London Day 6 (due to the late night last night, this update was a bit delayed)

This morning was devoted to St. Paul's Cathedral. We (shockingly) got up somewhat early and got to the Cathedral about 9:30, well before the crowds. We immediately went up the 500+ steps to the top of the dome. On the way up we stopped in the whispering gallery which is the interior part of the dome that looks down on the church. Its acoustics are such that if you whisper on one side, the person on the opposite side can hear you. We continued to the top and had some great views of London. We could see St. Bride's church whose steeple is said to be the model for the wedding cake. Once down on the floor we explored the main part of the Cathedral and the crypt. The crypt held the bodies of famous Brits like Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, and Florence Nightengale. After the Cathedral we got some lunch and ate it on St. Paul's steps. The afternoon was when the boys went one way and the girls went another. Luke and I had a football (soccer) adventure. We took the tube to North London to check out Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club. We then traveled south and west to the banks of the Thames and the Fulham Neighborhood and stopped at Craven Cottage, the oldest football ground in London and home of Fulham Football Club. Our walk from the Tube to Craven Cottage took us along the Thames (which was cool because it was at low tide) and through a beautiful park. Fulham is a smaller club that has fallen on hard times recently, but their stadium is quaint and beautiful, kind of like Wrigley Field. We paid a couple of pounds to go inside the stadium. It was only us, the very nice women who let us in, and the grounds keeper in the stadium at the time. Our last stop on the adventure was Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club, Luke's favorite team (but not mine, we will be touring Manchester City FC's ground this weekend). We had tickets to Chelsea's friendly match against Fiorentina of Italy. We got to the grounds early and decided to walk around the area. Next to the grounds was an old run down cemetery that was fascinating. While walking around the cemetery we came across a fox just hanging out. I think if we were calm enough we could have petted it. Even though I do not particularly like Chelsea, it was a lot of fun going to a match. Luke loved it despite Chelsea's 1-0 loss. With the Tube strike still in effect, our adventure did not end with the conclusion of the game. Trying to get any form of public transportation out of Stamford Bridge was near impossible. We started walking back toward our hotel in hopes of finding something that was not so crowded. After an hour or so of walking and my phone at 5% battery, we found a bus that would take us back to our hotel. We left Stamford Bridge about 10:00 pm and rolled into our hotel about 11:45 pm. Through it all, Luke was positive and a great partner to have on our adventure.