Gardens in the Sky

What a fabulous  day we've had, to round off our brief visit to London and,  even better, the  attractions we explored were all free!
First, we walked eastwards, from our hotel at Tower Hill, along the  Thames Path, past the Tower of London and the peaceful marina at St Katherine's  Docks. After about an hour we returned  to the City to 20 Fenchurch Street (aka The Walkie-Talkie skyscraper) so we could take the lift to the Sky Garden on the 37th floor. (It is a popular venue, and I was glad I  had booked tickets three weeks ago.)  sky gardenIt is an indoor conservatory, with an outside  observation terraces, as I hope you can see from my blip photo. The sub tropical planting includes  tree ferns, Strelitzia (bird of paradise)plants, Echium, Madeiran geranium, succulents and olive trees. The views over London were wonderful. First extra is looking upstream over St Paul's Cathedral, while the  second extra is looking downstream with Tower of London and Tower Bridge. 
There are restaurants and cafes, but we just enjoyed a coffee while we took in the views of London and the sky garden.  
Then I discovered there was another roof top garden in the  vicinity which we could visit. It is the the Garden at  no 120 Fenchurch Street!garden at 120 This building is only 15 storeys high, and its garden is all outdoors. It is  mainly  prairie planting  with grasses, but also with a number of Wisteria  plants just bursting into flower, espaliered apple trees, rose bushes, a pair of Goldfinches, and  a small rill,  creating a quiet and restful atmosphere. See extras 3 -5 of my husband with the Walkie  Talkie behind him, and a view of the " Gherkin", as well as the garden.   
After these treats we returned  to our hotel to collect our luggage, but on the way, stumbled across St Olave's church in Seething Lane which is where Samuel Pepys worshipped and is buried. I had a poke around the churchyard which contains a collection of medicinal plants, and noticed a sign saying there was a lunchtime concert  today. It had just  started so we crept into the church and spent a lovely hour listening to a recital by baritone singer Guiseppe de Luca,  and pianist Antonio Morabito. The concert was sponsored by the Italian Consulate and was give in homage to Puccini on the 100th anniversary of his death.They performed pieces by Puccini, Tosti and Chopin. It was such an unexpected pleasure to hear this  beautiful music (and again for free- but donations welcomed!).