Laura had to work today. Richard and I spent the morning exploring the London Wall from Liverpool Street to Cannon Street, and beyond. There were delays on the underground. The Roman remains were marked by a series of blue plaques. At the Grange Hotel in Coopers Row we saw an extensive section of walls, partly Roman and the top part was Medieval.We headed down to Tower Hill, passing the Merchant Navy Monument. Opposite the Tower of London was another section of Roman wall. There were many tourists viewing the Tower of London from north of the river.
Then we walked on to the Monument for the Great Fire of 1666. I had a coffee at Le Pain Quotidien while Richard climbed the 311 steps to the top of the column. Afterwards we walked along the Thames to Cannon Street and took the tube to Temple. We met Laura at 12.45 and went for lunch at Roka, a very nice Japanese restaurant. We had a selection of sharing dishes including sashimi, tempura and vegetables.
After lunch, we walked past Laura's Chambers at Brick Court and went down to the Temple Church which dates back to the Crusades. There was a male quartet practising singing for a concert.The church is one of the few round churches in London and was very beautiful. We then walked through the Inner Temple Gardens.
We found our way back to Holborn station and took the tube back to Laura's for a rest. Later we met up with Kathryn and Robbie at the Young Vic near Waterloo. We had a drink at the bar before seeing the play Life of Galileo from the translation of Brecht's play. Brendan Cowell played the leading role, which was performed in the round. It lasted nearly three hours.Then we took an Uber back home, but the driver couldn't go through Rotherhithe tunnel and got a bit lost. A late evening.
