Day 4! As I said yesterday, big bucket list item being crossed off my list today!!

Today started off on the early side! I joined my dad and some of his colleagues for breakfast at 7am!

I’m definitely a fan of the English breakfast! And it’s very nice that it’s included with the hotel room (and a buffet)!

After breakfast I crawled back to sleep until 9am, they all had to teach but I had plenty of time to relax. I then got ready for the day and headed out for my outing of the morning!

I went on a quick walk to Holborn Station and grabbed the Tube! It’s so wonderful being in a city with such accessible transportation.

This Tube ride on the central line was a straight shot to my destination!

I hopped off the Tube, turned the corner and was immediately met with the VERY large building I set out to see, St. Paul’s Cathedral!

This cathedral is easily the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen! The magnificent architecture doesn’t stop on the outside either! As you enter the cathedral you’re met with beautiful domes, long halls, amazing acoustics, and spectacular mosaics/statues!

For just over £20 you receive access to the cathedral, the 3 levels above the cathedral, and the catacombs. Along with that you get an audio guide that explains the different parts of the cathedral, the architecture, and the relevant history/historical figures associated with the cathedral!

After following along with the audio guide on the main level, I made my way to the stairs that lead you to the upper levels of the cathedral!

This part of the church is really only accessible by stairs! I saw an elevator while climbing up but didn’t see anyone using it or anything online about the cathedral dome being accessible with it.

For the first leg of the climb, I headed up 257 spiral steps the the whisper gallery. You’re not allowed to take pictures in here, but the dome is shaped perfectly that you can hear any conversation on the opposite side of the gallery! You also get a closer look of the artwork on the dome itself!

After that, I headed up another 119 steps which lead to the Stone Gallery!

At the stone gallery you’re taken outside and welcomed with a view of the London skyline! I thought this view was breathtaking… but wait till you see the next one!

After climbing another 152 steps (528 spiral steps in total), I made it to the top, the Golden Gallery!

The views from both sides of this gallery were jaw dropping! You could see monuments like the tower bridge (which I’ll be touring tomorrow) and the London Eye, along with all the huge and artsy modern buildings of downtown!

I’d say the climb up was DEFINITELY worth it!

But the funs not over yet… as I had to climb back down 😅

The stairs were definitely not designed for someone my height and for a lot of the parts near the top it got very narrow with a low ceiling.

After returning to the main level, I continued the audio tour and headed down to the catacombs.

Now there are many interesting people buried here. But the one that caught my attention the most was this ornate casket for Admiral Nelson. First off, the structure had to be lowered in from the ceiling, which is crazy. But other than that, this is the leader of the Battle of Trafalgar (which is the square I saw yesterday)!

After finishing up at the cathedral, I made my way to the Millennial Bridge. This is a walking bridge that crosses the entire River Thames!

The bridge offered some beautiful views and the sun even came out while I was walking across!

On the other side of the bridge was another spot I was excited to see, the “new” Globe Theater!

I didn’t end up going inside for a show or taking a tour but it was very cool to see this part of history from the outside!

I then walked back across another bridge to go deeper into the heart of the city and explore the skyscrapers!

The sky scrapers in London all have fun nicknames including: the cheese grater, the Kardashian, and the walkie talkie. But the one I was most interested to see was the building called the gherkin!

For those of you who don’t know… I sure didn’t… a gherkin is a pickle!

Now… I’m not sure if this looks like a pickle or something else. But it’s my friend Lola’s favorite building and I wanted to go check it out!

After a magnificent morning of walking around downtown London, I hopped on my first double decker bus and road back to a stop nearby my hotel!

I had about an hour before my dad and I headed off to our bucket list item! So I took a nap and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a snack (I took a picture this time to prove it).

My dad and I then ventured off back to the tube and headed towards a very exciting sporting event!

My dad has been coming to London for years now teaching a short class abroad. However, something he has never done is go to a Football match (soccer for us Americans)!

As a football fan myself he finally had the time and an excuse to go experience a live match! Also him getting into Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham helped push him to go a bit too 😉

We arrived in Shepard’s Bush, a area of west London that is home to the football club Queen Park Rangers (QPR)!

The atmosphere was electric walking to the stadium! And as we got closer to the stadium the crowd of people walking to the game got bigger!

We took a wrong turn and ended up walking around the entire stadium 😅 but eventually we found our turnstile entrance and went to our seats!

Our seats were great! A few rows back from the pitch and surrounded by very nice fans. The overall sentiment of the club was on the pessimistic side… the club is facing fear of relegation this season.

QPR is currently in the Champions League but todays match was for the 3rd round of the FA Cup against a Premier league team, Bournemouth (there’s some in season tournaments that don’t have any consequences for the teams regular season play and you can play anyone from any division).

Another nice thing about FA Cup games, they generally are cheaper than regular season tickets! So we ended up getting seats at a premier level game for £25 a ticket!

The match got off to a rocky start of nil – nil (0-0 😉) and you could hear the groans of life long fans ringing across the pitch. The Bournemouth fans were also at the games in mass and were chanting up a storm (the QPR fans were mainly quiet with a few chants here and there). But just as the second half was ending, out of no where, QPR scores a goal! And then a minute later scored ANOTHER!

The crowd went bananas! It was so much fun and excitement! I was watching old friends hug each other laughing and tears forming in their eyes. I saw a father lift his young daughter into the air and watched them embrace!

I totally got swept up in the moment and gave my dad a hug and huge double high fives and high fived all the strangers around me!

It was exhilarating and exactly what we set out to experience! On top of that, there was this newfound light in the stadium that you could tell hadn’t been sensed in quite some time with QPR’s record.

Unfortunately though, the fun ended up dying down as quickly into the second half Bournemouth scored… and then scored again… and then scored one more time sealing the deal and beating QPR.

Even with the crushing defeat, my dad and I had a truly amazing time! I can’t wait to go see another match someday!

After following all the fans back to the Underground, we hopped back on the Tube and made our way to dinner!

But on the way we got distracted by a huge LED interactive art exhibit that was just outside the Tube station.

After some ooo’s and ahh’s we walked to an Indian restaurant my dad likes called Strand Tandori! It was a very filling and scrumptious meal (and I remembered to snag some pictures)!

After eating wayyyy too much, we decided to walk (roll) our way back to the hotel through a very posh part of the city, Covent Garden.

I of course had to bring along a part of my KU gear with me (and they won their opening conference basketball game tonight! Rock Chalk)!

Words can’t accurately describe how wonderful of a day this was! From solo adventuring to a beautiful historic landmark to getting to cross off a bucket list item at a thrilling football match with my dad. I’ve really enjoyed my time in London this far and it’s only just begun!

The adventures continue tomorrow! Talk to you soon,

– Elie