Shakespeare and Dickens' Old City Walking Tour

On a rather cold day, I took another guided walk. This one was about places prominent to Shakespeare and Dickens in the actual City of London, from about St. Pauls to Smithfields market, which was a livestock exchange in Dickens day and was featured in Oliver Twist. (Confession: I actually hate Dickens, but it was neat seeing parts of the city he wrote about)Besides sites associated with Dickens and Shakespeare, we walked through the square where William Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered. Also passed over the square where they threw all the corpses from the Black Death!!

One of the few half-timbered buildings left in London
House designed by Christopher Wren, in Victorian times it was the office of the Solicitor General, and was featured in Dickens' Pickwick Papers
Former site of Shakespeare's Blackfriars' Theatre, his indoor theatre
Temple Bar, designed by Christopher Wren
Stationers' Hall, the guildhall for publishers in Shakespeare's time
Facade of church designed by Wren after the Great Fire
St. Barts' Church in Smithfields, film location in Four Weddings and a Funeral
Medieval alleyway
Charterhouse (hard to see because of the dark) It is one of the few standing aristocratic town mansions from Tudor times, now a retirement home
Smithfield's Market, wholesale meat market since late Victorian times, formerly the livestock exchange
Shrapnel damage from WWII bombs
A set of Victorian townhomes
Ice skating rink in front of the Tower (there are several rinks all over London for the holidays)