Christmas in London

I finally got around to posting the pictures from Christmas-no one likes getting their pictures taken plus it gets dark early so I only took a few.

A Christmas tree in front of St Pauls
A tree inside St Pauls-I wasn't supposed to take the photo and got yelled at by a crabby guide

Tower Bridge in the gloom

Tower Bridge with the HMS Belfast

An Egyptian wall painting from the British museum

A mural of the Abyssianian Campaign (Ian knew about it)

A Greek temple reconstructed in the British Museum

Hieroglyphics from the British Museum

Egyptian cat

Yet another Egyptian statue "given" to the British

Actually a picture taken before the family came over-the cat that lives in the Church in Covent Garden

Another view of cat

St Albans

Over the weekend, I went to St Albans-about 25 minutes north of London. Now it is mainly a commuter town, but originally it was the third largest Roman town in Britain-Verlingham. Then it became a pilgrimage spot-the first British martyr-St Alban- had a shrine here. It's still there though was partially destroyed in the Reformation.

The Abbey of St Albans-parts of it date to the 9th century, though mostly from the 14th century with Victorian restorations
Another view of the front

Side view looking towards the entrance

Looking towards the Chapter House

The nave

Some medieval paintings leading to the shrine

The painting were covered up during the Reformation so they were preserved.

14th Century gatehouse

Remains of a Roman theatre-looking towards the audience

Looking towards the stage area

An overview of the entire site

The foundations of a Roman house

The Abbey

Allegedly one of the oldest pubs in England

One of the streets in centre of the town

Some 17th century buildings

The Old City

Over the Weekend, I did a tour of parts of the old parts of the City-I thought I had seen every bit in the City but I haven't obviously!

Saddlers' Hall-built in the 17th century. Originally the site belonged to Thomas Cromwell who had his London home here. Once he got beheaded, the Saddlers Livery Company got it.
The Dutch Reformed Church-the church is from the 1950s-the original was destroyed in the Blitz. The original church was from the reign of Edward VI

St Helen's Church-originally part of a convent in the 1300s whose Prioress was allegedly the inspiration for Chaucer's Prioress

The Church of St Ethelberga-it survived the Fire of London, the Blitz, only to be destroyed by an IRA bomb. It's only recently been restored as a peace centre.

A Moorish tent set up in the courtyard of the church

Originally a Victorian Turkish bath-now a bar

Statue outside Liverpool Street Station of the Children of the Kinderstransport who passed through the station.

Tower Bridge at night

Tooting

Over the weekend, I took a tour of Tooting-a part of South London. And yes, it's pronounced the way it looks. It's supposedly named for the old Saxon word for Watch Tower.

The churchyard of St Nicholas's church
The graveyard-one of the few churches I've seen in London where they haven't dug the graves up-probably because it's not in Central London

The back of St Nicholas-built in the 1840s, though a church has been there since the 1600s

The Tooting Library

A row of Terraced houses-typical for South London

Statue of "Bertie" or Edward VII outside the Tooting Tube

Literary Bloomsbury

On Saturday, did a tour of Literary Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury is near the British Museum and lots of writers have lived there.

Fitzroy Square-the grandest square in Bloomsbury-both Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw lived there over the years
Virginia Woolf and her husband set up their publishing company here-you can still see the name on the building

Pub where Dylan Thomas used to drink

A typical street of terraced houses-now mainly offices, etc for the universities in the area

Terrace where Virginia Woolf lived

Statue of Gandhi in Tavistock Square-ironically one of the 7/7 bombs was set off on a bus on the Square

The top of St Pancras Station-you catch the Eurostar to Paris here.

Painting of Woman in place of a window-the building is actually a pie shop mentioned in Oliver Twist

Not from the tour-the back of Wasabi Kit Kat-courtesy of a Japanese publisher who met with our editor

It was lime green and was all right at first but left a strange aftertaste