Many people don't realize that Central London looks the way it does today because of a disaster. The Great Fire of 1666 consumed 13,200 houses (the homes of 70,000 of the 80,000 residents of the center city, one-sixth of the total population of London). It also destroyed 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and most buildings of city officials. Firefighting efforts were hampered by the narrow crooked streets.
When the city was rebuilt, they tried to be smarter. The new central London had wider streets, open and accessible wharves along the Thames, and buildings were constructed of brick and stone, not wood.
One positive unintended consequence of the Great Fire was the end of plague in London. During the Great Plague of 1665, 80,000 people, one-sixth of the city's population, died of bubonic plague. The Great Fire helped to end these epidemics by getting rid of unsanitary housing with rats and fleas.
One thing I just noticed here was that the plague killed one-sixth of the city population, and the fire the next year destroyed the homes of one-sixth of the population. I'd like to know how the first one-sixth compared to the second one-sixth on a map overlay. I'm sure that information doesn't exist, but it's interesting to ponder.
You see a variety of architecture around London, most of it traditional - Gothic, English Baroque, Georgian and Victorian.
But you do see some contemporary and even quite striking architecture, too.
And again, back to the old.
How about this sign? Kate said it's a restaurant, but we didn't have time to eat there. But it was fun to see it all the same.
Grand Trunk Railway
There are pubs all over London, of course, and many of them have outlandish names.
We sampled the beer here, and it was quite tasty and refreshing after all that "exhausting" shopping!
I just liked these next few buildings; they epitomize London to me.
Wouldn't it be fun to leave your flat and see this monument every day?
I'd love to have a flat on the top floor in the tower.
The International Shakespeare Globe Centre was supposedly built on the site of his original theater. It would be fun to see Lady MacBeth on stage here, wringing her hands while exclaiming, "Out, damned spot!"
The famous St. Paul's Cathedral, the fifth build on the same site since AD 604. The previous ones were all destroyed by fire, primarily because of wooden roofs. After the fourth was destroyed by the Great Fire, Sir Christopher Wren designed the current cathedral, built beginning in 1677. He built it in English Baroque style which showed "more clarity of design and a subtle taste for classicism when compared to Baroque architecture on the continent" (not sure what that means). He also rebuilt 50 parish churches.
St. Paul's was the scene of many important events in the life of the British people. The cathedral was the site of funerals of notables like Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Winston Churchill. It was also the scene of many national and royal celebrations, including the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
In these last two pictures, you can see shrapnel marks on the cathedral from German bombing in World War II.
Luckily, the cathedral survived the bombing.
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