Faciendi Plures Libros Nullus Est Finis 7/2/13

From the corporate library, we took the Tube to St. Paul’s, where we had the most wonderful British tour guide you could hope for. He was just snarky and British and wonderful. He lead us up to a level of the
 church that is only used for educational tours and not open to the public. Unlike the gilt and fancy public parts of the church, the triforium level is very plain stone with visible wooden beams. Back there they store artifacts with Viking runes, a collection of stone from churches that have been destroyed, and lecterns that were previously used. We were able to go back into the main part of the church at our level, and had what’s called the “BBC POV,” because it’s where the BBC sets up their cameras during broadcasts from St. Paul’s. The tour guide showed us a number of interesting features, from the spiral staircase used as the way to Professor Trelawny’s in Harry Potter, to hidden faces in the decorative woodwork.

We went into a room dedicated to the design of St. Paul’s, where possible designs are preserved. In addition to the paper plans, there is a massive model of a possible St. Paul’s design. It was like a giant, beautiful dollhouse. Apparently, there was a worry that the designer could die, and no one would be able to decipher his plan, so the King ordered a model to be made that would allow anyone to figure out what was to be built. In the end, the design was scrapped, anyway, because it was seen as too Vaticanesque.

We then made our way back to the actual St. Paul’s library. We took a few pictures of the bookshelves outside the library, to which our guide gave the line of the day: “Protolibrarains taking pictures of books… Get a life.” Did I mention how amazing he was?

The library proper was Uh-Mazing. The smell is indescribable, this amazing sweet, rich, and earthy aroma, which is apparently from the leather covers breaking down. All I’m saying is that if I had some Amoretia, it would smell like the St. Paul’s library. The library looks ancient, it’s full of giant ancient tomes, and looks like you should see Gandalf off in the corner with a pipe. Unlit, of course, because the fire or the smoke would be horrific for the books. It made me think about how something that dark and old can be equally but differently impressive than the bright, modern Barbican. Honestly, I never wanted to leave the St. Peter’s library. Why can’t they bottle that smell?

Christine and I decided to go on the candlelit tour of the Soane Museum, which is held only on the first Tuesday of the month, and required us to line up for tickets two hours before we could go in. This would have been fine, but the temperature had dropped, and it kept raining off and on. But we grabbed sandwiches for dinner, and ate them in line, and shivered our way to six o’clock. The museum was interesting, since Soane was an architect who really understood light, and had a really strange and interesting collection. Still, one of the oddest parts of the museum was hearing about how Soane invented a character named Padre Giovanni who supposedly lived in his basement, and then Soane designed a set of rooms around him. Soane was an odd character.

I found out later that the street I had waited on for two hours was the street where 12 Grimmauld Place was filmed. Surprise Harry Potter location (This happened a lot the next day.)

After a long and exhausting day, I finally made my way home to rest up for Oxford.