Traveling with Michelle: London, Baby! part 2

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Today was London 102. First today, we walked a long way to the Tower Bridge and crossed that, then walked around the outside of the Tower of London.

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

While we were walking, here are some sights:

This is explained in the photo below:

"The Pickle" (an office building)

"The Shard"--another office building, now the
tallest building in London

Old facade, modern building

The modern building behind the old facade

A covered market area

Seven years ago, the last time we were in London, we visited the London Museum only because it had a good review in the travel book, it was free, and we had an extra day. Well, it was great, and since then I've seen it on several sites about things you should make sure to do in London. So, of course, we decided to go again. It has, of course, been updated in the last seven years, and enlarged a lot. We had loved that it was small and accessible. It is much larger which makes it a bit more overwhelming. It still has a lot of good material, but I think the addition of more "stuff" and information and interaction has made it less easy to follow the history. We learned less and spent more time. Some of the things we liked from last time were there, but it is less linear now and not as easy to follow. So sad. It was such a nice, little-known museum, now it is larger and better known, but not as good. (sigh).

The artwork outside of the museum

Shelby in a mobcap from the 1700s

Then, just down half a block to the Postman's Park. The site is the former headquarters of the General Post Office. It is a small, but very cute park with a fountain, sculpture, and flowers. The focal point of the park looks like a little shed. It is the George Frederic Watts's Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice, a memorial to ordinary people who died while saving the lives of others and who might otherwise be forgotten, in the form of a loggia and long wall housing ceramic memorial tablets. I think there are 54 tablets, with space for 120. It was began in 1899 and all but one seem to end in the 1920s. One was added in 2009. The tablets tell the name of the person, sometimes their age, the date and how they died saving others. It is not based on the military sacrifices of soldiers at all, just the heroes of everyday--many of them children. It is very quiet and sweet in a quiet little park tucked in the middle of a large city.

(taken by Randy)--this shows the loggia covering the tablets

Then we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral--just a few blocks down from the park. We went under an archway and I found out that it was the Temple Bar. It is theorized that it is called that because it was right by the Temple law buildings. The arch had originally been created as the gate between the City of Westminster and the City of London--both of which are now part of the greater London. It was removed, bought, sold, and they tried to find a place for it. It now leads into the plaza in front of St Paul's (Paternoster Square). It is the only surviving gateway of the original eight ( Aldgate, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, Ludgate, Moorgate and Newgate). They think it was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

From there, we walked across the Millenium Bridge and then returned home, stopping by a Tesco's for ice cream bars (since it was quite late in the afternoon). We then had some quiet time, dinner, then more quiet time while Randy and Joshua went to see the lights at the Houses of Parliament and checked to see if a souvenir shop that Joshua has his eye on was still open. Another big day of sights tomorrow, our last day of London before getting a rental car and heading north.