Tuesday, October 28, 2014

London, The South Bank 2014

 
 
You are in for a treat...this is a guest post from my husband.  Take it away, Richard!   
 
                              
 ( Well, I don't know if "treat" is the right word. But I hope you might enjoy our walk beside the river and that you might even learn something new! If I have any of the facts wrong please feel free to correct me. Cheers! Richard )
 
 
 
As you gentle readers of this blog already know, while in London Kay and I visited and like everyone else who has seen it were deeply affected by the "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red " installation at the Tower.      
After that, our plan was to  walk across Tower Bridge - crossing the Thames for the third time that  morning - and explore the South Bank.   
When I worked in London in the 80's, my commute  from Croydon ended at London Bridge railway station and then I would either cross London Bridge itself and walk through the City or walk along the South Bank which back then was mostly just disused  warehouses and wharves plus the odd pub here and here and a beautiful,  almost forgotten  cathedral. But now, thirty years later....
                                        

 
 
 
A couple of photos of Tower Bridge from the South Bank. Sorry we don't know the story behind the giant "Alien" egg but it makes for a good shot!   And fortunately nothing hatched from it while we were there!
 
 

Hay's Galleria. In its heyday as an actual wharf, tea clippers and other merchant sailing ships used to unload here where the people are walking and sitting or drinking and eating. I have read that this was the first building to be
 restored as part of the "Regeneration" of the South Bank. It is beautiful Victorian structure. I think the roof was added as part of the restoration but that also is beautiful.

 


 London's "other" cathedral, Southwark Cathedral. ( pronounced sutherk. ) Back in the 80's, this was a rather grimy treasure that hardly anyone knew about as it was stuck between a train station and a load of near derelict warehouses. (When I worked in London, I sometimes spent my lunch break here...it was a haven of tranquility.)  Like nearly everything else here - it has been beautifully and lovingly restored and the new riverside walk has put it firmly back on the map both as a spiritual and social destination.
          
 
Here is one photo of the interior of this wonderful church. I think there may well be more at a future date!
The Cathedral with the Shard in the background.
 
 

By the time we arrived at the Cathedral we had been walking for about four hours. Fortunately, the Refectory ( Restaurant / Café ) at Southwark Cathedral is a most interesting and welcoming location to eat. They serve a variety of meals but we chose the wonderful jacket potatoes. As you can see they are drenched in butter and smothered in Cheddar cheese - a most delicious meal in itself!
The Refectory is part of a recent addition to the Cathedral  but the architectural style blends very well with the ancient Cathedral itself.

                                                                                                               
                                                    I liked the idea of this little character just taking it all in. You see that the tide is high on the river!

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
 
 

The Anchor
Just a few hundred yards from the Cathedral and you come upon "The Anchor" - a pub I have a lot of affection for - and the rebuilt Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. 
Then to end our time on the South Bank, here is something else that wasn't there all those years ago - the Millenium Bridge  (and our fourth bridge over the Thames! ) 
I hope you enjoyed walking with us in London on the South Bank. 

44 comments:

  1. I used to visit that part of London a lot in the 1980s so it's nice to see how it has changed. Thank you..

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    1. Thanks! I knew it was going to be different from the old days and I was very impressed by what we saw.

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  2. Thank you for the wonderful walk this morning. I did enjoy it !

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    1. We thoroughly enjoyed everything about our walk on the South Bank. Glad we were able to share our experiences.

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  3. I love the juxtaposition of the old and the new in the Cathedral and the Shard photo. I've only ever spent one afternoon in London. I want to go back so badly and spend at least a week there.

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    1. Thanks. I thought that would make an interesting photo. We had no desire to visit the Shard this time but it was interesting to see it in the distance from both sides of the river. We only had two nights in London this time but we managed to see and do everything that we had planned. A week would have better!

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  4. It must be 25 years since I was last in London so it was a treat to walk with you Richard and see how it has changed. I really enjoyed that walk - almost as much as my walk up Stone Mountain with Kay! As you may have guessed - I am not really a traffic or city person but I did enjoy that virtual walk. Thank you so much.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it. We last went to London in 2006 but this time around we did more walking. As much as I love Eastbourne and the big three Monadnocks here in Georgia, the walking we did in London was in a totally different league - wonderful. There is always so much going on in London. I suppose at heart I am a city person.

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  5. Kay, Please tell Richard, I loved the walk with him. That Cathedral was fabulous. So much history there. Love it. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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    1. This is Richard answering! Kay has let me reply to the comments. Glad you enjoyed our walk and the photos from the Cathedral. I had never even heard of it, let alone seen it, until I started working in "The City" in the late 70's, but it soon become one of my favourite places in London. Before our visit this year I had not seen it in 30 years and was overjoyed to see how clean and beautiful it now looks! And I hope that the Regeneration of the South Bank has helped people (re) discover it.

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  6. Every time I read something about London on Jenny Woolf's blog, I say I really have to go there again (haven't been in nearly 8 years!) - and now you get me started, too!

    Thank you for a great guest post, Richard - I hope this wasn't your last one! (Not that I don't like to read Kay's own posts... but guest posts are something special, aren't they.)
    I very much like the idea of you spending your lunch break in Southwark Cathedral before it was restored and popular again.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. I thought it would be fun to write about the South Bank as there are still lots of people who don't realize how much things have changed on that side of the river. And to be honest, we didn't know exactly what would be there either so it was a revelation for us too. I was amazed at how much traffic was on the Thames now - it's so much more lively than in the 80's. Hope it won't be long before you see London again, too.

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  7. We stayed in Southwark when we were in London in August, didn't make it to the Cathedral though, loved your pictures.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you liked the photos. That was actually one of the few cloudy days we had in our fortnight over there but perfect walking weather. We thoroughly recommend the Cathedral next time you are in London - and the Refectory. ( I don't know why I didn.t take any photos of the Refectory - I suppose I was too busy eating! )

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  8. I am enjoying your pictures of England - how long did you stay?

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    1. Thanks. Glad you are enjoying our photos. We spent a fortnight ( two weeks ) in England. We spent two nights in London and the rest of the time we were in Eastbourne. We have a lot more photos so I'm sure Kay will do more posts about time over there.

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  9. Thank you for the tour of London. The architecture of the cathedrals is exquisite. Your telling of how it was then and the pictures of how it is now is the type of thing I love to read.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk and my commentary. I suppose that walk meant more to me than it may have done to people who didn't know the area in the "before" phase, but like anywhere in London there was a lot to see and do. I have always enjoyed touring old churches and Cathedrals and Southwark was a very interesting one.

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  10. If i ever get to go back, i want to take you and your wonderful wife as tour guides!

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    1. Thank you. That is a compliment indeed! We'll look forward to it! Wish we had been able to spend a lot more time in London, this time around.

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  11. Thank you, Richard. That was a treat. Someday I too shall walk that walk.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. I hope you are able to "walk that walk" soon. There was so much to see and do and so much happening on the river that we probably missed as much as we actually saw.

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  12. Great post; wonderful photos...you're allowed back again, Richard! :)

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. I'll have to see if the Mrs. will let me do another post....

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  13. A treat indeed. Little of that was there when I last passed by.
    The dereliction and waste abounded.
    Mind you the Shard is a disgusting blot on the landscape.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, too. It was fascinating to compare what we were looking at in 2014 with what I remembered from the 80's. We had no desire to visit the Shard, but in all honesty, compared to some of the abominations on the North side of the Thames in the City of London itself, believe it or not, it doesn't seem quite so bad.

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  14. Loved this, Richard! Terry and I were in London last June, and we saw many of the sites that you included in these photos. I wish I could have seen the Tower with the blood red poppies spilling everywhere. It really reminds you of the Tower's bloody history. Your post reminds me of how much fun we had in London and of how much I want to return. Like you, we found some great food in church/cathedral basements or buildings just off the beaten path. You are a great sport to hop in and do a guest post on Kay's blog. Of course, we have all been enjoying your great photography for a long time.

    Kay ~ I finished "Unbroken" the night before last ~ at 3:00 a.m.! Well, I still have to go through the bibliography at the end. The work the author put into the book is as inspiring to this writer. But the story ~ beyond words! Louis Zamperini had an indomitable will to survive. The games all the POWs played to survive! I'm thankful that I have never had to be tested by war.

    Have a great rest of the week, Richard and Kay!

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. London is an amazing place, isn't it? Over the years I had forgotten exactly how much I missed that great City. We enjoyed everything we did in London and were particularly grateful that we were able to see the "Blood Swept Lands" installation.
      Kay said that she is glad you enjoyed the book, she knew you would. every chance she gets she tells people about Mr. Zamperini!

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  15. A "Guest" writer - I see what you did there! (Can't believe I'm the first to say that).

    Good to see you're alive & kicking Ricardo, so why don't you reply to e-mails?? Great pictures by the way - including that strangely familiar church at the top of the page. When at Southwark, did you try the Borough Food Market next door? Buying stuff there is insanely expensive, but you can pig out on free samples, and it usually has a great atmosphere. And, yes, there are loads of GF offerings, so it's well worth trying the next time you're over here. Write soon.


    Dave

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    1. How about "alive and shuffling"? Thanks for your comment, Dave. Like you, I think I have seen that church somewhere recently.... We didn't actually see Borough Market until after we had eaten at the Refectory. After the peace and quiet of the Cathedral the market didn't much appeal to us so we sidestepped it this time. As regards eating there - I had just had the world's biggest and best jacket potato! Next time, though. You probably remember, too, how back in the day that it was an actual market there was a rotten fruit and veg smell to the place sometimes.... I will email you tomorrow.

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  16. It was lovely to go on this little tour around with you while you revisited places from yesteryear. I hope that you might share some more posts sometimes in the future - not that I don't like yours Kay of course. xx

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. I knew things would be different and had some vague idea of what to expect. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day and my blog post only really mentioned what I saw as the highlights of it!

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  17. Thank you, Richard for a lovely tour of one of your London walks. I have not been in London since 1967 and I know it must be very different. Perhaps I will go back some day and if I do I will certainly visit the Southwark Cathedral. There would be so many places to visit!

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. Yes, London is indeed very different even since the 80's! It seems so much cleaner and "more cared for" - if that make sense - than it used to be - Southwark Cathedral being a fine example of that. And the whole of the South Bank is new in addition to everything that has changed north of the river!

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  18. This made me feel as if I was there. Thanks Richard!! :-)

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  19. Oh, what a wonderful post! Many thanks to Richard. London is a great walking city, isn't it? And Southwark Cathedral looks absolutely glorious within.

    I love it that so many of the larger churches have cafés attached. We like the Café in the Crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the café at St. Paul's Cathedral. The food is always excellent and a very good value (especially in expensive London).

    The poppies are breathtaking and sobering.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. As you say, It is always interesting to walk in London - there's always something going on or something new to see. I've liked Southwark Cathedral since I discovered it in the 80's but now it is so beautifully clean and restored. I'm glad that these magnificent old churches are finding new ways to reach out to their communities.
      We were grateful that we were able to see the poppies at the Tower. - it was a very moving experience.

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  20. Thank you, that was a delight! And thank you for telling us how to pronounce Southwark because it surely was nothing like what I was saying in my head! What a gorgeous place that is, and I do hope we see more later. Your jacket potatoes look very tempting too. I am also very happy the big black alien egg did not hatch into something awful while you were there. Hopefully it remains just an egg even now.

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    1. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed our walk. I thought the pronunciation might be useful! It seems quite likely that there might be a post about that Cathedral at a future date as we both loved it and took some good photos. That jacket potato was wonderful as was the location. I have tried to research the symbolism of the egg online but have had no success. I suppose if I had taken a photo of the info at the base of the sculpture while we were there I would have the answer, wouldn't I?

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  21. A super post - all these places are so familiar to me and your photos make me feel a bit homesick at present! :). I too remember when there was almost nothing there but dereliction. An astonishing transformation.

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  22. I can remember when the area was run down and certainly not a tourist attraction. I don't, generally speaking, like cities. I gave up my Bar studies because I just couldn't face more time in London. Now with posts like this and many posts by Jenny Woolf I find myself more and more drawn to revisiting that splendid city.

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  23. Oh Richard, what a treat!!! I so enjoyed your post and the visit to London. Hope you'll "guest post" more often!!! Hugs to Kay~

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