Plan Q: Feed the Birds

So, my original blog plan for the next several days was The Hills are Alive: A Blog in Six Parts, with each blog being a different song from The Sound of Music; however, since we are now on Plan Q, I had to get a new movie. Since I went to London - it had to be Mary Poppins. So I've included a few pictures from my revised, revamped, and retooled holiday.

A view along the St. James Park lake. Quite serene.

That's Buckingham Palace in the distance with the Queen Victoria monument sticking up in the air. It was prettier in person.

Sir Winston Churchill - this is for Erin. Feel free to photoshop yourself in.

Statue of William Tyndale in Whitehall Gardens. According to the plaque at the sight his last words as he was being martyred were "Lord: open the King of England's eyes."

Within a year afterwards a Bible was placed in every parish church by the king's command. Wow - prayer is powerful.

By the way, I happened on this quite by "chance." I didn't even know it existed.

The tulips were in full bloom all over the city. What a blessing - they are so cheery!

Big Ben - I also found this view quite by accident. My plan for the day was to go to St. Paul's and then to the National Gallery. I did both but had a bit of extra time so I wandered around a bit. And there it was as I was crossing the Millennial Bridge. FYI: After taking this picture I looked down onto the garden that turned out to be Whitehall - where the above pictures were taken. Isn't God good to guide us exactly where we need to go?

I didn't know sidewalk artists actually existed! It was very "Mary Poppins" so I had to take a picture.

St. Paul's Cathedral designed by Christopher Wren. This is where "Feed the Birds" takes place (okay, so it was really filmed in California, but you know . . . work with it). I like this picture because that is a double-decker bus passing by - look how enormous the building is compared to it!

Said birds from above - I think pigeons are really gross, but you can't have a "Mary Poppins" adventure without them.

After climbing FOR-EV-ER to the Stone Gallery, I was at eye level with the "The Lady Justice" statue above the Old Bailey.

The view from the Golden Gallery - which is above the Stone Gallery. Definitely worth the view, but my legs are now spaghetti after 580 steps each way. I will say, I was quite proud of myself - I'm rather fearful of heights and had to talk myself out of hyperventilating several times. Parts of the stairwell made the Fat Man's Misery in the Mammoth Cave seem roomy. I'm surprised I don't still have handrail prints in my hands where I was clinging to it, especially as I was coming down. The first set of steps was up to my knee for one step! And it was a spiral staircase. Quite precarious.

View of the reconstructed Globe Theatre as seen from the Golden Gallery. It looks like a miniature.

Another side view. Points to be noted: a) it is really hard to get a decent picture of this building due to the sheer enormity of it and the fact that all of the modern buildings have been built up around it so closely and b) I went all the way to the very tip-top or at least the tip-top gallery. If you look at this picture I was at the very top of the dome. That's really high!!!

So, there you have it. My Plan Q vacation in a nutshell. Though definitely a shorter version and a much different location and all by myself, it was nonetheless a day to remember.