East, City, Borough & Greenwich.

All in the same area (City & East): By starting at St. Paul’s Cathedral, walk across the “wobbly bridge” (isn’t wobbly any more – pictured above) to the Tate Modern (www.tate.org.uk). You can walk from our flat, takes 40 mins at a decent clip, or take the 15 bus from outside St. Anne’s Church. The bridge was designed by Norman Foster (who also designed the atrium in the National Gallery in DC). It was opened in 2000 but then closed for three years, as they addressed a design fault. The bridge swayed in a way that promoted sympathetic rhythm in the people walking across it, which made it sway more and cause it to be closed the day it opened.

The Clink was a notorious prison in that operated from the 12th century until about 1750. It was a “debtors” and “whores” prison and was part of Winchester Palace. The name is likely onomatopoeic and was the sound made as the blacksmith hammered closed the shackles. Right next to the market is Southwark Cathedral. There has been a church here since 1080. The present building retains basic form of the Gothic structure built between 1220 and 1420. John Harvard (Harvard University) was born in Southwark in 1607, a butcher's son, and was baptized in the church. The Chard is seen the background. From there you can walk down Tooley Street to Tower Bridge (www.towerbridge.org.uk). Oh, that reminds me, there is an incredible restaurant at the end of Tooley Street – Restaurant Story is expensive but stunning (www.restaurantstory.co.uk). Should you walk over the bridge to the north bank, you will see the Tower of London (www.hrp.org.uk). (See south section for restaurants in this area.)

A relatively short walk back towards St Paul’s, along Canon Street and you will find more Roman remains (londonmithraeum.com): The Mithraeum. The Temple of Mithras, originally constructed around AD 240, was first discovered in 1954 during the excavation of a World War II bomb site. Today, seven metres below modern street level, the London Mithraeum will change the way we encounter archaeology, offering visitors an immersive experience and bringing the bustling world of Roman Londinium to life by unlocking the stories behind the city’s first Londoners. It stands on one of the richest archaeological sites in London. Much was destroyed by the excavations of deep basements of later buildings, but where the archaeological layer survived, the soggy ground led to startling preservation, including hundreds of wooden tablets faintly preserving the oldest handwritten documents ever found in Britain, from the first years after the Roman invasion, including the first recorded use of the world Londinium. (You could also start your walk here and head to St Paul’s, The Tate, The Globe etc)

As an aside, the only time London has been raised to the ground was by a woman Britain: Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni. In a nutshell, the Romans promised her much but instead took and raped her daughters. She charged on London with her tribe and raised it to the ground with fire. There is still a line of red ash that marks this event and a statue to her stands facing Parliament on Westminster Bridge. The longer version: Boudicca, or Boadicea as she was known to the Romans, was the wife of Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni tribe, who occupied roughly what is now Norfolk. Boudica was described by contemporaries as tall with flowing red hair below her waist. She was also said to have had a harsh voice and piercing glare, and wore a large golden neck ring, a multi coloured tunic, and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch.