What time is it Big Ben?

Hanging out at Trafalgar Square

The London Eye is watching, looking....

Eye pod overlooking Westminster....

another pod & perspective

Jodi and Kim enjoying the view!

Is that Christian Stahl ????

Bottom's up!

Hanging out at the F & P

Breakfast at the Trubadour

The Underground (hot and crowded with occasional drunks)

Oooo La La...!

Lunch in Covent Garden, with Jodi, Kim and Christian

The Historic London Pub Crawl Begins....

Our first stop:

Grenadier

Wilton Row, Belgravia

Tucked away down exclusive Wilton Mews, on the corner of Old Barrack Yard, the patriotic Grenadier is painted red, white and blue. A bright red sentry box tells you, if you hadn't guessed, this is a pub with a military history. The Duke of Wellington's Grenadier Guards used it as their mess. Inside it is small, dark and cosy; the ceiling coffee black, the walls dark panelled. In winter there's a real fire. The bar counter has an original pewter top, maybe the oldest of its kind.
The walls are cluttered with military memorabelia; bayonettes and sabres, a breast-plate and bear-skin. If you're lucky you may even see the ghost, said to be that of an officer who was flogged to death for cheating at cards. The Duke is said to have played cards here too, but no question of any cheating. This is a gentlemen's pub, and customers dress to match. At the rear of the pub is a small dining room, which seats about 20. The food is good but pricey. The bar meals are excellent value at about £5, but you may have to stand. On Sunday mornings Bloody Mary's are the speciality, made to a secret recipe.

The first beers of this fine day in current history!

Can you see the guard?

We stopped by to say hi to the Queen!!!

We didn't get very far...

so we stopped by the:

Red Lion near Buckingham Palace

Crown Passage, King St, St. James's

Opposite St. James's Palace is Quebec House. Beneath the flag is Crown Passage.
A sign reads 'London's last village pub.' The Red Lion is over 400 years old and has the second oldest beer licence in London. It has a black timber frontage and leaded light windows. Old gas light brackets now have electric fittings. Two doorways suggest it was once divided into more than one bar, which would have made them very small indeed. As one bar it isn't exactly huge.

The narrow stairs at the back lead to a small cosy dining room. On the last Saturday in January, Cavaliers in full costume, crowd into the Red Lion to lament the death of their hero Charles I, who was executed in Whitehall on 30th January,1649. Crown Passage at night has a wonderful 'olde worlde' atmosphere. It is still lit by gas and there are many interesting old shop fronts

St. James Park

Hat head!

ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL

Cheshire Cheese

Wine Office Ct., 145 Fleet St.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of the few pubs in London that can justify the Ye Olde in its name. Approached through a narrow alleyway (Wine Office Court) the Cheese beckons you into a bygone world. By the entrance a board lists the reigns of the 15 monarchs through which this grand old pub has survived. The dark wooden interior is an enchanting warren of narrow corridors and staircases, leading to numerous bars and dining rooms. There are so many even regulars get confused. The ground floor bar is the most interesting. This small room is very dark, with black timber panelled ceiling and walls. There's an open fire beneath a high mantle and above that the portrait of a waiter who started at the Cheese in 1829. On a high shelf behind the bar are the leather- bound visitors books. They contain the signatures of prime ministers, ambassadors and peers. Other patrons include Thackeray, Boswell, Dickens and Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose house is just around the corner. The pub was rebuilt after the Great Fire(1666) destroyed its predecessor. A tavern is known to have stood here from at least the 16th century and a 13th century Carmelite Monastery once occupied this site. The vaulted cellars are thought to belong to that building.

15 Sovereigns

Time to head across the river!

Anchor

Bankside, Southwark

They shoot films around here because it's so atmospheric. (Tom Cruise has a pint here in Mission Impossible). A walk around the narrow streets gives you an idea of how things used to be at the Anchor. It was from this pub that Samuel Pepys witnessed the awesome destruction of the Great Fire of London in 1666. He describes the dreadful heat and "fire drops" falling on him whilst in a boat on the river. He sought refuge in "a little alehouse on bankside .....and there watched the fire grow". The Anchor was rebuilt in 1676 after fire devastated the area.

The pubs original structure has been added-to over several centuries, creating a maze of odd little rooms. Old brick fire places, waney oak beams and creaking floorboards add to the magical atmosphere. There are several interesting bars, one named after Dr. Johnson, lexicographer and writer, who drank here regularly. The main dining room has wonderful views across the Thames to the City. Another, which is used for functions, has beautiful 18th century pine panelling.
A riverside terrace offers ample seating. At the side of the pub is a walled courtyard, where summer barbeques are served. The Anchor has a new old neighbour too, Shakespeare's Globe theatre recreated just along the waterfont.

We've had a pint or two at this pint, er I mean point!

Kim is so artistic!

Free calls??

A very old wall we passed by on our walk to the pubs!

SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE

The George

Borough High St. Southwark

The George is London's only surviving galleried coaching inn. It stands on the south side of the River Thames near London Bridge, for centuries this was the only bridge across the river.
The George was rebuilt in 1676, after a devastating fire swept Southwark.
It was one of many such inns in the area, perhaps the most famous being the Tabard, where Chaucer began his Canterbury Tales in 1388. The Tabard too was rebuilt after the fire, but was demolished in the late 19th century, despite a public outcry. The George also narrowly avoided total destruction. Coaching inns declined as the railways advanced. The Great Northern Railway used the George as a depot and pulled down two of its fronts to build warehousing, leaving just the south face. It is now in the safe hands of the National Trust. The George is tucked away in a cobbled courtyard just off Borough High Street. The ground floor is divided into several connecting bars. There's a wealth of pretty lattice windows and oak beams. The Old Bar was the waiting room, for coachmen and passengers. The Middle Bar was the Coffee Room, a haunt of Charles Dickens. The bedchambers (now the restaurant) were in the galleried part. The gallery design provides both access and light, as the back walls would have been crammed against other buildings. The George Inn is one of London's greatest treasures, how wonderful it would have been if it had survived intact