Fire and Pestilence

A leisurely wander around Crouch End this morning to find something nice for dinner.

Then I headed to Tower Hill, armed with a brolly and an MP3 player, to do a Pepys audio walk through the City. I really enjoyed it, the walk takes you through lots of tiny alleyways & into many churches and monuments that you might not normally see;
- St Olave's Church, Hart St
- Leadenhall Market
- Wren's church of St Mary at Hill, where I stopped for their Thursday lunchtime piano recital.
- The Monument, designed by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London, 1066.
- Wren's church of St Mary Abchurch
- Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of London
- Wren's church of St Steven Walbrook
- Wren's church of St Michael Paternoster Royal, home of the Mission to Seafarers, and beautiful stained glass windows designed by John Hayward in 1968.
- Wren's church of St Mary Aldermary
- Wren's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral, the protesters were still there, despite an eviction notice being won on Wednesday.
- the Knights Templar Temple Church

A three mile walk which took most of the day after stopping off to visit all the churches and climb to the top of the Monument.

The Monument was designed by Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London, said to have started in a baker's shop at this site in Pudding Lane on 2nd September, 1666. The fire raged for 3 days, destroying thousands of buildings, but claiming surprisingly few lives. The Monument is 61m tall, with 311 steps to the viewing platform, which gives fabulous panoramic views of London from the top. Well worth a visit if you can manage the climb. Clockwise from the left; Monument, a few of the 311 steps to the viewing platform, view of Tower Bridge from the top.

A second entry for this week's "Disguise" 2012 Challenge from Blast. This looks like a Monument to the fire of London, but it is in fact a torture chamber an urban workout centre!