lunch we all met back up at St. Paul's Cathedral. I didn't remember going there in high school, even though I know we did, so I was pretty excited! We learned a lot about what the Cathedral meant to the people of London during the Blitz and how it was saved by the firemen and volunteers from the fires. I was excited to see it up close. I really think I'm going to do one of my three columns about St. Paul's because it was absolutely beautiful. If I end up writing one about it I will post it on here later.



Briefly though...

The front has beautiful carved, stone columns. The main doors had to be 20-30 feet tall and were gorgeous solid carved wood. Sadly some vandals had left there own carvings on the doors as well. When we entered I think everyone was completely memorized. The ceilings were covered in gold and ornate murals. What wasn't marble, wood, or wrought iron was covered in gold! The floors were a huge black and white checkored tile. At the alter there were rows of pews for the choir and the many many pipes for the organ.

After walking down the aisle and reahcing the front everyone automatically looked up into the dome. It was amazing. The mural flowed flawlessly. It didn't even to seem to curve with the dome. I remember mentioning to someone that it was inconceivable how high the dome actually was because I was so hypnotized by the paintings beauty. A balcony circled the bottom of the dome where people stood looking down at us below.

We then walked as a group to see the war memorial in the back of the cathedral. It is a memorial that was dedicated to all the Americans who fought and died in WWII. There is a large book with all the names of those who died written inside...today it was turned to two pages covered in 'L' names. I don't know how often they turn the pages but I also cannot imagine how long it takes them to get through this six to seven inch book of names. Truly amazing...

Then we went together down to the crypts. I stood for a few minutes reading memorials for war correspondents. The only other crypt I remember stopping and just staring at was the Duke of Wellington. His was a massive marble coffin on top of a even bigger marble stand. His name was inscribed in a gold plate on the side.

After the crypts we decided to make the long 136 stair trek to the lowest balcony at the bottom of the dome. The highest balcony at the top was a total of about 204 feet and 435 steps total. It's sad to say that college students are so very out of shape! We eventually huffed and puffed our way up the small spiraling stair case and through the narrow corridors and came out through a short doorway into the big, beautiful dome. I have to point out that I am a little afraid of heights and couldn't walk directly next to the railing. I couldn't look down as I walked either...I had to face the people sitting on benches around the edge until I found a place to sat. Only then did I look down and realize how high we were...but it was worth the fear.

The organ was playing by this point and it was so peaceful just sitting and staring at the mural and listening to the organ. Jennifer and I were just staring off and listening to the music. I really didn't want to leave the cathedral. I could have really just sat there all day and listened to that organ music resonate through the dome of the church.

After the church we hurried through three different Tube lines and three different stops to get to Churchill's Cabinet Rooms. We didn't have a tour and had to use the little audio guides but it was still really cool. I didn't even know that was how they conducted business during WWII. To be able to go in there and look at the rooms restored to how they looked back then was really interesting. I thought that the playing of the air raid sirens while we were walking through was a great touch. It really put it into perspective how it would have sounded to be down there. I think my favorite room was the one with the 'slab' which was the big piece of concrete put on the ceilings to protect the occupants from falling bombs. There was a small old style radio in there playing the BBC broadcasts and it was really fun to just sit and listen.

After we were done with this (about 6pm) we all broke off and did our own thing. The group I was with headed to Piccadilly Circus which is like London's version of New Yorks Time Square. We were off to shop (again), and my only request was I need a London souvenirs. Jennifer and I went into a tea shop and bought teapots! She bought a really classy blue, white, and sliver teapot. I got a brigt red and yellow one that was hand painted. One side of it says 'having tea with the queen' and the other says 'the famous British brew'. Its so cute! It was $50 but totally worth it!! The I also got some tea and a few things from the cabinet rooms gift shop. I'm DONE spending money in London.

After shopping and walking for what seemed forever we went to dinner at Pizza Express. It was nothing like the Bloomington Pizza Express!! We each had a delicious pizza. The other girls had a glasses of wine and me a diet coke (in an old fashioned glass bottle). We toasted to our last night in London and then walked 5 blocks to the nearest Tube station and headed for the hotel.

We leave tomorrow morning at 8am for Caen Normandy. Don't know if we'll have internet there but I'll try to keep up with the blog when I can.