St Paul's Cathedral and the Sky Garden

We started our day with Special K and blueberries once again. Special K in Europe is a different formula than the flakes in the states. We didn't know this until the last time we were in Europe and fell in love with these crunchy nutty flakes.

We returned home and excitedly bought a box of it and sat down with some expectations that were promptly dashed. RICE flakes, mushy and almost like ricecrispies in lack of content. WTF! We sent off an email to Kellogg's and they replied that the market in Europe is different and so their cereal is a different formula over there. We asked if they would ship us a box of it and they would not. So we are having fun eating our beloved cereal once again. Plus you can buy a box if it for 2 lbs which is nothing compared to what we pay in the US. Why is that?

St Paul's Cathedral

Random building with interior garden

In the square in front of St Paul's

LOVE the top on this building.

After staring around at all of the magnificent architecture we decided to walk to the Sky Garden and see if we could get in. We really had no chance as you have to book a table reservation 30 days in advance if you want to eat in the Darwin's Brasserie or the fine dining restaurant. Or you can book a time to just go up to the 35 floor and look at the view. But that has to be done in advance and after previously attempts to try to secure a spot and failing, we wanted to do the "blunder up and act like you don't understand what the deal is" maneuver. Surely there has to be concessions made for people like us? ;)

As you can tell by this stunning pic from the top of the Sky Garden we not only made it, we had a fabulous meal. We walked up to the exterior of the building and the very long line of people waiting to be searched before being herded into an elevator to access the 35th floor. Our hearts kind of sunk when we saw the line but then we spotted a beautiful woman dressed to the nines with a clipboard. She saw us come up and look and she came over and asked if she could help us. We smiled and said we would like to eat in one of the restaurants. She said well let's look and see if there are any cancellations. So she shepherded us around a barrier to a desk with more beautiful women. One of them said that normally there is a 30 day wait but let's look and see what we can do. Ta Da! There was a "cancellation" at 1:30pm (in 20 minutes) and would this be suitable for us? Well of course, how perfect! and then BEST of all we were shown to a place in line right before security which cut 3/4 of the line out. No plans or reservations and we get the best service. My kind of place. We were so happy and smug. Just tickled pink really.

This is the garden and viewing area. There's a bar that serves drinks and snacks for the common people. There's an outdoor balcony for taking in the scenery but there was glass in front so it was a little tough for pics.

We took a bunch of pics and drank a quick beer and then went to our appointed restaurant and sat down at a lovely table. The views up there are pretty awe inspiring. Well worth going if you can get a table!

I had the gnocchi and David had the burger with short rib relish, and they both were to die for! The gnocchi like fluffy clouds and the short rib relish on that burger was beyond good. Salty and just the best thing you could think of to put on a burger. We will try to recreate that dish at some point. The server was a beautiful girl that was just superb. Put us at ease and was genuinely friendly and attentive. We were very impressed by the whole place. Very well managed! Bravo!