Photos

Coffee & Tea

London

I’d planned on taking my coffee down to the garden this morning, but it was raining. Ah, well. I felt like I wanted a nap anyway. And the coffee was still delicious. =)

After the rain had cleared, I headed off to the Royal Exchange by way of St. Magnus the Martyr.

St. Magnus the Martyr, interior

Very handsome atmospheric church. They were piping in recorded monks chanting, which irritated me. In the large echoed space, I’ll admit I did wonder for a few seconds, and I followed the sound … to a circa 1974 speaker.

As is frequently the case in this neighborhood, the original church was founded in the 1100s, built of wood, and was later replaced with a stone version. The portico served as both the entrance to the church, and the entrance to the medieval London Bridge. The stone church was destroyed by what? Yes, of course. The Great Fire of London. It was rebuilt in stone to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, who must’ve been a very tired man in 1667.

St. Magnus in 1616, at the far end of London Bridge

In 1831, the new London Bridge was opened further upstream and the medieval bridge demolished. The medieval bridge was a sight to behold — It was covered with homes and businesses hanging off both sides. There is a model of what the medieval bridge looked like inside St. Magnus.

The Medieval London Bridge

I grabbed a cab up to Fortnum & Mason at the Royal Exchange for my lunch reservation. I hesitate to call it a posh classical-looking shopping mall, because there really aren’t that many stores, and it was entirely filled with tourists. Office workers came and went from upstairs.

The Royal Exchange

The original was opened by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571 … Great Fire, etc, etc, rebuilt, burned down again, new one opened by Queen Victoria in 1844.

My lunch was okay. Bit too much food for me, but it was decent. I believe my tiny sandwiches were coronation chicken, a fancy egg salad, salt beef with tarragon something, and cucumber with cream cheese. Pastry sweets arrived as well as scones with clotted cream & jam. I didn’t eat much of the sweets, but I had one scone and tasted the others.

It was neither the best nor the worst Afternoon Tea I’ve ever had. It was fine, the staff was fine. Honestly, I expected more out of Fortnum & Mason.

Obligatory Food Photo

I stopped at the neighborhood Sainsbury’s for some drinks and such, which was coincidentally the former site of Lloyd’s Coffee House — the 1600s forerunner of Lloyds of London as well as the original stock exchange.

On my walk, I encountered this sculpture — some sort of weird winged-lion-native-maiden-without-arms standing on a ball. I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure it’s some sort of obnoxious colonial thing.

She’s scary.

Lombard Street

And suddenly, it’s already after six and I’m sleepy. I haven’t decided what I’ll do tomorrow. Maybe a nice long boat ride on the Clippers, maybe the St. Martin’s in the Fields area.

Have a good sleep!

I think that’s a young Neptune with “dolphins.”

World Weary

London

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.

Sunrise over Wessex

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!

Mr. Phill is tired.

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 Tower

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.

St. Dunstan’s North Wall

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!