We have arrived: First day in London

The plane trip wasn’t actually as hard as I thought it would be. Sure I knew it would be long, but I managed to get in a good seven hours sleep between Hong Kong and London; and that was without drinking any alcohol at all on the second leg.
The early morning lights of London were laid out beneath us as the plane flew on and circled around to Heathrow. I love flying over cities at night, and really love arriving 30 minutes ahead of schedule!
A very quick passage through customs and baggage collection and we were met by Shazzy and Ken with many cuddles and smiles; a lovely warm welcome after our long flight.
Ken had arranged a private taxi to take us all back to their apartment in London. Leaving the airport and out onto the motorway I still didn't really feel like I was in another country, at least not until we were passing these beautiful multistorey apartment buildings with their high pitched roofs and tall chimneys.
Our taxi driver took us on a little impromptu tour of London: Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park with Big Ben in the distance. Along Whitehall and past Trafalgar Square, Cleopatra’s Needle across London Bridge and to the apartment. Yeah, we were in London. :-)
A couple of hours to change and freshen up, and then we were off on Ken’s lovingly and painstakingly prepared itinerary.

We walked along the river then down Shad Thames: a cobble stoned road between renovated wharf buildings, with iron bridges spanning overhead like the stairs and walkways of Hogwarts. These walkways in the past were used to wheel goods from the docks to the warehouses.

Breakfast was at Shad Piazza; nicknamed by Shazzy as Nonna’s. The friendly but abrupt staff had our breakfast on our table before we knew it. That was some damn good sausage, eggs and beans.

After a few selfies at Tower Bridge we walked over to Maltby Markets, which were at this early hour still just setting up. We made our way through to the Spa Road industrial area, where the food wholesalers opened up their back doors to the public. This was really amazing. You would walk down a couple of streets, then there’d be an open roller door where inside they were selling the most amazing cakes. Then down a bit further a back door led to Fig Danishes, sour dough and artisan coffee. Then around a corner, they were selling ice cream through a small back window!

We had second coffee back at the now if full swing Maltby Market with Pain au Chocolat. Ken and I also tried Jenson Gin in an old ginnery; that was some damn fine gin. Why didn’t we buy a bottle, or two, or even three??!??
On our way out I grabbed a couple of scotch eggs and then we caught a double decker bus to London Bridge Station and walked through the Borough Markets.

I wished I hadn’t eaten so much. Here there was so much beautiful looking food and no room to scoff it; truffles, cheese, wine, butchers selling venison, rabbit and sheep’s heads. Who buys sheep’s heads? Besides maybe Heston Blumenthal…
After visiting Drake’s Golden Hinde and The Clink, Michelle headed back to the apartment with Shaz, while Shan, Ken and I continued walking on.
Passing Shakespeare’s Globe and crossing the Millenium Bridge we went mud larking on the Thames where we found an assortment of broken smoking pipes, tiles, plates, bones and what looked like a tooth? This would be somewhere to spend hours exploring, but best to do so with rubber gloves on.
Next stop was St Paul’s Cathedral. We stuck our heads in the door but didn’t go right inside. Not for £16.50 anyway. The Easter Service was on anyway.

Next was Leadenhall Market, to get my Harry Potter fix visiting some of the filming locations for Diagon Alley and The Leaky Cauldron. Passing St. Helen Bishopsgate church, Ken shared his tales of the Naughty Nun’s tour he had done previously. The church had two doors: one for the nuns to enter, and another for the bishops to enter. In the wall separating the two, a hole allowed the bishops to watch the nuns getting up to their naughty nun’s stuff. Needless to say the bishops got busted and were assigned penance.

On past the St. Mary’s Axe, more commonly known as The Gherkin, or as some passing French tourists said, “le Cornichon”, we saw a little plaque for an 8 year old Roman girl discovered during the building’s construction. Apparently this was quite unusual as the Romans buried their dead outside the city walls. She had been re-interned with both a Christian and a Roman service, with no explanation for her being here.

Cocktails were had at Old Spitalfields Market. I think I should move to London. Happy hour goes for 3 hours; cocktails are really cheap. I mean £5 to £7 is already cheap, but you get two cocktails for that price!
Behind Spitalfields Market at Bishops Square there are the remains of an old charnel house. It’s really weird seeing remains of buildings thousands of years old in amongst modern skyscrapers.

The juxtaposition continued where we passed a part of the old Londinium wall behind the Novatel and Grange Hotels. Here, starting below ground level a section of wall is exposed; the lower sections built be the Romans with perfectly laid rows of bricks, and the upper section built during medieval times, pretty much looking like the rocks had been just thrown together.

Tower of London was next, but we just walked past and will leave a visit proper for another day.

We watched Tower Bridge open to let a tall ship through, then walked across the bridge with the crowds and made our way back home along the river for a relaxed evening.

Some photos from Day 1 - London