Number 33 - Visit St Paul’s Cathedral

Standing tall on the highest point in the city of London is the grand St Paul’s Cathedral with its infamous dome centrepiece to London’s iconic skyline.

When I was visiting Florence in Italy my tour guide told us some interesting facts, one of which was that the second largest cathedral dome after St Peters Basilica in Rome is none other than St Paul’s Cathedral in London! 

This year I’ve visited some of the most amazing cathedrals and architectural masterpieces across the world, but where better than to marvel in the wonder of architecture than right on my doorstep.

You can buy a ticket to visit the cathedral and marvel at the grand nave of the catherdral, stone work and the geometric staircase in the south west bell tower, which you may recognise from the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

We also climbed the 378 steps to the stone gallery where you can see the top of the dome and visit the whispering gallery where sound waves mean you can hear one another from different sides of the dome with a mere whisper. 

A further few steps up to 528 we reached the golden gallery and the top of the second largest cathedral dome in the work at 366ft, overlooking the most spectacular views over the city of London 

After a tiring walk up the dome we decided to treat ourselves to champagne afternoon tea set within the historic crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral surrounded by centuries of history lined with majestic stone pillars, and magnificent stained-glass arched windows.

St Paul’s Cathedral has been destroyed four times in its history. The great fire of London in 1666 destroyed the last cathedral. It took 10 years to design and 35 years (yes 35 years!) to compete Christopher Wrens creation. And today’s masterpiece was declared open on 25 December 1711 and has stood tall since for the past 307 years.

Which shows that great masterpieces take time to develop and become something amazing. 

Sometimes it may feel like you’ve been knocked down but all it takes is someone to believe in you to see what you could be and achieve, and to help rebuild you back up to what you were always meant to be. So you can stand tall with a strength much mightier than ever before.