Summer Ends!

So the Summer finally comes to an end and our clocks go back an hour on what
was our first cold day. Even the snow arrived in Scotland today.
But there's no denying that it was our best Summer in a long while, although it
might have been a little uncomfortable in some parts of Europe during July and
August with record heat temperatures.
Does this mean that we are about to have a bad Winter? We'll have to wait and see.
They say that most Summers end around the end of September but this year it seemed
to go well up to the end of October with an unusual amount of sunny cloud free days.

Above: one of my favourite Autumn pictures taken on Hampstead Heath on the
last day of October 2015.

Views of London from The Monument

Having returned to St Dunstan Church to re-shoot the short video last weekend,
we thought we'd have a walk up to the top of the nearby London Monument.
The building designed by Sir Christopher Wren became a structural marking
point to commemorate The Great Fire of London in 1666.
And just close by is the actual infamous street where the Great Fire broke out
from a little Bakers shop in Pudding Lane.

The Fire started on the 2nd of September 1666 and continued devastating the City
right up to the 5th of September, destroying over 13,000 homes as well as 87 Churches
including the nearby St Dunstan in the East. And it's not surprising that the Fire
spread so quickly when you learn that most of the houses back then were constructed
of straw and timber. And the devastation left over 70,000 people homeless.
When the houses were rebuilt most of them were quite sensibly built with bricks.

But the visit to The Monument was interesting, although the walk up to the top, all 311 steps
was exhausting but worth it for the views of the London skyline. Also the spiral staircase
itself is quite narrow and as you make the climb up in such a small space, you have
to make way for the people coming down to leave the tall narrow building. But 
the base of the structure is very impressive.

More can be found out about The Monument at.....

THE MONUMENT HISTORY WEBSITE

And from there you can watch the official video.

THE MONUMENT WAS CONSTRUCTED AND DESIGNED BY ROBERT HOOKE
IN CONSULTATION WITH SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN DURING 1671 - 1677. 

Only 311 steps to climb to get to the viewing platform.
And it takes around 4 to 5 minutes to reach the top.

Above: The oddly shaped building 20 Fenchurch Street, or as it's often called
The Walkie Talkie Building.
The top floor viewing platform known as The Sky Garden is a must see place
with it's spectacular views of The City, day or night.

Above: St Paul's Cathederal

Below: Tower Bridge and The River Thames

Below: Back down to Earth and once again we find ourselves
down by Tower Bridge and The River Thames.

The Church Ruins of St Dunstan....... The Video

Above is a short video that I re-shot over this past weekend of the Church ruins
 at St Dunstan in the East.

The full blog post with pictures can be found in the
following post below  HERE.

A Hidden London Secret.......St Dunstan In The East

Just a short walk from The Tower of London is the wonderful ancient ruins of The Church of
St Dunstan in the East. It's a building with quite a bit of history, having first been constructed back
in the Saxon days. And around 950 AD a Holy man by the name of Dunstan took it upon himself,
with a bit of help, to try and restore it.
It was then later destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. And shortly after that misfortune
Sir Christopher Wren stepped in and restored it even creating a new Church Tower which still
stands today, although the Church was destroyed once again during the Blitz in 1941. But thankfully
the Wren Tower survived leaving just a few standing walls with it's Gothic arched windows.
It was decided after that, that the Church would not be rebuilt and that a garden would replace
the central Church space, which was eventually opened up as a public space in 1967.

And yet it wasn't until I read a recent edition of the London Time Out magazine that I
discovered this secret hidden away place as they once again did a feature on such hidden
London gems. The article was titled 'Eight Properly Calm Places in London.'

While I was there on Saturday, visitors were flocking in and out all the time. And I counted
three model and two wedding photo shoots in the couple of hours I was there. In fact I
got roped in to help out on one wedding photo shoot where I was asked to hold up the Brides
long white veil for effect.
But I imagine it must get even busier in there during the working week as the grounds has
become a sort of lunch time refuge for the nearby City workers.

I imagine that in a few weeks that this place will look even more appealing as I noticed that
many of the large vine like leaves that surround those Gothic window arches, were slowly starting
to turn red.
And I did actually film a three and a half minute video on my phone but sadly had to
delete it as I hadn't left enough memory on it to stabilize the footage. Just wish they'd give
you more internal memory on these phones. So I'll probably return to the grounds and
re film it, but for a shorter time. 

Returning back home I couldn't resist passing The Tower Of London as well
as Tower Bridge.

For a warm early October day I was amazed at the huge crowds
of tourists and visitors that were roaming around The Thames
near Tower Bridge.

Below: The River Thames and The London Shard Building.