Go Go Go Go Go!

That was the tone of for our last day. We had a lot of stuff we wanted to accomplish today and not enough day to do it. We got up *very* early for us, got ready, stopped at Starbucks and hopped a bus to St. Pauls. Bussing it up was a different experience as the people were older and more beaten down but you got to see the City in all its glory which was a bonus. We got to St. Paul's at about 9:30 and found that the first tour didn't start until 11 a.m. so we decided on an audio tour. All of the big tourist spots have these headphones with maps that you can rent to tell you about stuff (Blaine called them audio tour zombies) and wander around. St. Paul's also didn't allow photos, but...this time we were both sneaky. :) It might not be the best image but it's still pretty darn cool. We followed the prompts and learned cool facts like the fact that Christopher Wren was determined to do things his way so screwed with his contract to get the look we wanted for the church (it was supposed to have a steeple and a teeny little dome). We wandered all over the first floor and then, Blaine, in a moment of evil genius I thought church vibes would kill, said "let's go up to the Whispering Gallery". Now that gallery is 259 steps up and is at the base of the dome of the ceiling. I thought it'd be cool but 259 steps is kinda a long way. He convinced me that all of our London walking had trained us for this and that it'd be easy and that the BIG SIGNS saying you can't turn back and you have to finish if you start and pregnant people, people with heart problems, etc are not allowed to do this. It SUCKED. 259 doesn't sound like a lot of steps but they were fairly straight up with a lot of close spiral staircases and the occasional hallways were so small that when Blaine would get to the top after I did he blocked all light and made them DARK little cramped hallways. We got to the top and while I'm still not completely convinced it was worth it the view from up there was completely cool and wonderful.

Blaine made the further trek to the top of the dome and then again to the tip top where you can see outside. When he got back and we trotted down the steps to the crypt and saw the final resting place of Wellington and Nelson.

Then on to Hamley's, the world's largest toy store (according to their adverts) where there was truth in advertising. It was huge and had a great range of toys and the staff were out doing demonstrations on every floor and even had a good product knowledge range. We found some of the things we'd been looking for and then headed back to drop of our bags. We then went to a Pakistani dinner where finally FINALLY I got gulab jum - neither of the Indian restaurants we went to had it and I love this dessert. After that I realized that I still hadn't finished souvenir shopping (I have a lot of family) so raced over to Piccadilly Square to finish shopping, then out to Platform 9-3/4 to see the Harry Potter monument and then over to Trafalgar Square to get pictures with the famous Lions (which the protest blocked) and then back to the hotel to pack up and have everything ready for getting up at the crack of dawn Saturday for the trip back.