Tower of London & St. Paul's Cathedral

When I first heard the assignment for this field trip I was a little nervous. I didn't think I would be able to find many similarities. But to my surprise, I was able to find a lot of commonality between the Towe r of London and St. Pauls Cathedral. The first thing I felt, after entering both places, was a sense of community. My favorite place in the Tower of London was the center where I felt most everything was located. There is literally a small community. Among a lot of things, there were houses with blue doors that were for residency, the location of the doctor, the execution site, access to many of the buildings and towers, and the Church. It is a nice open space with room to gather and be among other people.

I felt the same sense of community in St. Paul's Cathedral. Upon walking in, I first noticed how big it was. The Cathedral is enormous and very spacious and had a lot of room for seating. It was obvious that a large amount of people gather there to worship. The open space and large amount of seating adds to a sense of community. It is somewhat welcoming and comforting. Although I felt a sense of community in both places there is somewhat of a separation in the community in reguards to the nobility and the commoners. The Queen and those with a certain status are kept separate from the commoners whether it is in the Queen's Tower in the Tower of London or in separate seating areas within St. Paul's Cathedral.

Also within both locations was the sense of a higher power. The Tower of London was specifically designed to be a fortress for a ruling King or Queen. Everything within the tower had a purpose that directly related the ruler of the time. For example, the three lines of defense that exist including the inner wall, the outer wall, and the moat represent just how important the ruler is and shows how much of a higher power they are compared to any common man. Of course, in St. Paul's Cathedral the higher power one feels is God. The beauty in the ceilings and sculptures, the enormity of the dome, and the sense of respect emphasize this feeling of a higher power.

A final similarity that I didn't like so much was the fact that cafe's were built into both historic locations. I saw at least two inside the Tower of London and one in the crypts at St. Paul's Cathedral. I would much prefer if the cafe's were left outside of the actual buildings. It was weird to me to walk out of the tower that held the royal jewels and into a cafe. It was also strange to be walking past the tombs in St. Paul's and walk right into a cafe.

The biggest difference I noticed about both locations was the size. I imagined the Tower of London to be much bigger than it was. St. Paul's had the Tower beaten by a large margin when it came to height. St. Paul's also seemed more attractive one the outside than the Tower. One would think that an establishment with as much importance as the Tower of London would have been a little more appealing.