Another day out in London

Wednesday, July 30, 2014
London, England, United Kingdom
I haven't done a blog since we've been back in England, even though we've been to some interesting places. I've been putting everything on Facebook, but hopefully I'll get time tonight to get this one done.

So we left the flat at 10 .17 and caught the 141 bus in Green Lanes and headed towards London Bridge. The clouds lifted and 30 minutes later, when we got off in a traffic jam just before Moorgate station, the sun was out. Walked down the road a bit and turned right into London Wall (that's a street name). And along to the Museum of London .....

'The Museum of London documents the history of London from prehistoric to modern times. The museum is located on London Wall, close to the Barbican Centre as part of the striking Barbican complex of buildings created in the 1960s and 1970s as an innovative approach to re-development within a bomb-damaged area of the City of London. It is a few minutes' walk north of St Paul's Cathedral,overlooking the remains of the Roman city wall and on the edge of the oldest part of London, now its main financial district. It is primarily concerned with the social history of London and its inhabitants throughout time. The museum is jointly controlled and funded by the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority .'It was free entry and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but my legs were a bit tired by the time we left 3 hours later!

We walked along a high walkway beside the London Wall street and then crossed over above it. Down the stairs, and bought some lunch at the "Pret a Manger". Took our lunch around the corner into Love Lane and sat in a park at St Mary Aldermanbury to eat it. Opposite the Guildhall Library and the Clockmakers Museum. I read at the Museum, that 10,000 people live in the City of London (the Square Mile that is the official City) but that 340,000 come there each day for work. That's incredible isn't it? But believable when you see the volume of people getting on and off the hundreds of buses and trains.

We wended our way towards the Minories (another street name) via Gresham Street, Lothbury, Throgmorton Street, etc. We were walking along the Minories because I was trying to find the site of the Holy Trinity Minories church and burial grounds because one of my Chaille gt gt gt uncles was buried there in 1823 . I'd read the church was destroyed during the war, but that part of the wall was at 9 Clare St off the Minories. We found 9 Clare St but no old walls that we could see.

Then on to the Tower of London. The Chaille family lived at Mint in the Tower in the early 1820s. The Mint was east of the Tower and behind St Katherine's Dock - bounded by Cartwright St on the east side and East St on the southside (Rosemary Street was on the north and King street on the west). We walked around the Tower - down the west side and then back east to the Tower Bridge. We saw the ceramic poppies mentioned below.
"Tower of London moat filled with thousands of poppies to commemorate WW1 heroes
THE MOAT of iconic London landmark the Tower of London was today filled with thousands of ceramic poppies to commemorate the start of World War One, exactly 100 years ago".

We saw the Tower Bridge open, the huge ship going through, and then the bridge closing . Walked over the bridge to the south side. Then walked along the Thames to London Bridge. Queens Walk - this is now my favourite part of the Thames river walk. Not too many tourists! Nice and wide too. Great views across the river of the Tower and all the magnificent buildings. There wee some interesting buildings on the southside too - love the one with the lid squashed on lopsidedly. Then there's the Scoop amphitheatre and the Hay's Galleria with the area for playing boules and the Navigator statue - I tried to copy and paste a description, but I guess I'm tired!

We had a drink at the "Barrowboy and Banker" at London Bridge - the quietest we've ever seen it (must be because the cricket was on and not the football) - before catching the bus home.

Marvel at the focal point of the Galleria, a giant kinetic sculpture
called 'Navigators' specially commissioned from David Kemp. This 60ft
high sculpture weighing 14 tons is a bizarre symphony of moving parts,
water jets and fountains that will fascinate adults and children alike .
- See more at:
http://www.discoverlondonbridge.co.uk/Places-to-Visit-Heritage-Museums-Hays-Galleria-London-Bridge-City-5468zzzbzzz.aspx#sthash.8FYrAfWp.dpuf

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Comments

anneandsteve
2014-07-30

What a fabulous day you had. So envious you have seen the Poppies and I won't!!!!

2025-02-10

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