The Historic City

On Saturday, I did a tour of the Historic City from about St Pauls to Monument. I had seen most of it before, but it was a good overview.

St Vestans- a Wren church, Agatha Christie also got married here the second time
One of the small alleys- an Victorian ale house

Leopard Faces- the symbol of the Goldsmiths- they own the park

An owl for Dad!!

St Stephen's Walbrook

St Michael's Cornhill- it is mentioned in the Christmas Carol

The Great Stink and China Town

On a rainy Saturday, I took a tour about the "Great Stink," an famous or infamous episode in the 1850s when there was a drought and the Thames and its tributaries started to dry up. At the time, they were used as the sewers so it was a really lovely smell!! It was so bad Parliament had to close. As a result, Parliament agreed to redo the sewage system which is still in place today. Pretty disgusting, but interesting and no I don't think that Chinatown is the Big Stink, we just went through it and I've never taken any pictures of it before.

A tree being supported in the Victoria Embankment Gardens- underneath the Gardens are the sewer lines and the Underground.
A typical street, before the Great Stink all refuse and other items would have been dumped in the open sewers in the street

A street sign in Chinatown- London's Chinatown is pretty small, only a few streets behind Leicester Square

One of the Gates leading into Chinatown

A pavilion in Chinatown

One of the statues in front of one of the many restaurants and takeaways