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Saturday 23 August 2014

Lost in London.

After a very quiet night until about 0530 when the trains started running again (mind you we soon turned over and went back to sleep again) we were out and about in London Town. Helen had some stuff to take back to Primark and the nearest was on the east end of Oxford Street. We walked and followed our noses and so went a very different route than we would have normally down. Consequently we came across the Brunswick Centre. This tiered housing was built in the 1960's but nobody really wanted to live there. In later became Listed and then done up and a shopping centre made mordern. We were attracted to have a look as the list of shops said that there was a 'Drury and Porter' in there. That is my wife's maiden name and her married name. It turns out that they are an opticians. There is a Patisserie Valerie and Waitrose in the shops so they house must have been taken up now and not be council housing.

The Brunswick Centre before the renovations.

When then wandered across Russell Square Gardens that were busy. It was nice to see people using the open spaces in the sunshine. On last night's walk min Knightsbridge we passed lots of key parks that are in posh squares but are locked and only available to people who actually pay for the privilege. From there we found the Primark and got our refund. From there we again wandered off in the general direction of Covent Garden and came across Seven Dials that is West of Covent Garden and has some lovely shopping streets. The streets were built in 1690's by a builder called Neal. It was built to be London's premier address. At the time rents were on the area of frontage to the street. He cleverly built wedge shaped buildings to maximise the frontage. He placed a pillar at the centre with six sun dials at the top and the pillar its self been the seventh. Unfortunately the area never really took off with the gentry and soon became a slum with a gin shop at the apex of each road. There are lots of little shops and it is less busy that Covent Garden itself.

Seven Dials sundials monument.

We had a drink and bite to eat in Covent Garden and then wandered down to the river coming out by the Savoy Hotel and turned east on the Embankment. It was very busy with people doing the same.

The Dragon marks the City of London Boundary.

There were great views of the Shard across the river.

You walk past the old Billingsgate fish market that doesn't seem to be used for anything at the moment, at least not on Saturday. This is detail of one of the two weather vanes on the building.

Tower Bridge. I think it was built in 1899 but is such an icon of London.

We were soon at the Tower of London as were thousands of others to see the 'Blood swept lands and Seas of Red' installation that will be made up of 800,000 ceramic poppies. There were loads of volunteers there making and pegging more out. They are for sale at £25 a piece in November, all for charity.

Ceramic poppies making a moving display in the moat of the Tower of London to commemorate WWI.

We crossed over Tower Bridge and headed west on the South Bank. If anything it was even busier there. We passed the back door of Southwark Catedral where the Refectory looked inviting so we sat down in the sun for a cup of tea. From there we went round to the front door and fort our way into Borough Market. It was doing a roaring trade with hot food and stalls selling ingredients. All very upmarket and not like the last time we were there. It is a lovely place under the railway lines and certainly has a 'special' atmosphere.

The old and new, Southwark Cathedral and the Shard.

We then continued down the South bank to Blackfriars Bridge where we crossed to the North again. We were soon at Hatton Gardens Jewelry Quarter. There were loads of shops with beautiful displays. Some had the prices showing and some didn't ! Helen took quite a while to walk up the street. I prefer the Hatton Gardens in Birmingham's Jewelry Quarter as the prices seemed to less. We have bought a couple of items there as it is very close to Cambrian Wharf and Farmer's Bridge Locks. It is a nice area to walk down too. We crossed over to Leather Lane to find there there is a street market there in the week. It looks like food and may be worth a look when it is running. We then walked up Greys's In Road and stopped at the Calthorpe Arms for a sit down and a pint. It was a CAMRA pub and I had a pint of Young's Bitter that wasn't too bad. We saw that Leeds had beaten Castleford at the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley after losing for six years. We were soon on our way and just as we approached the 'new' Kings Cross Station it looked like it was going to pour down so we deviated inside to look at the the changes made. They have taken down the 60's addition to the original frontage and moved the ticket hall to the side. It is great and looks brilliant. Whilst there we thought we would try the new bar on the station. It is a Fullers pub called the Parcel Yard as it was once the parcel offices and a lot of the interior has been retained. It looks really nice and they have two levels and a balcony overlooking the platforms. There ar about twelve hand pulls on the bar. The food looked good too. I had a pint of Gales Seafarer where a sum form the purchase goes to  Seafarer charities and it was okay.

The original frontage revealed.

The western concourse and ticket hall along with Platform 91/2 and a Harry Potter shop.

The rain didn't amoount to much and we were soon on the short walk back to the boat and something to eat. I don't think we will be moving far tonight. Maybe we will watch the Dr. Who debut, or not. It has been a good day, with nice weather and seeing new parts for London too. Same again tomorrow we hope.

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