Iconic London

Whilst on the Shaun in the City trail we got a chance to see a lot of London on foot.

Cog and I normally walk around London a lot, mostly because we aren't organised about what we want to do but this time we has a purpose, so it took the pressure off!

Sometimes we will be wandering down a street and I think 'Wow, it doesn't get any more London film set than this unless Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were actually fighting in the road right now"








Walking around a lot makes you thirsty, we stopped off at a Costa to recharge us and my phone which was running low from the GPS drainage by Shaun.

I love this Costa, it is 20 metres from a jam ram packed Leicester Square and is always quiet!

So quiet that this is possible and yet totally stupid.  A guy left his mobile office alone to take a work call outside.  He left it like this for over 15 minutes. I was sweating on behalf of his insurance company.

We stopped at the Tate Modern for a spot of afternoon tea, fresh baked scones and tea cheaper than Costa!  Although, cheap is a relative word.















And a spot of beautiful iced tea with apple syrup and ginger at the Perkin Reveller - my favourite of London cafes.









All that drinking means the inevitable pit stop,  a great excuse to fly by my favourite painting at the National portrait gallery whose loos are usually clean.

We also had a rather long discussion at Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews, about horses at a few Stubbs and me getting as excited as usual at The Ambassadors and Cog rolling her eyes as is the set norm.



Although I don't get Van Gogh, never have, I honestly think he was pretty rubbish at painting...there it is said...and we said it out loud (again) and we left.


















I had a wander around St Margaret's in Westminster.  It is a plain Jane of a Church considering its surroundings, and nothing out of the ordinary but the wall memorials and floor stones are well worth reading.












Raleigh is there, there are a couple of Dudleys and Nevilles, the well known family names from early centuries still there in the names of people dying hundreds of years later.  The same rich families controlling the country and the money, some things never change.

Churchill was married there (1908) as was Pepys (1655).  I love churches like this with a wealth of documented history.

Cog was not so impressed and we had to move on fairly quickly.

It was a lovely day for walking and the iconic images continued one after another.  Because it was a week day we were watching the suits coming and going from the back gates of Downing street and the doors of the Treasury.

Can't help but wonder about what these people actually do.  No doubt very important stuff!  

There is always a new statue to see on routes I haven't walked before.  This is the Cordwainer, the history of the Cordwainer area is worth a read about. 

It is rather special to rise

up from a shopping centre

to iconic views.

And the weather was nice enough to wander down the river, annoying the commuters trying to rush for their trains with our slower tourist pace.

It's a privilege to be able to stand and enjoy our history. 

But even with history in the background, look closely and you will see you are staring in the face of more modern history and new history in the making.