11 May (Thursday) continued.

We went to a pub whose doorway was immortalized in one of the Harry Potter books - Harry walked through the pub's doorway on his quest to find a wand? Don't ask me, I've never read any of the HP books. Properly fortified by my salad, I got up and said to myself, John (my coworker) said to not miss the gold-leafed Albert statue. So I headed that way. The statue (or memorial rather) in question is directly across the street from the Royal Albert Hall, aka a very important musical venue.

So the tour continued. Here is "the monument" - located, not surprisingly, at the Monument tube stop. It is the monument in the city to the great fire of 1666, and it was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and and Robert Hooke. It is said that if you knocked over the column in the right direction, the bowl on top of the monument would land directly where the great fire started by a careless maid who forgot to put out the coals of her master, a town baker, on the site of his shop on Pudding Lane.

Two random photos of what I believe to be more Christopher Wren architecture.

I'm getting confused. Maybe this was Billingsgate Fish Market?

Note the pig hiding in grass in the facade? I wish I remember the story behind it :(

So they don't call some of these tours "pub crawls" for nothing. And if you're like me - and do not wish to guzzle down a pint in a few short minutes, you stand outside while the rest of your party heads in for their drinkies. I took the opportunity to ask Peter, our tour guide, about the English flag and why it looked different from the flag of Great Britain. He explained that the Union Jack is what you get when you put the Scottish flag together with the English one. And the English one is white with a red cross, representing St. George.

We were also told that this particular pub we stopped out got a mention in a Harry Potter book as being the place where Harry Potter starts his quest, a search for a wand (? don't ask me, I've never read any of the books). Two other patrons of the pub, slightly drunk, came up to me and the older of the two fellows wanted his picture taken, so that's what you've got here. Sorry sir, but I don't remember your name! I just remember you and your mate's salty language :)

The "Swiss Re" building. Also known dubiously as "the erotic gherkin." Overlooking the old city with an almost too glamorous disdain.

My camera does not appear to work too well at night, so a lot of my nighttime photos looked terrible and aren't worth posting. But here's a photo outside a pub with quite a history.

And the walk ended outside Dirty Dick's, which is named for a real depraved soul of history who is presumed to be who Miss Havisham in Dickens' Great Expectations is based on. I spoke a bit with the guide as he was heading home, and he suggested not to miss the Victoria and Albert museum, which I was glad to tell him that I had been there earlier in the day! I think people put their blinders on and insist on seeing the British Museum (which I saw the next day) but not anything else, which is why I found the V&A so relatively uncrowded. Frankly, I thought the V&A was better than the British Museum, but you may think differently. And I guess I'm not the best person to be extolling the virtues of the V&A over the British Museum, since Gary and I only walked through one of the galleries the next day.

So the tour ended at Liverpool Street and I headed back to my hotel. By that time, I was starving. I couldn't eat at Yo! Sushi again, it was too late and they were closing up. I was surprised however that the Mediterranean place down the block was still taking takeaway orders so late. So that's how I ended up with a grilled squid, mizuna, and rocket salad (sans chickpea mousse which had flour in it), sitting up and eating that in bed, feeling like a proper princess. And majorly looking forward to spending some time with Gary the next day.

(4a)

posted 12/04/06
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