Belgravia and Knightsbridge

Today I went on a guided walk of Belgravia and Knightsbridge, the "posh" section of London, ie bloody expensive! Belgravia was developed in the 1820s throughout the Victorian era as houses for aristocrats and is still one of the more popular areas in the city for posh people to live. Actually all of Belgravia is owned by one man, the Duke of Westminister, and people lease from his estate. Obviously the guy has a lot of cash!!! Until the recent arrival of the Russian exiles, he was the wealthiest man in Britain, now number four I think. (Side not, the current Duchess has been known to feud with Camilla and the current Duke recently was caught by a tabloid, "entertaining" call girls!) Knightsbridge is, of course, home to Harrods. Lots of famous people lived in both areas, so blue plaques everywhere, so my pictures are mainly of a few of their houses.

St. Saviour's Church, in Belgravia
The Cadogan Hotel in Knightsbridge- this is where Oscar Wilde was arrested

Chester Square, really expensive and exclusive block to live in. The house halfway down with the silver sedan in front of it, is where Margaret Thatcher currently lives. Houses in Chester Square usually go for about 40 to 60 million pounds for a 45 year lease!

The house where Mary Shelley lived and where she died, also located in Chester Square

Home where Vivien Leigh lived

House of PG Wodehouse, author, wrote about Jeeves the Butler among other characters

House where Judy Garland died

This is actually two town homes- the one on the left, partially obstructed by the wooden boards is where Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson lived. On the right is where Mozart lived and where he wrote his first symphony- at age eight!

Roman City Walk

I went on the guided walk about the ancient Roman city of Londonium, roughly the square mile of the City of London today. Most of the Roman bits of the city are not visible, they are about forty feet underneath the existing city. Still it was neat to know where everything was located as compared to the locations of buildings and sites today. My pictures actually make it seem like I was on a Wren tour as we went by several of his churches.

A portion of the old Roman wall(the part visible in the photo is actually medieval)
The Guildhall of London, you can see the 15th century part with later additions. Located on the site of a former Roman amphitheater(you can still see it if you go inside, I didn't get a chance to)

The steeple of St. Mary-le bow, a Wren church

St. Lawrence Jewry, another Wren church

St. Anne and St. Agnes church, yet another Wren church

The Monument built by Wren to commerate the Great Fire of 1666

Site of a former church that has the same name as Twitlet (Well, a bit of a stretch, but Ian is Scottish for John)

Alvie the dog, he came with us on the walk, though was more interested in chasing pigeons!!

Kensington Village walk

On Saturday, took a guided walk around "Old Kensington," which is around Kensington Palace obviously. Very expensive part of London to live in, 4th most expensive in the city. A small townhouse will cost about 2 million pounds. A very pretty part of the city, I hadn't really been to this part of the city since I've been over here, so I was glad to be able to look around. Lots of famous people have lived in the area.

St Mary's Abbot Church, the parish church of Kensington. Charles Dickens' actress-mistress, Ellen, got married here after he died (to a clergyman no less)
The closest brick house was where Winston Churchill lived after WWII

Flat where T.S. Eliot lived and where he died

Home of John Stuart Mill, philospher, early women's rights advocate, friend of Thomas Carlyle (Mill was in that book, Parallel Lives, about Victorian marriages because of his relationship with a married woman whose name I can't remember)

Home of the actress who debuted in the role of Eliza Doolittle in the play Pygmalian by George Bernard Shaw, was also his mistress

View of St. Mary's Abbot from the Kensington Roof Gardens (on the sixth floor of an old department store, free and open to the public)

A typical Street, the tall house furthest down the road on the left was where Virginia Woolf was born.

The "Spanish Garden" of the Kensington Roof Garden

The "Tudor Garden" of the Kensington Roof Garden

Flamingos that live in the Roof Garden (remember on the sixth floor, which is really the seventh floor for Americans)

City of London Architecture Walk

On a rare warm, sunny day, I took a guided walking tour of the City's architecture that spanned from Roman times to the modern office blocks. The City by the way referring to the Square Mile official "City of London," which is now mainly the financial district. Anyways it was interesting to see churches by Wren sitting next to really modern buildings.

A section of the old Roman wall (that is the Tower in the background)
The church of St. Katherine Cree, one of the few churches to survive the Great Fire
Monument build by Christopher Wren to commerate te Great Fire of 1666
Door to church of St. Helena, you can see the date 1633
St. Dunstan's on the hill- designed by Wren, destroyed by bombs during the war, the City has set up a park in the ruins
A Victorian pub built to honor Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887
The Gherkin, visible from the window in my room
The Lloyds of London building- all of the services- lifts, stairs, duct work is on the outside of building- built in 1976
Another newer building with the lifts, stairs on the outside
The Bank of England building- all British money is printed here and gold reserves kept in the basement.