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February 2005

East London and Greenwich

David Aaronson
2005-10-01 21:19:14

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Okay it's fair criticsm that the financial district isn't really east London, but it is for us because that's how the pictures divide up. This picture (1) is taken from St. Paul's cathedral. Down this street somewhere roughly on the right edge of the frame would probably be part of Bank underground station. Beware of Bank station. On the maps it looks like an elongated dot connecting several tube lines, just like most other connecting stations, but it's not! It's actually a trap! I don't recall what lines we were even switching from but I think it was about a two mile walk with so many stairs and turns that I'm pretty sure we ended up directly beneath where we started. I would have to guess Neil Gaiman got the idea for Neverwhere from Bank station.

It's our favorite thing in London. No, not the do not enter sign, but the Swiss Re building (2). Everyone seems to hate it. Our guidebook referred to it as a giant gherkin but we think it's cool. In general, we think all distinctive buildings are cool unless they're just outrageously ugly (like say, most of Milan's tall buildings).

This is Leadenhall market (3). We visited quite a lot of markets while in London and this is hands-down the most impressive from an architecture and cool photography standpoint. In terms of shopping there's not really all that much here compared to other markets. It does have the claim to fame though of also representing Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies. When we wandered through on a Sunday it became apparent how easy it would be to film here as the place was absolutely deserted (this picture was taken on a Friday though).

Another distinctive building in the financial district is Lloyds of London (what's with the re-insurers getting all the good architects anyway?) (4). With all that stainless steel and the whole inverted industrial look it seems like it should ...