100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 28 - London, baby!

[byslantedlight]

Lots of happy traveller things today! First I went swish-swishing past English landscapes (some of them rather flooded...) on the train...

Then I caught the tube (squish-squish with one line on strike and others not fully working...) to my accommodation, which is new for me - by the Thames, in Rotherhithe!

There were a few hours of Sunday left, so I headed over to the Thames Walk, and found the Brunel Museum. It's actually about Marc Brunel, who was Kingdom Isambard Brunel's father, who came up with the idea of tunnelling under the Thames to make a new crossing (when there were only five bridges crossing it in the early 1800s, and only one of them big enough for horses and carts).

They dug a shaft downwards, which is where I was standing to take the third pic here. That door is way up at the top, and it's the one that Kingdom Brunel was rescued through when he nearly drowned in a flooding disaster that stopped work for several years. Eventually, though, there was a tunnel under the Thames - the first ever tunnel under a river. The last pic shows what it looked like. It never fulfilled its original intention though - to get into the tunnel you had to go down the shaft, and the slope to do so was too steep for cattle and horses! Eventually it was bought by the railways, and it's still being used today - if you go on the underground to Rotherhithe, then that's the tunnel you're travelling in!

Anyway - I carried on wandering, and found all sorts of things...

The walls of a manor house built by King Edward III! It apparently had a moat on three sides, and the Thames on the other, and the king would arrive by boat.

This was sad - four statues, an elderly man, a woman, and a little girl playing with a cat. They're called "Salter's Daydream", and they commemorate Ada (nee Brown) Salter and Dr Salter, who worked tirelessly to help improve people's lives. They lived among the people they were helping through a scarlet fever epidemic, and their only child, who was eight years old, died of it.

Here's the story if you'd like to read more. Salter created the first NHS-that-wasn't-the-NHS, and improved the city's health incredibly. Ada did so many things...

Evening began to fall... ...if you look very carefully at the second pic, you will see bellringers, calling for evensong!

This is where the Mayflower sailed off to America. The pub just commemorates it really, but the docks by here would have been filled with excited people...

I'd headed home by now (it's apparently two miles to Tower Bridge, and it got closer and closer, but my feet weren't entirely happy with me for trying to do all the walking I'd not done for the last six months in one day... So I stopped to have dinner, and this was my view...

But I couldn't resist one last walk back over the big Brunel-type bridge to the river... ...for one last view of the Thames lapping at her banks...

Comments

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

You're just around the corner from me. It's a really interesting part of town, isn't it?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, I had a feeling I was, but wasn't sure what time things were happening, so I didn't email! You're probably busy/further away than easy to meet for a drink tonight now (let me know if not!) , but yes, it's more interesting than I was expecting around the YHA!

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're in the YHA!

Alas, I have a theatre ticket for tonight, but am free tomorrow evening if you'll still be in town?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Rats - I was only here two nights and I head back tomorrow afternoon... But I'll definitely add this to my round of YHAs and come back - and I'll make sure I know what I'm doing when and give you a shout next time.

What theatre are you seeing? *is nosy*

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

How about meeting for breakfast tomorrow? The mouse tails cafe near the Canada Water decathlon opens at 7.30. would that location work for you, and if so, what time?

I'm going to see Caryl Churchill's A Number at the Bridge Theatre.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent - yes, let's do that! Mouse Tails looks easy to find. I need to he at Paddington for 11, but otherwise can fit around you. Do you need to be at work/somewhere at a particular time?

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

I'm working from home and would need to leave the café by 8.30. Could you make 7.30 at the café? I've never eaten there, but it always looks really nice when I go by.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

There's no reason why I can't do 7.30am, so yeah, let's. In fact it'll no doubt be good for me... *g*

See you there!

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

Excellent! An unexpected treat!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes! Me too! So pleased. *g*

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

What a great tour of London! I'm amazed that any part of anything built by Edward III is still up in London. Out away from a large city I could see, but that it survived where it is is amazing.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It was very cool - and I was (stupidly) surprised by how much there was to see here. I mean this is London - it's by definition entirely about the history of where ever you're stepping. *g*

There's loads in London that's survived from thousands of years ago - I think precisely because it's London probably gives it a good chance when it's found. In fact today I went Greenwich, and even though they've been purposefully building over stuff for hundreds of years here, when the archaeologists were monitoring a project and found something, it was incorporated into the building as a record of it's history.

I do love coming here and finding wonderful things - I need to do it more often! *g*

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I love stories about the Thames etc. and these pictures with the information you provided were really interesting e.g. I had no idea Brunel had nearly drowned.

Have fun and I hope it stops raining for you.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The Thames is so often a backdrop when I'm in town, and it was so cool to be staying right beside it, and to walk the Thames Path and find all these things. I remember feeling similar when I did a walking tour of the City, years ago, with murphybabe - feet absolutely knackered, but such joy in the things that we'd found.

It rained today right up to about half an hour after I'd bought a new umbrella cos I'd left mine at the YHA cos the forecast said there'd be strong wids... *headdesk*

[akin16sk.livejournal.com]

walk with you in London must be awesome!! I enjoyed this little excursion a lot!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

If you're ever in the country we should definitely go for a walk! *g* London has very cool walking though - and it was so nice to have an evening free to write about it all too... Hurrah holidays! *g*

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Great photos, some of which l recognise, like the river police hq. Glad you had a good time.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It was fun seeing the police boats all lined up like that! Far more exotic, somehow, than seeing police cars all lined up. *g*

And thanks!

[keli]

I was in London back in April 2018 and we had the time of our lives. I thought we hit the big things but I can't believe we missed a lot of what you posted. We did get to the Bridge and see the Tower of London. All the history was just amazing... here in the States we don't have old history like that. :(

[stellar_raven]

I'm glad you had such a lovely trip. I love your pictures as always.