Walking towards St. Paul’s Cathedral with Valerie in the tan coat.

December 29, 1940

And perched high above Fleet Street, photographer Herbert Mason captured the astonishing sight of the cathedral dome, surrounded by devastation but still standing proud.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/

Read the amazing story below or the full story at the link above

The National Firefighters Memorial across from St Paul’s Cathedral

     “On the 4th May 1991 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother graciously unveiled the Bronze Memorial Statue following a moving service in St Paul’s Cathedral. Her Majesty congratulated the Trustees and the Guild of Firefighters, (now the Worshipful Company of Firefighters) together with the Sculptor John Mills, on this achievement. The Memorial, very aptly named “Blitz”, depicting an officer and two firefighters engaged on operational firefighting during the war years, had on its octagonal bronze base the names of some 997 men and women who sadly lost their lives during the conflict.

     In 2003 the Memorial was elevated and the additional names of those lost in peacetime were inscribed in bronze on the raised base. The Memorial was re-dedicated to coincide with the Service of Remembrance, by HRH The Princess Royal. A total of some 1,192 names were added in bronze to the Memorial.

     The original sculpture was the work of John Mills a very skilled artist. Rarely do you see such a work of art with three life sized bronze figures actively engaged in their professional duties.

Carter Lane Gardens

St Paul’s Churchyard

City of London

EC4M 8BX   http://firefightersmemorial.org.uk/index.php/memorial-sites/memorial

“………It would take more than a miracle to save St Paul’s. It would demand acts of heroism from an army of ­firefighters, men and women, to keep 1,700 pumps working ­flat-out.

They were hampered by ruptured water mains, which meant vital pressure levels were falling. Even the Thames was at a low ebb, so river water was clogging the hoses with mud.

“While the men manned the pumps, the women were driving petrol carriers, canteen vans and staff cars into the thickest parts of the blaze, ensuring the pumps had fuel to keep going,” author Francis Beckett says…….

Fourteen firefighters were killed that night and 250 injured, yet their sacrifice was barely ­recognised at the time. Two who died together tackling a blaze on City Road had to be buried together, because their widows could not afford separate funerals.

It would have taken just one spark to ignite the roof timbers of the cathedral and turn the dome into a river of lead. But next morning amid the smouldering ruins it was still there, a stirring vision of hope for the country.

In his own words, as he risked his life in the heat of the inferno, volunteer fireman Harold Newell summed up its importance. “If St Paul’s goes down, then we all go down,” he said…….”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/  Read the whole amazing story here

http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/   One man’s memories.

Valerie and I had a wonderful tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral which has a long history way before the blitz.

It was gutted in the Great Fire of 1666 and rebuilt by Christopher Wren.  http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Cathedral-History/Cathedral-History tells the history far better than I could.

My favorite part of the Cathedral was the American Memorial Chapel.

http://www.stpaulsusa.org/Pages/AmericanConnection.aspx tells the moving story of the American Memorial Chapel HONORING THE AMERICAN SERVICEMEN BASED IN THE BRITISH ISLES

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR II. 

We were a varied group of folks taking the tour: one woman was even from Ernakulam, India; the town where I had my Ayurvedic massage for my sciatica.  There were people from Australia and Israel as well as a few of us run-of-the-mill North Americans.  

  One of my reasons for wanting to visit St Paul’s was the “sort of challenge” from a bike buddy, Dick in Salem, VA to climb to the top of St. Paul’s dome.  It was one thing I hadn’t done when visiting Florence in 2000, climb the stairs to Brunelleschi’s Dome in the Florence Cathedral.   (I have hiked Mt. Snowdon in  Wales with my pal Martha ; but we missed being able to climb Mt Fugi while in Japan. )  So anyway, while we were at St Paul’s,  Valerie and I climbed the dome.  At one point, the stairs between the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery, change to those metal see through stairs and  wind around and around and up, which is very dizzifying as they would say in the play Wicked.  But just as we were about to begin climbing the stairs,  a school group of 10 year old kids started behind us.  Many were saying they were afraid but others were encouraging them.  The poor teacher was trying to figure out what to do.  All that discussion certainly took my mind off the stairs and focused me on staying ahead of the hordes of kids.  Valerie and I just kept going up not thinking about what going down would be like. 

http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Cathedral-History/Explore-the-Cathedral/Climb-the-Dome

Valerie and I walked from the Crypt to the Golden Gallery, so even more than the 528 feet.  The viewing platform of the Monument I’d climbed was 48.7 metres above the ground. 

Looking down over the roof of St Paul’s and beyond from the lower Stone Gallery: you can see the London Wheel

Even higher: Looking down on St Paul’s itself from the Golden Gallery.

Outside on the Golden Gallery above the Dome.

I took this photo of St Paul’s  from the ground  while we were on our “Blitz” tour. 

I believe that’s the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern across the way.

Water from the Thames was used to put out fires during the bombings except one fateful night when the Thames was at a very low tide.  But that story I’ll tell with the “Blitz tour.” 

We didn’t receive a certificate as you do when you climb The Monument; but here’s proof we were up at the top.