St. Paul's Cathedral

London's skyline has changed dramatically during the past 3 centuries. Buildings have come and gone, architectural styles have waxed and waned, but throughout there has been one constant -- the great plump dome of St. Paul's Cathedral gazing beatifically down upon the city. Despite the best intentions of the Luftwaffe and modern skyscraper designers (and honorable mention must go to "the Gherkin"), Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece is still the defining landmark of the City skyline -- and it's never looked so good. Preparations for its 300th anniversary (in 2008) saw the cathedral scrubbed and swabbed inside and out until it positively gleamed.

The interior is a neck-craningly large space where the eye is instantly drawn upward to the colorful ceiling, decorated with intricate mosaics of biblical scenes. They were installed in the late 19th century on the orders of Queen Victoria, who thought the cathedral's previously rather dowdy interior needed brightening up. Dotted around at ground level are tombs and memorials to various British heroes, including the Duke of Wellington, Lawrence of Arabia, and in the South Quire Aisle, an effigy of John Donne, one of the country's most celebrated poets and a former dean of St. Paul's. It's one of the few items to have survived from the previous, medieval cathedral, which was destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666; you can still see scorch marks on its base.

The cathedral offers some of the capital's best views, although you'll have to earn them by undertaking a more than 500-step climb up to the Golden Gallery. Here you can enjoy giddying 360° panoramas of the capital, as well as perhaps equally stomach-tightening views down to the floor 111m (364 ft.) below.

Down in the crypt is a bumper crop of memorials, including those of Alexander Fleming, Admiral Lord Nelson, William Blake, and Wren himself -- the epitaph on his simple tombstone reads: "Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you."

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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