The Millennium Bridge and St Paul's

In front of you is the start of the Millennium Bridge, the slim steel footbridge that points straight at the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. It opened in June 2000, and around ninety thousand people crossed it on the first day. Then it began to sway. As the deck moved slightly sideways, walkers unconsciously fell into step with it, which made it swing even more. Two days later it was closed. It took almost two years and dozens of shock absorbers to fix. Londoners still call it the Wobbly Bridge. Now look at the dome. Christopher Wren built the cathedral after the old one burned down in the Great Fire of 1666. On the night of the twenty-ninth of December 1940, it stood in the middle of a second great fire. German incendiary bombs rained down on the City, and almost thirty of them hit the cathedral or landed close by. One burned through the lead of the dome, but fell outwards and was put out. Volunteer firewatchers stayed on the roof all night. A photographer caught the dome rising above the smoke. That picture became the symbol of a city that refused to give in. Next stop: Shakespeare's Globe, right next door. Look for the round white building with the thatched roof.