Piccadilly Arcade

The finest Edwardian Arcade left in London.

Considering the amount of times that I have walked along Piccadilly, I can count on one hand the amount of times that I have walked through the Piccadilly Arcade.

It is one of those hidden gems that so many people miss, but it is well worth visiting, even if it is just to escape the hordes of tourists, or escape from the London weather.

Lumiere London, 2018

Westminster Abbey looking glorious at Lumiere London 2018.

As soon as the dates were released for this years Lumiere Festival, I knew that I would be attending. Falling across four nights, Thursday 18 - Sunday 21, we decided that the Friday would be the best night for us.

Fortunately, I was allowed to leave work slightly early, thank you to my manager for that, so that I could pick up the girls, with my wife. This afforded us the luxury of being able to leave for London, earlier than expected.

As we had all had a long week, and knowing that Erin (6) and Keilyn (4) would be tired, I had planned a route that would allow us to see some of the installations, while staying close enough to transport links, should the girls become too tired.

Gallery

'Giro', The German Ambassador's Dog

"Giro"
A Faithful Companion!
London in February 1934.
Hoesch.

I am amazed when walking around London, even if it is a place that I have visited many times before, the amount of weird or unusual things that I have previously missed.

For instance: I have walked around, along and through Waterloo Place many times. Whether going to Pall Mall from The Mall, or looking at the various statues or simply just wandering around the area. But, not once, in all of these visits, had I noticed this little grave to "Giro", nestled beneath a tree.

I had to find out more about this curious little grave.

'Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese'

Is that the River Fleet, I hear?

One of my favourite pubs, in the City of London, is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. I first discovered it a number of years back, when I ducked into an alleyway to avoid some freezing rain, on a cold January day. Seeing the light of the pub I wandered in.

Heading into the cellar.

On entering I found it to be quite dark, with wood panelling and little in the way of natural light. Spread across a number of floors, with various bars, it has a feeling of being lost in time.

Throughout the reigns of...

Once my eyes adjusted to the diffused light, the building almost came alive with its history.

A cosy little space in the cellar.

Buying a pint of bitter I took a seat in one of the near empty spaces and savoured the atmosphere of this historic place.

'East India Arms'

History in the Heart of the City.

The East India Arms is a wonderfully traditional pub, in the heart of the City of London. It still retains all the charm of its heritage, even with all of the new buildings, and offices. in the area.