The Millennium Bridge connects the Tate Modern with the St. Paul's neighborhood. That's the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on the left. We decided to check it out when we left the art gallery.
The construction of the bridge is really interesting. It seems to be some sort of modern suspension bridge, but not like any I have ever seen before.
The bridge is heavily used and many tourists take advantage of the wonderful river views by stopping to take pictures (as I have done below).
Looking east, I believe, down the river. You can just barely see the Tower Bridge in the far distance.
Between the river and St. Paul's is an office for the Salvation Army. I include this picture for two reasons. One, it reminds us that it was founded in Britain. Two, what many of us think of as a charitable organization is in fact a Christian-based religion. I don't know if this is common knowledge and somehow my generation missed this memo, but I had no idea that it was a religion until last semester when our reporting professor filled us in. Neither had anyone else in that class. I just found that very interesting, that with all of the red kettle campaign every year during the holidays, that so many people don't know this.
This is the fourth St. Paul's Cathedral to stand on this sight. The previous structured, referred to as "Old St. Paul's" was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. One of my professors shared an interesting story about that. When the fire first broke out and it became obvious that much of the city was at risk of burning, many people brought their most valuable things to St. Paul's Cathedral in the belief that God would protect the church. Ironically, they were right to a degree. The fire did not burn its way into the church. Instead, the heat from the nearby flames melted the lead roof, it collapsed, and the church burned down from the inside out before the actual flames ever reached it.
The current structure was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was completed between 1675 and 1710. It was unique in that it was the first Cathedral to have ever been designed and built under the watch and within the lifetime of its architect. Wren knew as he designed it that this would become his masterpiece (as it has). His first two proposals were rejected. His third, the one that received approval, called for a minor dome with a tall spire on top of it. But Wren cleverly wrote into the contract that the architect could take minor liberties with the aesthetics of the building during the construction process. So along with other not-so-minor changes, they ended up with a massive dome and no spire. Wren had another trick too. He had a suspicion that he would get halfway done with construction and they would want to cut costs and scale back parts of the design. So to ensure that his masterpiece would be completed the way he wanted, he started construction at the back of the church and worked his way forward. The impressive front of the church is the most important part, so by building that last there was nothing they could do but to let him finish it.
Finally, we returned back to Bloomsbury for a nice dinner out at an Italian restaurant. This actually served as my belated birthday dinner. The restaurant is on the corner of this little pedestrian street called "Sicilian Avenue" that is right across from Bloomsbury Square (the public green at one end of our street). The food was amazing - I had Fettuccine alfredo with a glass of house red wine, and an amaretto ice cream dessert. Hyde Park, Tate Modern, walk through St. Paul's, and dinner out - what a fine way to spend a day.
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