This is my first time publishing from the app rather than the website … so we’ll see how that goes. Ha!

A travel day. JFK lived up to its reputation — I arrived at 4:15pm, didn’t get to the gate until 6:00. There were no ugly surprises, just slowness. My row-mate and I got very lucky though — no one in the middle seat! We were coming into London just as the sun was rising.

I took the Gatwick Express to Victoria station, and a black cab to the hotel. I sat down in Victoria for a while here and there for a rest (and because I was super early). Fourteen hours of travel door to door!

The hotel allowed me to check in at 10:30 AM! Now that was awesome! I unpacked and took a nap, took a few walks and I enjoyed St. Dunstan’s Garden — A favorite, and it’s immediately outside the hotel. You can see the steeple from my windows.

St. Dunstan’s in the East was founded c.1100. A stone building replaced the wooden original, and additions continued through the 12th to 17th centuries until it was seriously damaged by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Rather than being completely rebuilt, it was patched up 1668-71. In 1817, the church wardens discovered that heavy roof had pushed the walls seven inches out of plumb on each side. The damage was too severe to correct, so it was pulled down and rebuilt in the same style.

The rebuilt church was all but destroyed by Hitler’s bombs in 1941 — only the tower, steeple, and north and south walls survived. The ruins sat for sixteen years until in 1967 the City of London decided to turn the site into a public garden.

But now, the sun is setting behind The Monument to the Great Fire of London, and I’ve got The Globe’s production of Twelfth Night with Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance all cued up.

Tomorrow — the alleys and courts in the oldest part of the city, then tea at Fortnum & Mason at the Royal Exchange.

Have a good sleep!