Churches?

Last night I went out to a fantastically swanky club with a couple of friends - we'd been contacted by a promoter and were promised free entry and free drinks. Free entry, yes; free drinks, not so much. However, three of us were female, so it worked out. The place was called Aura Mayfair and it had fantastic lights and funky chandeliers and mirrors on the ceiling. It seemed like an old (and rich) crowd at first, but as the night went on more people came in, and many of them were closer to our age. We didn't want to buy drinks (as I expect they were absurdly expensive), so we just started dancing, and pretty much did not stop until the club was about to close. One of us, however, managed to meet a gaggle of investment bankers, one of which looked rather a lot like Hugh Grant but was not, who kept buying round after round of expensive drinks... It was a good night for all, until we had to figure out how to get home. We ended up walking to Picadilly Circus to take a night bus to Waterloo, but we still had a twenty minute walk back to Wolfson. Oh well, it was worth it.

Today I woke up late, having been out all night (by which I mean until 5am - there were birds singing on our walk home), but it was sunny so I had to do something. I decided to follow a walking tour from my guidebook of central London churches. I went from All-Hallows at the Tower to St. Paul's Cathedral with about ten churches in between. I suppose this is where I start posting pictures.

I walked across Tower Bridge, which I hadn't yet done - note that the Thames really is the colour of tea when it's sunny out:

And took a couple of pictures of the Tower of London from the other side:

Here's All-Hallows-by-the-Tower, right by the Tower of London (strangely enough):

And here is a quote said by Samuel Pepys, the fellow whose burial place I was going to see:

I went by The Monument (the purpose of which I still do not entirely understand):

Here's the second church on the path, St. Magnus the Martyr:

And here's St. Clement's, "of nursery rhyme fame," according to my guidebook... This one was actually quite hard to find and I walked by it a few times before going in:

Then, along Eastcheap, I found St. Margaret Pattens:

And St. Olave, where Samuel Pepys was buried (is buried? I hope he's still buried...):

Here's St. Katharine Cree, which I went into mainly because I was freezing:

And here is the Gherkin, which is apparently called the Swiss Re Tower, or 30 St. Mary Axe, but I find the Gherkin much more appropriate:

Then I reached St. Helen's Bishopsgate, of which there seemed to be two:

I couldn't resist. Would someone from the UK actually ride this?:

 (This one was on another street...):

And I walked along Cheapside (which is ironically a rather expensive shopping area) to get to Mansion House:

(That's not Mansion House, it's just a street view on my way there)

 Here's the Royal Exchange:

And a statue of Wellington:

 And, finally, Mansion House:

(impressive, I know)

And St. Stephen Walbrook, which wasn't open to the public:

I also spotted this sign, which I found interesting:

And this one:

Then I passed by St. Mary-Le-Bow:

...on my way to St. Paul's Cathedral, which I'd already seen but not from this side, and which was the final destination of the walking tour:

Then I made my way back to London Bridge and home to Wolfson, totally freezing but glad to have done something with my day. It's not as if I'm particularly interested in churches, but the tour was in my guidebook and it was something to do, since the markets I want to see aren't good until the weekend. In any case, I hope this post didn't bore you.

Most likely there will be more tomorrow, as I plan to do some wandering, or at least stop by Borough Market, where apparently the Leaky Cauldron scenes from Harry Potter were shot. Yeah, I know you're all jealous that you can't go see the Leaky Cauldron. More later - cheerio!