London day 12 Fri 4 May 2018

Underground to South Kensington then walked to the Albert Hall and enjoyed a tour of the property. The building was not damaged in WWII and people such as the Queen have a 999 year lease on seats. Promoters pay to hire the hall but not necessarily the organ and must equip the space themselves. Ticket pricing is decided by the promoter. Because of this the floor of the Hall has been set up for concerts, both classical and rock, performances involving horses and masters tennis matches, as well as opera involving a great deal of water. Walked back to South Kensington and took the Underground to Blackfriars and walked to St Paul’s Cathedral. No photos however have photographed postcards I purchased. The Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was completed in 1711. We climbed 259 spiral shallow steps to the Whispering Gallery at a height of 100 feet above the Cathedral floor. Then a further 117 steps to the Stone Gallery outside followed by 166 spiral steps to Golden outside gallery before returning down to the Cathedral floor. We walked across the Millennium Bridge and along the Thames Walk and back over the Embankment Bridge to reach the Banqueting House with its nine ceiling paintings by Rubens painted in 1635. It is the only surviving building from the Whitehall Palace destroyed in 1698 by fire. Purchased picnic dinner from large Morrison’s supermarket at Acton Town and ate in room.Read more