London on a July Sunday Pt. 4

According to my records this is my 600th post
blogger says more than that but I think they are including drafts

Having left St. Paul's we now walk into Paternoster Square 

This was the centre of London publishing trade but was devastated by the bombing in World War II. Many years before that it was a livestock market. It is now home to the London Stock Exchange and a number of investment banks, 2 of them being Merrill Lynch & Goldman Sacks

This 23 metre tall Corinthian column holds an air shaft down to underground passages below

The gold leafed flaming copper urn is illuminated by fibre optic lighting at night 

Memories of the live stock market

We continue our walk and turn onto Cheapside which takes us away from tourist London into the business areas with a mixture of the old and the new

These areas are alive with people during the week but this is Sunday

Flowers in the city

I don't think this car will be stolen!

Even in the business areas people want to shop

The Royal Exchange

was founded in 1565 to act as a centre of commerce in the city. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth I who awarded the building it's Royal title. The original building was then destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

A second Exchange was built on the site which was also destroyed by fire in 1838.

The third building which you see here today (and adheres to the original layout) was opened in 1844 by Queen Victoria.

and The Bank of England where my son works

One more post will complete this day's walk

London on a July Sunday Pt. 3

We are now walking towards the south side of St. Paul's cathedral

passing a war memorial on the left

Looking towards the front entrance

and Queen Victoria

before going inside where one is not allowed to take photographs (naughty) The only way to see the cathedral these days is with a tour guide or if there is a service to attend which offers limited viewing. One was just finishing here. I remember the days of unlimited access and photography but that was before the days of mass tourism

Looking down Ludgate Hill from the steps

before walking around to the north side to enter the Crypt where we had lunch

next to many interesting statutes 

Here we are walking around the north side ready to continue our days walking

Before I leave you thought you might like some history

St. Paul's is the 5th cathedral to have stood on this site since 604 ad and was built between 1675 and 1710 after it's predecessor was destroyed in the great Fire of London. This was the first cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the 16th century when 

King Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Crown took control of the church's life.

For those who enjoy history the following is some extra information taken from St. Paul's website.

Throughout its history, St Paul's has been a place where the individual and the nation can express those feelings of joy, gratitude and sorrow that are so central to our lives.

Among the events marked at St Paul's are royal occasions. In 1897 Queen Victoria chose to commemorate her diamond jubilee here. More recently Queen Elizabeth II has celebrated her jubilees at St Paul's , and also her 80th birthday in 2006. Royal weddings have been held here as well: the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Prince Arthur in 1501 and famously the wedding of HRH the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. 

As the nation's church, St Paul's has also been the site of state funerals of British military leaders, including Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and of the wartime Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Services have also been held to mark the valuable contributions made by ordinary men and women involved in armed conflicts in the Falklands, the Gulf and Northern Ireland. A vast crowd also gathered at St Paul's following the terrorist attacks on New York on 11 September 2001, as London expressed its solidarity with the people of New York at a time of grief. 

People of other faiths have a place in national services at St Paul's. In 2005, at the service of remembrance following the terrorist bombings in London in July of that year, young people representing different faith communities lit candles as a shared sign of hope during turbulent times. 

In these symbolic ways London's cathedral seeks to be a house of prayer for people of all nations. It is a place for protest against injustice and for the public express of hope for a better society. Martin Luther King stopped at St Paul's en route to collect his Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Involvement in the global community and social justice is as much a part of the working life of St Paul's as prayer and ceremony. 

London on a July Sunday Pt.2

Having come across the bridge onto the South Bank we see the Globe Theatre. It is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse, first built in 1599, where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his greatest plays

photograph from website as obviously one is not allowed in during performances

The foyer area is modern and quite a contrast

walking back to the bridge - seen here behind the Silver Birch

Where we wonder if she has changed her mind!!

But no, all is well - just waiting for a film crew 

The invisible man

The old and the new

Lots more to come on this day yet

St. Paul's Cathedral next

Back to the 2012 Olympic Site & More

Had occasion to revisit the new Westfield Mall at the Olympic site this week and once we had enjoyed our coffee we decided to visit the viewing tube for the whole site leaving our shopping until after lunch

Just one stop on the Docklands light railway

a driverless computerised train

alighting at Pudding Mill Lane where we make our way over to the viewing area

The main stadium

and a structure to support a revolving restaurant

A massive building site which ever direction one looks

the covered over viewing tube

with lots of local history depicted on the walls plus pictures of the end results

Here we see the projected Olympic park

and the stadium lit up at night

the outdoor running track which Alan says is for practice

Back to the Mall  where we are looking out of the window onto the bridge that spans the railway lines while we have lunch

an unusual jewellery display in a window

There are lots of outside shops as well as the indoor mall

which I have shown in recent posts

Yes I did - afternoon tea - lemon & orange cup cake

Alan managed to spend some of his recent birthday money on a very smart jacket & trousers

My only purchases (bought by hubby of course) were from Hotel Chocolate

6 packs of Caramel Cheesecake chocs

I limit myself to one each evening so they will last well into the new year

On a completely different tack

My dear husband Alan went to visit a friend this morning who had broken his arm right up into his shoulder when riding on a Sedgeway.

I think he must have been trying to compete as I arrived home from a walk to be greeted with "you're just back in time, there's blood everywhere"

He had been drilling through a wall to connect a cable when he stood up and cut his forehead in 2 places against something that should have been moved first - he then fell back against the drill and cut his hand in 2 places while along the way managed to open up a Basal Cell Carcinoma on his leg that he is waiting for surgery for. He was bleeding in 5 places! Quite a clean up job.

Why do these macho men dive straight into a task without checking safety issues first?

More of London in my next post