London Day 4

This morning from about 9 am through early afternoon we walked with Dr. Cowlard through the east section of London. Dr. Cowlard recently retired from teaching at Greenwhich University and has been touring students around London for the past 31 years. Needless to say he is extremely knowledgeable about this history and geography of the city which made for an excellent tour. 

This is the church where we started our tour near Aldgate station. Aldgate means old gate which refers to the old gate that sourrounds the actual City of London (inner parish only). From there we walked east out of the center of London. 

This is the parish we walked through. It is filled mostly with immigrants and is know famously where many of the Jack the Ripper murders occurred. 

There is a strong Bangladesh population in this area currently which is reflected in the styles of arches, lamppost, markets, and restaurants. 

This was just a random part of the tour I just though it was funny the house number was eleven and a half. 

You can't see much of London in Thai photo but today we got out first taste of London weather. The past few days it has been 65-70 and sunny and today is was 50 and rainy. 

This is one of the churches in the neighborhood. It was built due to the flux of immigrants in the area, many who brought their own religions. The church was built to convince the immigrants to join the Church of England. The steeple was built much higher than any other church steeple in the area which was used as a point of highlight to convince the immigrants the Church of England was closer to God. 

Now we passed back in to the central London parish. This is the Bank of England where most of the gold of the city is stored. 

Here is where we ate lunch it was in the financial district of London and was a nice break from the wind and rain.

This building is commonly called the walkie (like walkie talkie)because of its shape. An interesting story about it is on the side there is now a black cloth because the shape of the building when the sun is shining has actually burned through car side view mirrors when the sun is reflected back to the ground. Last summer many people would fry eggs on the road as well. 

This building is refered to as the shard and is the largest occupied building in Europe. The Eiffel Tower is technically taller but is not occupied. Last summer a few women climed through the ventilation system in the building and repelled down in a form of protest. Inside the building there is a hotel where the penthouse costs roughly £16,000 a night ( about $27,000). 

 On the right side of the photo you can see the upper part of the London Tower Bridge. And on the left the Tower of London where royals who were beheaded were excuted. 

This is the memorial for the merchants who lost their lives in World War I. 

And this is the memorial for the merchants who lost their lives in World War II. 

This evening Emma and I went to Lyceum Theatre in the Covent Garden district in the spur of the moment decision to go see the Lion King. It was absolutely incredible. We got really lucky getting seats for £15 when most advertised prices were £45 and up. Afterwards we headed to Starbucks where they had mango frappachinos. I am literally obssed with mango. 

Lyceum Theater. 

My ticket! 

Emma and I at the Lion King.