Tourist London Part 3

So this time we'll hop on a bus to the Guildhall. That puts us into the heart of the City of London, by the Bank, which is the area where the Bank of England resides.

Adjacent to the Guildhall is the Mansion House, which is a Palladian stucture where the Lord Mayor of London will hold receptions.

There's great names for the roads and alleys around here. For example, the roadside by the bus stop and the building opposite is part of Poultry and leads into Cheapside.

Here's my snap of the Mansion House itself. The road system outside it would normally be filled with buses and taxis and there would usually be huge quantities of streetwise business folk here between Monday morning and Friday evening, but at the weekend, the City shuts down.

Not all of the buildings around here are old; here's the adjacent magistrates court and next to it a more modern confection. Again, the lack of traffic in this normally manic area is noteworthy. The yellow box junctions here are some of the first ever and designed to keep traffic at busy intersections moving.

A crumbs throw away is the Royal Exchange, adjacent to Threadneedle Street, which is where the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street lives. Thats slang for the Bank of England. Most people will recognise the Exchange more from Mary Poppin; although most of Mary Poppins was shot on Soundstage Two in Burbank, this is the area it evokes and would have been one of the places to buy breadcrumbs to feed the birds.

Here is the reason the area is named "Bank"; the Bank of England takes an entire block, but surprisingly is less noticeable than either the Royal Exchange or the Mansion House.

Other buildings in the area (like the ones in my snapshot) are somewhat prominent, but before I investigate, I suggest a look along a few alleys and into a few shops. But that can wait until tomorrow.

tags technorati : rashbre london city urban