Even more of London.

On Monday we were on our own. Our train was at about 1330 so we had a morning to fill. We left our bag in the care of the hotel and ventured forth on another walking tour of the capital. I can't recommend getting out and about, away from the normal sights, enough as you get a very different picture of London, and largely escape the crowds.

 This little gem was just down a pedestrian lane and was a Turkish bath. It was built in 1895 and was said to be modeled on a shrine in Jerusalem. It had been a pizza restaurant lately but was now being remodeled.

Every where you go there are churches in the City of London. Unless you look up and realise they have steeples, towers and domes you may not realiose that they are churches. In fact there are 48 churches and 10 others that just have towers remaining due to bombing etc. We came across St Helen's on Bishopgate and as it was open we went in. It dated from 1210 and had a Priory built next to it. After Henry VIII the Priory wall was removed and the church then had two naves. It was the warmest church I have ever been in and was littered with some beautiful tombs and memorials, some of which had been brought here from a nearby church when it had been demolished.

This tomb is for Sir John Spencer, his wife and daughter from 1609. He had been a cloth worker and became Lord Mayor in 1594. It is alleged that his daughter eloped to marry Lord Compton hidden in a bread basket! The family later became reconciled due to the antecedence of  Queen Elizabeth I.

Just by St Helen's is this installation by Damien Hirst called Charity with the Gherkin behind. It is a bronze made in 2002/03 and is made to look like those charity boxes that were/are found outside of shops. However this one has the back prised open by a standing crowbar and the money spilled over the base.

It is part of a trail of artworks around the Square Mile made up of 14 works, Called art in the City.

Just round the corner, at the foot of the Gherkin is this work by Ai Weiwei. It is called forever and is amass of stainless steal bikes that make up repeating shapes. It is thought that it represents the 'Forever' brand of bike that were made in Shanghai and were the main source of transport in the cities of China. These are now being replaced by cars.

The Lloyd's Building was quite shocking when it was erected in 1986. The design by Richard Rodgers maybe set the tone for the next few years that have given us many more iconic buildings in London.

The original Leadenhall Market started in 1445 and the walls of the market helped to stop the spread of the Fire of London. This market building was opened in 1881 and is very opulent in appearance. It is now home to restaurants etc. It will look very special in the dark evenings when it is lit for Christmas

It was strange to find a water pump On Cornhill, and I'm not sure how long it had been there but it says that it marks the site of a well opened in 1282 on the site of  a House of Correction by the Mayor of the time.

There is a warren of back alleys in the area and down can be found Simpson's Tavern which is an old chop house where meat is the main item on the menu. It didn't look too expensive and you are served on benches. It is another place we will have to come back to. It is closed at the weekends though.

Lombard Street is where the original banks were based. It is named after the district in Italy where the merchants came from how moved in as money lenders when the Jews were expelled from the City in the 12th Century. The street is adorned with hanging trade signs that are now gone from most of London. The word bank originates from  'banco' or bench in Italian, on which the Lombardy merchants conducted business. They don't adorn door ways like this anymore do they.

We passed several churches but saw that St Mary Abchurch was open so went in. Once again a very different church with a dome. There was a Church Watcher from the Friends of the City Churches there. They are a group that ensure that the City churches are open for visitors at least once a week and are very knowledgeable guides too. The dome was said to be a trial by Wren for the dome of St. Paul's. They publish the list of services held in the churches and there are many free concerts given at lunch and in the evening in many of the churches. It is well worth looking on www.cityevents.website and www.london-city-churches.org.uk

We were soon at The Monument. It was completed in 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London that started close by in Pudding Lane on 2nd September 1666. It  destroyed 13200 house, 87 out of 109 churches in the City and made homeless 70000 people. Only 51 churches and 9000 homes were rebuilt afterwards. On one face of the base is this bas relief that shows the distress of the City during the fire on the left and the hope and reconstruction on the right with Charles II directing operations. We didn't have time today but it could be worth the £4 to climb to the top to get views over London. Robert Hooke helped Wren design it to be used as a telescope to help calculate the annual orbit round the sun but it proved to be to shaky for accurate measurements.

We made our way to Bank Station and to our hotel to pick up our bag and were soon at the New Kings Cross  Station for our train. We had been going to the canal close by but it is closed on Monday's. Something else to do on a later visit.

The station lit up red with a giant poppy for Remembrance Sunday.

The train was on time at just over 2 and a half hours. There was a bus leaving in a short while so we saved money on the taxi and jumped aboard for home. A wonderful weekend in London was over with worn out feet but some great sites seen and so good to see Amy and Joe. We will be back in the New Year.