Unfortunatelly I don’t have many pictures of new places I visited in the City during my lunchtime so I am not posting every day.

Yesterday I went to a small green area in Aldermanbury. I thought it was just a little green square but indeed it is the St Mary Aldermanbury church, better saying the footprint of the church that no longer exists.

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, then rebuilt and destroyed again during the Blitz, leaving only the walls, that were transported away and the church was not rebuilt again.

The footprint of the church remains in the City, planted with bushes and trees and I had lunch in this place yesterday.

The gardens house a monument to Henry Condell and John Heminges, key figures in the production of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays and co-partners with him in the Globe Theatre.

They lived in the St. Mary Aldermanbury parish and were buried in its churchyard. This monument is topped with a bust of Shakespeare.

The First Folio, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories. & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare’s plays. It was prepared in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare’s death.

“We have but collected
them, and done an
office to the dead…
without ambition either
of felfe-profit, or fame:
onely to keepe the
memory of fo worthy
a Friend, & Fellow alive,
as was our Shakespeare”

John Heminges
Henry Condell

The footprint of the church remains in the City, planted with bushes and trees.

Henry Condell and John Heminges were buried in its churchyard.

I was having my lunch near to the Royal Exchange in London on Monday when a reporter came to me and asked for an interview as I work in the City.

Here is the final video.

Today I had lunch in Finsbury Circus Garden.

London’s first public park is Finsbury Circus Garden. Unlike many other squares in London this one is elliptical, and in the centre is a bowling green.

There is plenty of seating area around the bowling green so I made use of it.

You will see marvelous buildings around Finsbury Circus, surround the oval square.

The bowling green was laid in 1904.

There are marvelous buildings around Finsbury Circus.

Graceful curved terraces.

Today I was very determined about where to go for lunch: Pudding Lane. I was looking forward to see where the Great Fire began, in a bakehouse in 1666.

“Puddings” was a medieval word for entrails and organs (argh). The name is because of the puddings which would fall from the carts coming down the Lane from the butchers in Eastcheap as they headed for the waste barges on the Thames.

There are a few places to sit, and lots of people from the city were there, most of them reading a book in their lunchtime, some were eating something. After a few minutes in there, it started rainning (yes, this is London!) and people vanished. I was still there, finishing my croissant and taking pictures for the blog.

Where the Great Fire began.

Then I walked towards Eastcheap. In medieval times it was the City’s main meat market, with butchers’ stalls lining both sides of the street. I found a very original building at 33-35 Eastcheap.

33-35 Eastcheap is “One of the maddest displays in London of Victorian Gothic”, it was a vinegar warehouse in the past.

33-35 Eastcheap.

Keep walking, I reached the Gracechurch St and one of my favourite places in the city - Leadenhall Market. It dates back to the fourteenth century!

Leadnhall Market.

Back to Cornhill, there is a beautiful church, St Michael’s Church Cornhill. According to them they are “real Anglicans, they use the Authorised (King James) version of the Bible (1611) and the Book of Common Prayer (1662).” Cool.
The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London. The Gothic-styled porch (1858-1860) facing Cornhill is a Victorian addition.

St Michael’s Church Cornhill.

Finally, I was once again close to the Royal Exchange, end of my lunchtime… Founded in 1565 to act as a centre of commerce for the city. The original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is now a luxurious shopping centre.

Royal Exchange.