As I Walked Through London

Smallest police station in London

Christine and Anne returned from their relaxing jaunt in Bruges bearing gifts of chocolates and earrings for me.  We met at the National Portrait Gallery, and as we were a little early, I took them down to Trafalgar Square to show them the smallest police station in London

Really Good on the Fourth Plinth

 and the new art installation on the fourth plinth, which is a giant hand giving a thumbs up sign called Really Good.  I think I like this one the best out of all the ones that I have seen so far.  We also checked out the traffic lights around Trafalgar Square where the green man has been replaced with symbols celebrating same-sex relationships. 

Then it was over to the National Gallery, as I wanted to show Christine and Anne one of my favourite paintings, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche.  The painting has been moved into a small room downstairs and it seems that not many people know about this room.  The lack of crowds means that you can spend as long as you like admiring the painting and I knew that Christine, particularly, would like the subject.

Execution of Lady Jane Grey

The National Portrait Gallery was by now well and truly open, so we wandered through the various rooms admiring the portraits of the most famous people in British history.  I have been there a number of times now, however I always find something else of interest that I haven’t seen before as well as visiting old favourites.  

National Portrait Gallery

It was time for lunch and we headed over to Fleet Street, as I wanted to go to The Old Bank of England.  I had walked past there numerous times however I had never actually gone there.  The pub is situated the former Law Courts branch of the Bank of England and was built back in the late 1800’s and is beautifully preserved.  The tunnels and vaults below the pub are said to be where Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, carried out his atrocities.  We enjoyed a nice pie (what else) in the opulent surroundings and had a brief rest before continuing our explorations.

The Old Bank of England

Next stop was the Temple Church.  This was to be my third attempt to see this church.  Michael and I tried to visit there on our last trip to London however it was closed.  Next, I tried to view it when I was wandering around by myself on the weekend however there was a wedding taking place (a very fancy one with the men wearing morning dress and the ladies wearing exquisitely tailored outfits and hats).  

Effigy Temple Church

Temple Church

 I have wanted to see this church since reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (don’t judge me).  This church is famed for being a round church (one of only 5 remaining round churches in England) and for its 13^th and 14^th century stone effigies. There are nine stone effigies of knights showing them posed for battle.  It is a very interesting church and I loved the grotesque portrait heads, many of which were pulling silly faces.  There was an added bonus of an exhibition on The Magna Carta, which was fascinating.

Grotesque in the Temple Church

Christine and Anne were keen to visit St Bride’s Church, as they wanted to see where Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall were married earlier this year.  This is a particularly interesting Sir Christopher Wren church, which was largely gutted by fire during the Blitz in 1940.  After the war, St Bride’s was rebuilt at the expense of newspaper proprietors and journalists.  The church’s original 6^th century Saxon foundations were discovered after the bombing and the crypt is open to the public and there are a number of ancient relics on display.

St Bride's Church

The following day was to be my last in London and so I packed my bag and wheeled it in to town for a last hurrah.  I met Christine and Anne at Covent Garden for one last look around the fabulous market.  We then had a coffee at Charles Dickens Coffee House before heading to lunch at San Carlo Cicchetti.  We had selected this restaurant as it served Venetian style cicchetti – small, tapas like dishes.  We ordered a selection of dishes, which were all superb and, coupled with a bottle of wine, settled in for an enjoyable luncheon.  It was a lovely way to end my trip before heading to Gatwick for my flight home.  Christine and Anne still had a trip to Edinburgh to look forward to, so their holiday was not quite over as yet.  I had a wonderful time in London and I hope that Christine and Anne enjoyed their time there as well.

Farewell Lunch