These feet were made for walking, Day 6, London

April 4, 2019

For my last day in London, I signed up for two walking tours.  A free walking Harry Potter tour out of Leicester Square (you can tip the tour guide if you like it) and a walking photography/history tour of Bermondsley (the neighborhood I'm staying in).  Before getting to the tours, when I went down to the kitchen today for breakfast, I took out my container of milk that I bought yesterday and hadn't used yet.  There was less than half of the 2 pints left!  Just enough for my cereal and tea.  Since I've been here, I've found my milk carton in the door instead of on the shelf with my oranges where I left it every day.  My host, Alex, must have just assumed it was his.   Aaaargh!  And Minnesotan that I am, I don't want to confront him about it or accuse him of stealing my milk (though I'm sure it was an honest mistake).  I finally decided to not say anything and pick up another container of milk for tomorrow.  I told him when I'll be leaving tomorrow and that he can have my extra food (tea, sugar, possibly cereal, a few oranges, and now, milk).

Well, onto more pleasant things.  I used up all of my cough drops (again), so I stopped at a small souvenir stand to pick some up on the way to my first tour.   I"m not sure why a souvenir stand sells cough drops (throat lozenges), but I'm just glad they do.  They only seem to sell Halls here, though.  The Ricola seemed to work better.  Well, I met my group on time (11:00) at the Swiss Monument in Leicester Square (only two trains).  The monument celebrates the relationship between Britain and Switzerland.

Swiss Monument, each shield is from a different state of Switzerland.

the glockenspiel was a gift from the Swiss

Our tour guide, Nathan, was a nice young man, 23 years of age (the same as my oldest daughter--makes me feel old!).  He was flirting with one member of our tour--a young woman.  My first impression was that he had been or was a theater kid.  I was right!  His brief bio was that he was born in a small town outside of Oxford, moved to London when he turned 18, got a degree in philosophy, and is now getting a degree in theater.   So he was very expressive and had enough energy for all of us!  We were encouraged to allow ourselves to completely geek out on Harry Potter.  He showed us many places in and around Leicester Square that had been mentioned in the books, filmed for the movies, or had provided inspiration for J.K. Rowling.  It was a very good tour and the best part was that it was free.  I did tip the tour guide, Nathan, a few pounds.  The tour ended promptly at 1:00.

Leicester Square where the dementors swooped over

The country wanted everyone to know that they support LGBT rights, so
they created new walking symbols at Leicester Square where they hoped
that everyone would see them.  This shows two men walking; the space
between their bodies forms a heart .

Big Ben

Nathan showing us where the men's bathroom in the final movie was (where those that
Voldemort does not like have to enter the ministry of magic.  This is across the street
from Buckingham Palace.

The Misistry of Defense shown here had tunnels and bunkers underground--which
would be the ministry of magic for JK Rowling.

This is the area where Ron and area abducted workers from the Ministry
of Magic so that they could assume their personae to sneak in.

Interesting building--different architecture than the others in the area.

Another walk signal--this two male symbols intertwined; another had two
female symbols intertwined.

Gringotts

Diagon Alley.  JK Rowling walked through this alley each day on her way to work at Amnesty International.
It has a bookstore for the occult, tarot readings, many bookshops, and a rare coins shop.

Children's bookshop featuring photos of HP actors in costume and JK Rowling,
all signed.

Diagon Alley

Knockturn Alley

pretty doorway near Covent Garden

Then I went to Covent Garden near where we had ended our tour and got a few gifts for my family.  I then took that train to Kings Cross (where I had to change for the Northern line).  Since I was there anyway, I went to find Platform 9 3/4.  This time I found it.  When I was there yesterday, had I turned to the right rather than to the left, I would have seen it.  You can line up to get your photo taken with the trolley embedded in the wall, professionally or by your friends.  You can choose which house scarf to wear and they have a person whose job it is to flip the scarf up so that it looks like you're running into the wall/platform!  Evidently the man who played Professor Flitwick (and a few other characters in the movie such as the goblin at Gringotts) runs a HP souvenir stand there, but I didn't see it.  Since I was alone, I opted to just take a photo of the trolley in the wall without myself in it.

Platform 9 3/4 complete with trolley and trunk

When I arrived at London Bridge station, I still had an hour and a half until my next tour, so I brought my bags back to my room and settled in to read a bit of my book until it was time to leave.  Very relaxing and peaceful.

Then I headed to my other tour,  3:30-5:30.  We met at a pub that is closed for refurbishing across the street from London Bridge station.  It turned out to only have two of us with Natalie for the tour.  She asked if we wanted the tour to be heavier on the history or heavier on the photography.  We both said history.  She led us to the wharf, stopping to take photos along the way.  We explored that area, then nearer to where I'm staying, then on to the Borough Market area of Southwark (pronounced by the Brits as "Suffik").  I decided to stay in Borough Market for dinner and Natalie recommended a few places.  I chose Black and Blue, a steak place, and had another burger.  It wasn't as good as the one at the Bermondsey Kitchen (which was a Galloway beef burger, pickles, spiced tomato chutney, Ogleshield cheese and various onions).

Tower Bridge

Arty pic of the Shard

Arty pic of the Tower Bridge

10 years ago, only one of those tall buildings were there.  There was a law that
nothing could be taller than St. Paul's so that you could see it from everywhere in London.
Now you can barely see it.

The traitor's gate is under water.  Welcome to the tower!

These little steps helped get items up into the ware houses from the ships

This is evidently a #stridephoto on Instagram.  (If
I did Instagram!)

This is Jaco the dray horse, representing the field where the horses that worked for the Courage Brewery would rest after a day pulling wagons to deliver beer.  This is at the end of the street Horselydown or "horse-lie-down".

One of the canals to bring in goods

Many former warehouses retain the names of what they were used for, such as Cinnamon House,
even though they have all been converted to housing and offices.

Street art

Cherry trees

Sign of spring!

This sign is made with legos.  The owner of the building made them change it to F*ckoffee, but the
neighbors got up a petition to return to this spelling.

One of a series of public water fountains to bring fresh drinking water to the city
to curb the spread of cholera.

Another building stating its previous work.  Above each window is a carving
of the work of tanners.

More tanner carvings

Winch and step system to haul goods up into the buildings

See the horses?  This was once a blacksmith shop before an auto repair.

Arty photo

Up on the roof is a series of beehives

Bee Headquarters in London

Looks like the tropics!

Series of street art entitled rude kids.   Our tour operator
knows the artist making them.  He uses images of his own children and
their friends.

another #stridephoto

juxtaposition of modern and ancient

Public housing provided by Guiness beer heir in 1800s.  Still used for that.

Artists studio (same one that made the ants a few days ago)

I found out the story of this (remember from Sunday).  It was a building owned by Courage Brewery and it was painted during WW2 for the citizenry to "Take Courage"

This pub was originally named Market Porter.  Then when they painted the man in the
window, the man (and the pub) became known as The Market Porter.

On my way home, I wandered a bit, looking for a Tesco's or Sainsbury's.  I finally found a Tesco's and bought milk for tomorrow.  I should have looked for cough drops, but I forgot.  I put the milk into a little mini-fridge in my closet to save for tomorrow morning.  My room the rest of the week was hot--so hot that I opened the door to the balcony for awhile each evening.  Last night and tonight it has been very chilly, though.  Well, one more night, then off for New York tomorrow.  I'll have to leave at 9:00 for my 1:30 flight to allow 3 hours for check-in and security.