Starting to feel better- especially after a cosy night's sleep. Headed out again with the intrepid Jacqui, ready to conquer the second half of our self guided tour. Very hard to tell on paper just how much ground you will cover- a lot as we would discover throughout the day!
We're getting great at negotiating the underground, so easily got ourselves to Temple station to pick up where we left off. We started by seeing the former Astor Estate Office and St Clements (as in the oranges and lemons one), neither of which have any relation to Harry Potter but were lovely to look at! Next up we found ourselves in the Strand and in front of Australia House- the exterior and interior of which were used for Gringotts the bank. We may have started taking silly photos for the day around this point- the things that sister of mine makes me do!
Next we found ourselves in an alley peering through a street level window into a Roman Bath- the things you find! It's freezing apparently, not that we were keen to find out. Out of the alley and ended up in front of Somerset House. I launched into my best lecture type spiel- regaling Jacqui with all my knowledge of Somerest House gleaned from years of reading Agatha Christie books. On looking around it seemed to have no relation to my excellent information however. A quick peek at the internet restored my faith in myself- it was used as the office of birth, deaths and marriages in the past. Phew...
We found the first of the silver dragons that mark the boundaries of the city of London (we saw 3 of the 4 over the course of the day) and then fought our way through all the joggers and over Blackfriars bridge and suddenly the hunger pangs struck. An excellent lunch was had at Doggets pub- seafood and Pimms seemed just the ticket.
Off down the embankment and more silly photos for the day taken running off the Millennium Bridge. We were needing to use our imaginations more and more by this stage. Wandered past the Globe Theatre, the site of the old Globe and then into the area around the replica of the Golden Hinde. Saw a number of places that we think we'll head back towards and explore next week eg the 'Clink prison museum' and the Borough markets. Snapped a photo of where the Knight Bus pulls up to a stop and then walked around and over London Bridge.
Found the huge monument to the Great Fire of London and then on to the scenic optometrist shop (apparently used as an exterior for the Leaky Cauldron), but boy did we feel silly taking a photo of a glasses shop! The Leadenhall market was our next stop- absolutely beautiful Victorian market that we loved walking through. It really does look like Diagon Alley which they filmed there.
Our next little bit was the only time we got in a bit of a muddle. We were supposd to be seeing where Ebenezer Scrooge's office was set in A Christmas 'Carol. The so called 'big sign' we were looking to find was not exactly as big as we were thinking. We plunged on through the alleys and came upon our destination. Our enthusiasm was starting to wane, which was good as all we had left was Kings Cross/St Pancras station. A quick trip on the tube and we were there. I dragged Jacqui through the last few checkpoints- getting exterior photos and then platform 9 3/4 photos. Finished!!
Called Wendy to see if she was free to show us her work (right near Kings Cross) but timing didn't work. Off home on the tube to rest our tired legs. Picked up the ingredients to make a stir fry for dinner then home to put our feet up and congratulate ourselves on walking a huge chunk of London.
