London Walking Tour

After being here for nearly a month (!!!) I finally got off my lazy bum and did a 'proper' tour of the typical London sites. I was recommended a 'free' walking of tour of London by Alisha - I'll get to the 'free' part later.

At arriving at Monument station I was greeted by Nick, our bespectacled, frizzy-haired tourguide. He clearly had a passion for his job and proudly announced that he was a Londoner but originally from Cardiff. Good for you!! That means pretty much nothing to me.

A three and a half hour long walking tour sounded a bit long but I really was desperate for the exercise. First stop was..... The Monument, a pillar built as a 'monument' to the Great Fire of London which occurred in 1666.

A bit of writing on the side of the Monument.

If the Monument was ever to fall down towards the east (I think), it would locate the bakery where the fire began. It's interesting to know that the fire also destroyed many of the rats carrying the Bubonic plague, thus ending the period of the Black Death. Hmmm I am sounding much like a medieval history book.

Next, was a trot over to St Magnus-the-Martyr church where we shown a block of wood. Such was my excitement for this wood, that I took a photo. Yay!

Ooooh, but look at the inscription on the wooden piling.... it's from 75 A.D when the Romans occupied London. Aaah who knows, it could be fake.

A short walk to London Bridge was next.

Nope, that's not London Bridge, despite what Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas would have you believe!

Having the guide in the photos was getting a bit annoying.

Here's the real London Bridge:

Boring and utterly plain.

We were then guided through some once-slum alleyways and onto the Royal Exchange which is now a luxury shopping centre. I see this building everyday, as I work about five minutes away.

Just on the steps of the Royal Exchange, a free hugs campaign was running. It wasn't very popular and they only managed to give about two hugs away during the 10 minutes we were standing there, one to a tour group member.

I think they stole their idea from the following Free Hugs campaigner in Sydney.

A quick stop by Temple tube station where we paused at a rather plain structure. This turned out to be the ruins of the ancient Roman (or maybe Pagan) Temple of Mithras, where our guide claimed they would perform human sacrifices.

Just thought I'd include a red telephone box. Whenever I see one of these, I think of Dr. Who and his creepy music.


St. Paul's Cathedral, this time during the day. It was never bombed during WWII because it proved a handy way of locating London from the sky.


The London Eye. Everytime I see this, I always think of the scene in Bride and Prejudice where the sister runs away.

The church of the Knights Templar. Now a popular tourist attraction due to the Da Vinci Code. The tour guide didn't care too much for Dan Brown and neither do I.

The Royal Law Courts. Paul McCartney and gold digging Heather Mills are gonna fight it out here.

The Savoy Hotel. This is where the guide got told off for talking too loudly. Also one of the filming locations of 'Notting Hill'.


Yeah, I'm back at Trafalgar Square. This time I've got the National Gallery in the pic.


Cant remember what this arch was called. But if you go down, it leads to Buckingham Palace.


The back of No. 10 Downing St. Security measures prevents us from going to the front.


The blog would not be complete without a photo of myself with the Nick the guide. Now the 'free' bit. He works for tips. So I guess I could've just left and given him nothing but that would've been just plain cold-hearted and tightass. Five pounds tip from each person in our 25+ group - not a bad taking for 3.5 hours of work!

On the way to the tube station, I just had to take a closer photo of Big Ben.