6 Hour Queue!!!

After nearly six hours of queuing, I was treated to this sight!

To begin at the beginning... I spent last night at my son's flat, partly because it is always a joy to spend time with him but also so that I could make an early(ish) start for Open House London, when many places open their usually closed doors to the public. I arrived at The Gherkin just after 9am and there was already a significant queue but I knew I was unlikely to get another opportunity to go to the top of this fascinating building, so I joined the end. The going was slow - very slow. To cut a long story short, I arrived at the entrance to the building shortly before 3pm, having consumed just two cereal bars, a cup of green tea with lemon and a coffee during the entire time since waking! It was also cold. I'd made friends with people around me, so one went off to get us all a much needed coffee and we took it in turns to stand out in the street where the sun was shining to thaw out a bit.

When I eventually entered the glass domed area on the 40th floor, I was greeted with the sound of someone announcing that I only had six minutes - six minutes!!! - it turned out to be 10 minutes..... however, although that was not going to be enough to satisfy me, I am grateful that I got in at all after my long wait. They only let in two more groups after mine and I suspect that some who had been queuing for several hours didn't manage to get in.

Was it worth it? Well, it was a fabulous sight - a great structure and fantastic views - but in terms of photography, there was no hope of carefully composing my shots - it was definitely a case of 'spray and pray'. If I had any idea just how long I would have to wait, I most certainly would not have done!!!

I was booked in to St Paul's at 3pm, so I missed my time slot but thankfully they fitted both me and my son into the last tour of the day, as some people hadn't turned up. The tour lasted an hour and was fantastic! We got to see parts of the cathedral that aren't often seen, including a very old and musty library, a great view down the nave and a beautiful spiral staircase.

By the end of all that, I was pretty much out of oumph, although we did hot foot it to City Hall in the (vain) hope of getting in before they closed their doors. Instead we had an early dinner overlooking Tower Bridge and then went back to my son's flat for a leisurely evening...... and lots of zzzz.......

Thank you so much to those of you who have called in on my less usual view of St Paul's - do take a look back if you missed it and have time!

I hope your week has got off to a good start!


Ann :))