My First Day in London

St Paul's

I had a blast with my friend Cate on my first day in London (Sunday 6^th March). I managed to get to Waterloo Station and find Foyles book shop.

While waiting, I was heartened to see a big soft toy Moomin from my favourite series of childhood books by Tove Jansson.

We walked all over London and in a way it was different to what I expected. I guess I thought that London would be a lot very old, historical buildings whereas it is a mix of old and new.

Our trip took us alongside the Thames, past the London Eye and we came upon the replica Globe Theatre which was amazing. Then we walked across the footbridge to St Pauls, all the while my friend talked about the history of the ‘City of London’ and the crest that appears on buildings, bus stops etc. You can read more about this here.

After a quick break from the rain and then continued to the Postman’s Garden. This garden is beautiful and it sits nestled by large buildings in the middle of the financial district. It has a wall of remembrance for people in the late 1800’s that died while saving others.

Then the Museum of London beckoned and we spent a little time there before navigating the tube back towards St Paul’s to have dinner at one of the oldest pubs in London ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street’. This pub has seen the likes of Charles Dickens and many others. Unfortunately, it was closed when we went there so we had a nice meal at another local pub.

Next to the Museum of London there are the ancient remnants of the ‘London Wall’ which was built by the Romans. This was part of a defensive wall that surrounded Londoninium in around 400AD. Coming from New Zealand it is incredible to see something so old and that formed a such a pivotal part of London’s history.

To be continued….