3 Churches, a cat, & a cupcake

Yesterday we headed into London again - this time starting at Barbican Tube Station.  We headed off with our first destination being St Giles' Cripplegate - there has been a church there for nearly 1000 years, but the present church was built in 1394!!  It's a beautiful church - stuck right in the middle of apartments, office buildings, and the Barbican arts centre.  There are nice ponds near the church with areas for the residents of the flats to enjoy.

We liked this memorial because of the last line - short and to the point.

After we'd been inside we were exploring the outside area in which you can see part of the old London wall, and we came across a cat on a lead.  She was a lovely Bengal cat, and of course I had to have a chat and a pat - you can see her on her lead below.

We then headed off for our next church passing some interesting things on our way - pictures below.

Nice gates

Pretty air vent outlets - Ken thinks it looks like Telly Tubby land

Lovely green plant pots - these would be great in front of our flats

Balcony gardens on city flats - nice to see lots of people have made an effort

Our next church was St Mary Le Bow - better know as Bow Bells.  Apparently you're not a proper Eastender/Cockney unless you're born within the sound of Bow Bells.  Unfortunately the church wasn't open - it only opens during the week for visits so we'll have to go back another time.  We stopped and had a drink in a cafe next to the church so that we could admire it from outside (we had to be in the cafe as at this point it had started raining).

Front door of St Mary Le Bow

Our third and final church of the day was the grandest and the most breathtaking of the day - St Paul's Cathedral.  We didn't go in we just enjoyed the outside - beautiful gardens and unusually blue trees.  I remember years ago when I was doing my degree we were in a high rise building within view of St Paul's and it started snowing - it was one of the most magical scenes ever, the dome of St Paul's being covered with snow in the half light of a British winters day.

Arty shot - blue trees and red phone box

Across from St Paul's there was a ceremony going on at the Fire mans memorial - I looked it up afterwards and it is a remembrance ceremony that happens every year on the second Sunday of September.  The other thing which we found near St Paul's was a memorial to Governor Phillips (yes the Australian Governor).
 

Old fire engines

The flags of different brigades with St Paul's in the background

Governor Phillips memorial depicting the landing of the first fleet

 We then headed over the Thames via the Millennium foot bridge and wandered down the South Bank, discovering that it is the Thames festival at the moment so there were lots of stalls and street entertainers to look at.  Lots of people around enjoying the sunshine when it chose to appear - we escaped into shops when it rained too much.

Looking down the Thames to Tower Bridge with the unmistakable Shard dominating everything

I liked this view as in the front are the old houses and the Globe Theatre, and peeping over the top is modern London

Attempt at a self portrait when we stopped to have lunch in a riverside pub

Interesting Sculptures on one of the roofs

Restaurant made out of shipping containers

Old ice cream van that Ken was admiring

Interesting gardens / art installations on the South Bank

Second hand book stalls under a bridge

Ken dreaming of Tour de France glory

Street dancing competition that was going on under one of the bridges

A canal boat heading up the Thames and looking very small

Nice wall mural

Street performer - every time he blew into his tuba flames shot out the top

My cupcake today was a chocolate, coconut, and raspberry from a stall that is usually at Greenwich market - Ruby Tuesdays of London - make sure you get one if you're ever in the area as it was scrumdillyicious, and you'd never know that it was Wheat and Gluten free.

 It was a lovely day out enjoying all that London has to offer.

Distance walked:  3.5 miles.

Until next time, stay safe, keep smiling, and be kind to animals.

Pamela & Ken
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P.S:  Final picture is a poster from the underground for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home which I rather like - the cats are taking over!  I know this probably means that there are lots of cats that need rehoming but I like to think it's a sign of things to come - that's why you should always be kind to cats, as when the animals rise up, they will be in charge.

Back Street London

Distance walked:  4.8miles

Stag/Hen groups seen:  3

Weddings seen:  2

Yesterday Ken and I went into London for a wander - no main plan in mind but decided to start at Moorgate station in East London.  Todays blog is really dedicated to those things you see when you take notice of the little things and take the time to look around and to look up.  Just outside Moorgate tube station we discovered a black phone booth - neither of us had ever seen one before, so had to take a picture, and the other picture below is of a face above a doorway just along the street.  It's amazing how many faces are looking down on you as you walk around London.  The building that looks like a castle is Armoury House.

Our first point of call was Wesley's Chapel which is on City Road and next to the house where John Wesley lived for the last 11 years of his life.  The chapel was built in 1778 by John Wesley, who was the founder of Methodism.  There was a wedding about to start in the chapel so we couldn't go in for a proper look, but went into the museum and into the courtyard where John Wesley is buried.  The wedding was between a Guayanian and a Zimbabwean, so it was an incredibly beautiful and colourful event.  I was talking to one of the ladies in the museum and she said that they have 65 different nationalities within their congregation, and 22 different languages are spoken.  I guess that shows how far and wide the Methodist religion has spread throughout the world.

This is a mobile pulpit that during the early 1900's used to be taken into parks for outdoor preaching

This is a pulpit that John Wesley used to preach from

The ceiling of the Foundery Chapel

The cross in the Foundery Chapel

John Wesley's tomb - he was the 843rd person to be buried in the grounds of his chapel.

One of the doors into the chapel

After this interlude we stopped in a local cafe for brunch - the cafe was called Salvation Jane, and without realising it we had stumbled into a little bit of Australia in London.  Salvation Jane is another name for the plant Patterson's Curse which all Aussie farmers will have heard of.  It was a lovely place with Gladiolis on the tables which always make me think of Nanna Hawley as she used to have beautiful Gladdis in her garden.

One of the walls in the cafe

Ken enjoying his healthy beunch

We then headed on, wandering down Old Street, again seeing unusual things in our travels, including a red mushroom on top of a building - we'll never know why.

I like this picture as it shows quite a bit of history in a snapshot - a London cab, St Paul's Cathedral, and the newest part of London's skyline, the Shard

Just some old building overlooking a railway line that I liked the look of

Another thing we discovered was that some people like to give their businesses very unusual names - Ken was particularly interested in finding out what sort of food they served at this cafe.

We came across a small fenced park which was dedicated to a cat - I looked it up on line, and apparently the cat was a stray that used to spend time there until it was killed by a dog, so the residents decided to dedicate the small area to the cat, which I think is just beautiful. 

Now the next few piccies are just a selection of interesting architecture that you see when you bother to look around and down side streets - the most frustrating thing is not knowing what the buildings were originally, as not all of them have anything on them to say their history.

This is my arty shot - historic buildings reflected in the windows of a modern building, which is London in a nutshell

We came across St Peter's Italian Church which is a Catholic church opened in 1863 - it's outside is lovely, but the inside is amazing.  A real little piece of solitude in the middle of a busy city.

The ceiling in the entryway of the church

We wandered down Hatton Gardens, which is the jewellery headquarters of London - lots of nervous looking men being led by women to buy rings etc.  One of the buildings had two slightly scary looking children on it, but for a change it did have it's history on a plaque.  It originally was a church, then a school - a shop owner standing near us told us that the blue coats means that it was a free school.  During the second world war the two statues were removed and put into safe keeping, which was lucky as the building was hit by a bomb - once the war was over and the building had been restored the two children were returned to their home.  It's now used for offices - must be interesting working in a building with such an interesting history.

Now due to all the walking I felt I did deserve a Red Velvet Cupcake so with the help of the map feature on my phone we tracked down the nearest cupcakes of loveliness shop - the Hummingbird Bakery, and bought one to take home.

We then ended up in Trafalgar Square where we sat and people watched for a while before getting the tube home.

Trafalgar Square Lion with Big Ben's clock tower in the background

That's it - stay safe, be happy, and enjoy the little things in life.

Pamela & Ken

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P.S:  Final shot is a street sign in Piccadilly which we weren't quite sure what was going on - it was a no entry sign with a little extra on it.

Arty London

Today we went into London with no real plans but ended up in Whitechapel where we went to the Whitechapel Art Gallery. It was just a spur of the moment thing as we'd never been there before. Let me say now that within 10 minutes of being there my beloved uttered the words, 'what a load of bottom (I used a more polite word there than what he actually said). It was modern art!! Is it just us that don't get it - are we alone in our unappreciation of weird things being called art??

After we did the quickest walk round of the gallery, had a lovely lunch in a cafe near by, we headed for Trafalgar Square - there's always lots to see there.

We had a drink in the cafe in the courtyard of St Martin's in the Field, the lovely church that overlooks the square, and we had a great view of the window in the church which was designed to look like a cross.

Looking towards St Martin's from the square

There are some really pretty streets right in the middle of London, old homes that have survived developers.

 We had a wander around Trafalgar Square and as always there were lots of street performers - the young lad below was trying to make bubbles, but the bratlets kept popping them. This is one of the few he managed to get airborne.

At each corner of Trafalgar Square there are plinths with statues of famous historic figures. The fourth plinth is a little different, having more modern things on it - in the past it has had a giant rocking horse, a ship in a bottle, and members of the public spending an hour each up there. Now it has a beautiful blue cockeral for all to admire. I think it's a bit more of that art I don't understand, but at least it's pretty.

So that's our day of art (not exactly what I would call it) and enjoyment of the hubbub of London.

Until next time, be good, keep smiling, and look after each other.

Pamela and Ken
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