Tourist in London for the BIG 3-0!!

So I turned the big 3-0 this year... while I was not excited about turning 30, I have to admit I really don't feel any older! haha and to prove it, I planned a packed weekend of tourist activities in London :) 

We kicked started the night with a glass of bubbly at Champagne Charlie's before heading over for our dinner and jazz cruise down the River Thames. 

Our cruise started right by the london eye

The jazz was so good I couldn't control myself and started dancing a little in my seat :) 

We were really lucky with a clear night. It was nice to see the city from the water

Great picture of the Tower Bridge and the Shard

We really enjoyed the cruise. The next day, Jeffrey treated me to a spa day....And I enjoyed every minute of it!!!! On Sunday, we had booked a photography tour to get more tips with the camera

Given it was the off season, we got a 10% discount and we were the only ones on the tour! 

 I was really impressed with our guide, as he was great with the history and pointers for great pictures. We started out at the Royal Exchange. 

It was founded in the 16th Century by Thomas Gresham to act as the center of commerce for the City of London. For over 150 years Lloyds insurance market operated here. Today it has luxury shops for the bankers and some offices. 

 

In front of the Exchange are 12 lamp posts, each have the flying griffith and different shields.

I thought this was a cool picture, because you get a sense of the long history in London with the clock and you also get the feel of the modernness of the city with the buildings in the background. 

 
Our guide pointed out the large number of churches within the City of London and how there are only 7,000 residents in the present day and 300K commuters during the week. Most of the churches no longer have congregations, rather serve multiple purposes such as coffee shops to other non-profits. 

The grasshopper is at the top of the Thomas Greshman's crest and can be found all over the City of London. 

 He showed us how to capture images in the puddles

 We went to this interesting little park and saw this scene in the back of a park bench. 

There are historical sites all over..... Here are 2 related to the Lloyds Coffee House.
Our tour was focused on the City of London, which is also known as the Square Mile.

 And of course he pointed out the building that was voted to be the ugliest... 

and it was designed by an American :( 

He encouraged use to switch to the monochrome setting for images without color and not to be afraid of zooming in close to images. 

I love the way these turned out!

All these images can from this wall... I would have 

never thought we could get such creative shots from it. 

Same concept here... we were focusing on a beautiful black door

 Our guide took us to Guildhall.  Historically, this was located in the center of the City of London and served as a meeting place and ceremonial services. 

 He gave good tips of taking photos in large halls like this, find the center, put 2 fingers on the floor and rest the camera on them. Turned out pretty good!

 

 Along the wall at the entrance there various crests lined up. 

With the dim lighting in the church, these took a while to get just right. 

 He took  a picture of us in the front of the entrance. 

Here is a memorial to the 2 men who helped to spread the works of Shakespeare. 

Per our guide, without these men we wouldn't know who Shakespeare was. 

 Cool building with tree in the center courtyard. 

This is part of the London Wall and some of the highest points left in the city. This is mainly due to the solid foundations left from the Romans. 

Postman's park is one of the largest parks in the City of London, the former headquarters of the General Post Office and opened in 1880. 

Within the park there is a wall that is dedicated to those who did something heroic to save others and lost their life in doing so. 

It located on the former churchyard and burial ground of Aldersgate church, later on Christ Church of Greyfriars and St. Leonard. A shortage of space for burials meant that corpses were often laid on the ground and covered with soil and lead to the park being above the streets over time. However, given the wet weather of London, the majority of corpses were dug up and moved to outside the city of London. So while there are still headstones here... supposedly there are no bodies (at least according to the legend!)

This church, Christchurch Greyfriars, was established in the 13th century and almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. It was rebuilt but then it was destroyed again in WWII and has been turned into a public garden. The tower that is left standing has been turned into a flat

 

Here are more examples of the damage from WWII. These are bullet holes. We saw a lot of this in Berlin but I didn't really expect to see that much in London

Another cute little church!

 Beautiful planters!

Interesting modern art in the heart of the old city

We ended the tour with a stroll through the meat market. It is open from the wee hours of the morning and closes around 7 or 8 in the morning. 

The colors were really bright and beautiful

Here is an example of the older (left) and newer (right) phone booths side by side. 

It was a great tour and we might even go for another one in the spring and see the other side of the city :)