London, the Final Installment

If it seems to you as if I have been writing about our trip to London for ages, you are correct. In a city the size of London, there is so much to see that you could write about it every day of your life and never cover all that it has to offer. Perhaps some people do just that? 

Because it had been five long years since last we visited, and who knows when we will return, I'm savoring the experience for as long as possible. Today, however, will be the last time so beware, it is photo-intensive! Beginning with color! Merely an advertisement for a burger joint, it still made me happy with the intense color palette. Speaking of burgers, every place we visited served vegan burger options, unlike our previous visits. Veganism, or so it seems, is going mainstream, or as an article in our Sunday paper called it, a "plant based" diet. I like that term, don't you? Increasingly we seem to be labeling people, a trend that does not please me much. Plant-based just sounds nice to me.

It is never hard to figure out where the pubs are because most of them are laden with beautiful hanging baskets of gorgeous flowers. The Shard looms over the pub and the London Bridge train station.

Tom and Matt left us on our own for dinner the first night we were in the hotel, so we roamed a bit of the neighborhood, coming across the interesting Vinegar Yard-- decorated shipping containers made over into shops. Coming soon to cities all over is my guess.

Rising early the next morning, I popped downstairs for a walk, just in time for a weak sunrise behind Tower Bridge. Amazingly, I had the place mostly to myself, enjoying the quiet before the onslaught of people later on in the day.

 A better look at the colorful pub.

Not far from the hotel I came across a lovely garden area which I learned is known as Potter's Field because it once was the site of a famous pottery that made Delftware. 

 Oh how I love seeing the hanging baskets bursting with colorful blooms.

 Massive Geraniums lined an iron fence in front of an old hotel.

Actually, the Shard looms over everything in that part of the city! Who knows how much longer the European Union flag will continue to wave in England? Yesterday afternoon Matt called and we discussed Brexit and the recent votes, another of which was to happen in a matter of hours. Just checked and the vote was rejected, paving the way for even more confusion.

 

 We were to meet Matt at 11 for church at Southwark Cathedral, a few blocks away.

The photo below was taken following the service which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. Beautiful music, beautiful setting, excellent message shared with my son and husband...what more could I ask for?

 Tom met us in this garden following the service. Borough Market is just to the right side of this space which was the site of a terrorist attack in 2017 when eight people were killed. Unimaginable isn't it?

 A lovely lunch at a place called Bill's.

Don't believe every photo you see because although I got this fellow alone, the area around there is bustling as it could be on a Sunday afternoon.

Next up we visited a place called London Mithraeum, where you are first greeted by artifacts found on the site of the early Roman settlement here from the time London was called Londinium.

Below the building is the space where the remains of a temple to the god Mithras were excavated over a four year period. Right in the heart of the city of London, which by the way, is really only one square mile in size. Tom, our walking historian, knows so much about the history of London which made our travels around the city all the better.

Back above ground, the present day London, specifically Tesco, where I saw something else that will be coming to cities all over. A complete absence of check out clerks to be exact. Around here we still have both clerks, and self check out, yet it probably won't be long before the clerks are all gone.

Tom suggested, since we were in the neighborhood, we visit Guildhall, the place where London began and those are not my words, they are on the brochure sitting on my desk! Plus, in all the years of living in London, Matt had never visited so he could discover it at the same time as his folks.

It all seems complicated to me, but essentially, in the early days, guilds were vital to the governing of the city and this is where they met. (horrible synopsis on my part!). On the property there is a beautiful art gallery,

underneath of which are the remains of an amphitheater from Roman times. I am quoting from the brochure....."The City of London was under Roman rule for a fifth of its history. Around AD43, the Romans established Londinium; within 30 years they had probably built a wooden amphitheater. This version, buried under centuries of later buildings, opened to the public in 2002, Discovered in February 1988, it took 13 years of fieldwork. Can you even imagine? Gladiators in London???

As it was near closing time, we were not able to see as much as we might have liked, however, a very nice security guard did let us into the Guildhall in spite of it being roped off to visitors due to some maintenance. So much history happened in the space below.

 Moving sculptures of the men who shaped London's future line the walls.

 Our travels next took us through a very old market, the name of which I've forgotten.

Walking over London Bridge, the same that experienced the terrorist attacks, it is hard not to notice the new bollards on the sidewalks, installed to ensure that no one ever drives on them again with the intention of hurting someone. The lads led us to a tower, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie building, where Matt had made reservations for us to visit the Sky Garden.  Sweeping views of London,

 are visible from their three story windows on all sides of the building.

 And why is it called the Sky Garden, well, because there is a garden in the sky, that's why!

 Oh what a lovely space to view London from 38 stories in the air!

Perhaps you read about this building some years back when it was discovered that light reflecting  from the building was strong enough to melt car parts among other things. The photo below shows the retrofitted cover to keep that from happening again.

By now Matt and Tom were touristed out, so we parted ways with clear instructions on how to manage the trip to Heathrow in the morning. Well, we all know how that turned out now, don't we? I took an evening stroll, loving the lit up Tower of London.

 The office buildings facing the plaza area provided some unexpected delight.

 So fun and modern!

Following our reuniting on the tube, Bruce took this happy photo of me while we made our way to the airport, the ending of a fantastic, action packed trip, thanks to Matt and Tom.

And that, dear readers is the end of our trip. Did you make it to the end of this post? Hope so!!

your friend,

Gail