SquirrelyGrl Tales

Adventures int'l, domestic & close by

London D3

Friday – London Proper

10.1 miles walked

A proper London morning of drizzle & gray. We ventured out into the tourist areas of London searching for specific pubs & landmarks. The pubs from the Cormoran Strike detective series & touristy landmarks which must be seen.

Fuller’s Pub – local chain
Entering the Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel
One of many on the ceiling in the tunnel
Leake Street Graffiti tunnel – since 2008 artists have covered & re-covered the art displayed here near the Waterloo Station.
View of the London Eye – as recommended changing to black & white for a dramatic look.
View of Big Ben – the most photographed spot of Big Ben – what a perfect Londoner tour guide!
Covid-19 Memorial Wall –
Ah! Goal achieved! Cleopatra’s Needle – the mate to the one in Central Park NY.
The obelisks were created in Heliopolis – modern Cairo around 1450 B.C. Around 40 B.C. – Cleopatra VII, last Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, relocated the Obelisks to the newly constructed Caesareum of Alexandria commissioned by Cleopatra in honor of Julius Caesar.
Almost 2,000 years the obelisks were in Alexandria – til an Englishman & an American dignitary conjoled the Egyptian gov’t into ‘gifting’ the obelisks in the late 1800’s.
Of note – the Central Park obelisk hieroglyphs are severely deteriorated due to small amounts of acid rain over time being exposed in NYC.
The two obelisks are around 3,000 years old.
A pair of Sphinx’s guard the obelisk
Punctures purposely un-repaired in the bronze Sphinx statue caused by the first raid of the Germans during The Great War. Three people died in a tramcar during close by during the same raid.
Sphinx benches along Victoria’s Embankment with the obelisk.
Fish & Chips at Shakespeare’s Head – one of the pubs named in the Cormoran Strike novels.
We did have a drink at the Feathers – another pub mentioned in the Strike series. Busy place – we left our table with another pair of Americans.
babies too full – they collapse
Black Swan
Napping duckies
Few Peonies
Just passing thru either Hyde or Regent’s
China Town getting ready for the Platinum Jubilee
We did have a drink at the London Gin Club – just past China town. The best server the whole trip was at this place. He was a hoot & half – recommended the drinks & just fun to be around.

More photos to come! –

SquirrelyGrl

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