london : parks, museums, and cathedrals

last sunday i spent the day in london again.

i took an early train out to spend some time wandering around.

i started in hyde park, slowly walking around taking in the sights and people-watching.

i made my way to the british museum...where i only had 45 minutes to explore!

sersiously. that place is full of treasures. and i have to admit that i was flying

through only a few rooms so quickly that i only think that i saw the rosetta stone at some point.

i'm definitely going to have to make another visit when my family comes to visit.

in the afternoon we had the opportunity to take an after-hours tour of st. paul's cathedral

with our professor (he's a lay canon there, giving his historical expertise).

i loved climbing the hundreds of stairs, first, to the whispering gallery:

who knew that walls could really talk?! it's incredibly magical.

we explored attic spaces and climbed to the very top of the dome

to get a view of all of london. so priceless.

we spiraled, literally, back down, and ended up in the crypt.

the lights were off which added to its haunting mood.

so many important people buried there (wren and mallais to name a couple).

one of my favorite architectural features were the floating stairs...seriously so harry potter.

you can actually take a pretty amazing virtual tour of the cathedral here.

hoping to finish a paper so i can do some more exploring this weekend:

possibly new forest national park and/or london again!