Six wives of one King

Day Minus 2 We haven't started yet still two days to go but I picked up a client who arrived in England from the USA 2 days early this morning from Heathrow Airport. We got to the Mad Hatter Hotel by 11 am but needless to say the room wasn’t ready so after a cup of coffee in the bar we decided to go for a little walk. I say a little walk, we were out for a little over 3 hours! The hotel is in Southwark just on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge over the river Thames, so we walked over the bridge to Blackfriars where Baynards castle once stood and on the site of the Blackfriars pub is where the great hall was, here Catherine of Aragon had her annulment trial. From there we walked up Ludgate to St Pauls Cathedral and picked up some leaflets from the Tourist information centre and then went to the Old Bailey which was once the site of the infamous Newgate prison. There was a couple of Barristers in their gown and wigs talking to their clients outside, Just over the road is St Sepulcre’s church . It is here that there is the world’s first public drinking water fountain with cups still chained to the railings. Nearby is the site of the Fortunes of War pub. Grave robbers used to display their stolen bodies waiting for the surgeons to come out of St Bart’s hospital to buy them. In the wall there is a little monument to the edge of the great fire of London, a little fat boy painted gold to remind the people what can happen Just along from there is Ely Place and St Ethelreda’s church, converted back to the Catholic faith in 1874 and is one of the very few churches in the country to say Mass in Latin. Pausing momentarily in Hatton Garden to admire the centre of the World’s diamond trade, ( if you have to ask the cost you can’t afford it) we had lunch in the Citie of Yorke pub, the oldest in London and a very nice Chicken & mushroom pie it was too. After lunch we walked through Lincolns Inn fields, passing the Old Curiosity shop and the back of the Royal Courts of Justice. Lincolns Inn is where St Thomas More practiced Law. Tucked away in a little corner is one of the most historic buildings in England. It’s where the Bank of England was first set up in 1693 by the King and some influential Merchants. A walk through Chancery Lane led us to Dr Johnson’s House, the person who wrote the first English Dictionary in 1755 His favourite pub is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street and still a spit & sawdust establishment. Our final place to pause was St Brides Church just to look at the tiered Spire, built by Sir Christopher Wren, it is the inspiration behind every wedding cake in the Christian world. Finally back over Blackfriars Bridge to the Hotel and about 3 miles the room was ready.