Scratching the Surface

A sea of cranes presides over the city.
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On Thursday we made our way into London Blackfriars Station and, armed with scalding coffee, made our way down the riverside walk on the north bank of the Thames, where construction projects dominate the landscape and joggers on lunch from professional jobs huff by in the breezy but somewhat polluted air. Cranes tower above the skyline on both sides of the river, as the obvious economic boom builds a taller London with every passing day.

In a quest for some cheap eats we stumbled across a trapeze artist troupe performing in Pudding Lane at the base of The Monument, built there by Christopher Wren in the decade following the Great Fire of London. The tower is a hollow pillar filled with a gradually steeper spiral stair rising 311 steps to a viewing platform. If laid on its side, the tower would just touch the site of the old bakery where the fire broke out that would so transform the city. It offered a sweeping view, a nice breeze, and an uncomfortable number of tourist bodies jockeying almost politely for position and access to the stairs. We received (after 2 pounds admission each) a certificate commemorating our fortitude in cresting the staircase.

The obvious economic boom builds a taller London with every passing day.

311 steps enclosed in stone sound like fun to climb...
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A stroll across London Bridge led to the HMS Belfast, the last remaining prewar cruiser of any Western power, which rests now anchored on the south bank and serves as a delightfully engaging living exhibit of British naval life in wartime. Some hours passed as we clambored up and down ladders throughout the towering old beauty, trying out the chairs on the bridge, inspecting the sick bay, kitchens, anchor hoists and artillery, among many other highlights. Here and there aboard the ship, fairly convincing mannequins in period dress go about the business of a sailor's life, chopping meat in the butcher shop, shaving, performing surgery, sleeping in narrow hammocks amid hydraulic lifts and giant mechanical gears.

...until you're climbing them.
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More walking led us to a few lagers at the pub after the workday's end, dinner at home with our hosts and a spot of telly before bed. A beautiful first day in London.