So, as I said, I've spent the last two days up in London on a course. Hooray! Sightseeing for me! It was brilliant actually, the course was in Bank. As it's not really my normal destination for a day trip, it meant I got to explore a whole new bit of London -the financial district, aka The City of London! Funnily enough, it wasn't that far from where the Jack the Ripper tour ended up. Gradually my mental map of London is expanding!
I thought I'd share some photos from my lunch break wanderings with you..
First of all, right next to where my course was, I found The Bank of England! It's an amazingly grand building, I don't remember ever seeing it up close before. I was slightly tempted to walk in and ask if I could take out a fiver, but I managed to resist. I did in fact walk into the Bank of England Museum around the corner though, because I initially thought that it was the Bank of England! I don't know why, it doesn't look anything like it! I was just being nosey really.
On the second day, I managed to get a little further afield, and headed straight for The Gherkin. I love that building! The brilliant thing was, I stumbled across the building site for the newest skyscraper in town, The Pinnacle, soon to be the second tallest building in Europe (after The Shard, currently being constructed at London Bridge), all very exciting! I actually found out about it the other day when I was trying to find out where the tallest viewing platform in London is. I actually cannot wait until these two are finished because unlike all the other tall buildings in town, they will be open to the public!
If you're interested, this is what it's finally going to look like.. very pretty!
This is what it looks like so far.. just some big cranes! Ah well, they've got a year to finish it..
Just around the corner from there, and next to The Gherkin, I spied this..
After a little investigation, I found out it is Lloyd's of London. Wow. It's such a strange building! It's almost like it's inside out, you can see the lifts running up and down the outside with people in. Very industrial looking - you would never guess that there's an insurance market hiding in there! Looks more like the home of the Borg if you ask me..
It's strange how it sits behind the facade of the old Roman Forum..
Turning 180 from there.. The Gherkin sits!
I managed to get into the reception, but unfortunately you're not allowed up to the viewing platform on the top floor! Well, what else is YouTube for.. if you want to see the view from the top, check out the video
here.
Here's the entrance, I'm surprised they didn't try and kick me out, wandering in there in my ski wear, mind you it is the Swiss Re building, so they're probably used to that sort of thing!
It seems to have glass floors?!
On my way back to the Bank of Japan, where my course was being run, (well actually it was SQS, but it was in the same building for some reason), I passed Prince Philip's shirt shop on Threadneedle Street. There was a big sign announcing that it was "as appointed to the Prince of Wales" - £138 a shirt if you're interested! I also spotted this strange bridge. I still can't work out what that thing is! Any ideas?
