Walking London - City Of History

You may think you have arrived in the City of London when you pause at the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, but Londoners will rightly say it is a mile or so east and advise you not to miss its unique treasures and rich diversity of attractions. The City is steeped in history, particularly around the area from the Tower of London west to just beyond St Paul's Cathedral. In AD43, this was the Roman administrative and trading center of "Londinium", chosen because the Thames gave access to the sea (and thereby Gaul) and inland waterways.

Prosperous and powerful in Tudor times, it shared an uneasy relationship with Henry VIII, who governed the country from Westminster while the City governed itself. A century later, it fell victim to the Great Fire and although Sir Christopher Wren's inspired planning helped its phoenix-like renewal, many moved to the then sparsely populated West End. Today, the City's boundaries reach almost to Australia House in the Strand and it ranks as one of the world's important commercial centers.

Begin by walking down Fleet Street from the Australian embassy and note the Law Courts, emphatically gothic and more faux-medieval than anything at Disneyland. Barristers can be seen crossing to the quaint old Wig and Pen Club for drinks alongside journalists, whose news desks are regrettably no longer located on the famous street. Farther on, detour briefly into Gough Square and see the garret where Dr Johnson laboured, with six assistants, on his great dictionary.

Back on Fleet Street, St Paul's dome and majestic facade beckon and proclaim that the cathedral is as timeless and touching as St Peter's in Rome or Notre Dame in Paris. Climbing the imposing steps, those old enough to remember, may recall the opening of Lawrence of Arabia and if a service is in progress, savor the panoply and appreciate the wonderful music accompanying it. Then go to the dome's Whispering Gallery, where what you say sounds 10 times louder. Here you can better examine the mosaics by the Venetian Antonio Salviati and the St Paul paintings by Sir James Thornhill, Hogarth's father-in-law. Directly beneath, in the crypt, Admiral Nelson is buried in a coffin carved from the wood of an enemy flagship. He is in good company, including Turner, whose love of sea and ships prompted him to sketch HMS Victory as it returned from Trafalgar.

Walk east of St Paul's and you will be in Cheapside, once a sprawling market, as is evident from the names of adjacent narrow streets, such as Bread (where Sir Walter Raleigh met with writers) and Milk (where Sir Thomas More began his life - he ended it in the Tower). In Cheapside, you can hear the renowned Bow Bells ring out from St Mary-le-Bow, one of 51 elegantly steepled City churches designed by the prolific Wren. Besides the link with the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme, Bow Bells are remembered as a sound of hope, thanks to the BBC radio featuring them in broadcasts to Nazi-occupied Europe.

A side street opposite leads to the Guildhall from which the City has been governed for more than 1000 years. Here VIPs and heads-of-state are ceremoniously wined and dined, often with royalty present and always with statues of the Duke of Wellington and other notables looking on. Easily missed at the Guildhall is a marvellous horological collection that was given by the Clockmakers Company, established in 1631. It is housed in the library.

Just beyond Cheapside is the Bank of England, where the vaults are packed with gold bullion. Without giving up his day job there, Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows, basing Mole's home on the banking hall. Not far away, you will be able to watch today's big business in operation at architect Richard Rogers' high-tech Lloyds of London, where movement between floors looks like something out of Back to the Future. In this part of the City the presence of power-dressed, self-assured young women is evidence of the breakdown in centuries-old male exclusivity in trading places.

Soon the Tower of London comes into view. Technically not within the City boundaries, it has been inextricably linked to it since it was built by William the Conqueror to keep an eye on activities therein. Keeping an eye on the Tower's treasures are the Beefeater wardens, whose grand, theatrical uniforms are familiar to drinkers of the gin named after them. Visitors flock to the armour-filled White Tower and the Bloody Tower, where the two boy princes were murdered by henchmen of the dastardly Richard III.

Opposite, there is less melodrama but much more fascination in the reconstructed palace where Edward I lived and ruled in the 1280s. Never seen by the public until 1994, it comprises a room used for dining, entertaining, playing chess and backgammon, and another where Edward sat upon his throne to receive courtiers and visitors. Guides in period costume fill in the details, explaining, for example, that monks had to read to the King, who was illiterate, and that the giant circular candelabra was designed to represent the walls of the City of Gold, a glimpse of the after-life. A third room, where Edward slept, remains as found by archaeologists to show how clues on structure and materials were gathered.

An even more recent innovation is the Jewel House. Moved to the ground floor of Waterloo Barracks, it benefits from a moving walkway that takes you slowly along a bomb-proof glass case in which 11 state crowns are displayed one after the other. This affords a closer look than was previously possible and eliminates the uncomfortable business of looking over other visitors' shoulders. With greater overall space, the display of sceptres, swords of state, maces, anointing spoons and the gold-embroidered coronation mantle offers a more leisurely appraisal. What still impresses most is the Imperial State Crown, aglow with 2800 diamonds, including the 317-carat Second Star of Africa (the other, of 530 carats, is in the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross).

For an understanding of the City's development, visit the Museum of London, just north of St Paul's. Large-scale models, reassembled domestic and public interiors, paintings and surviving artifacts tell the whole story. Worth seeing are a full-scale Roman dining-room where plates of food await toga-clad guests, and a working model of the 1666 inferno, with flames spreading unchecked, raging winds and clouds as red as hell-fire.

Conveniently next door is the Barbican Center, an ultra-modern arts/entertainment complex. Since opening in the '70s, it has hosted such theatrical hits as Les Miserables, high- and low-brow concerts, and fine exhibitions of paintings and photographs. The Barbican also sells jewellery, watercolors and other one-off craft objects by promising new talents. Frequently, at lunchtime or early evening, there are free musical performances ranging from jazz, rock and blues to Mozart, while movie theatres show the latest releases at less-than-West-End prices. The Garden in the Sky, a vast on-high conservatory, boasts ornamental fish ponds and many species of plants, including cacti, orchards and fuchsias. Searcy's Brasserie, the best of several Barbican eating places, has an interesting menu. I liked their French green lentils with smoked haddock, followed by supreme of duck with wild mushrooms and then, to finish, something simple like lemon sorbet.

When ready for a return to the past, enter the nearby 450-year-old St Giles, Cripplegate, visited by Shakespeare for a nephew's christening, by Oliver Cromwell to get married, and by friends of John Milton for his burial. Continuing west and still thinking 17th century, you will encounter Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, or at least Cloth Fair, the scene of his comedy of mishaps and misunderstandings involving cloth merchants and assorted picturesque characters. Two Jacobean houses Jonson knew well still stand - Sir John Betjeman later lived in one. Benjamin Franklin once worked around the corner in the impressive but little-visited Norman church of St Bartholomew the Great.

Walking south to cross Holborn Viaduct, you will recognize the Old Bailey by the gold figure of justice with scales (to weigh the evidence) on its roof. If a trial is in progress, witnesses, defendants, bewigged legal eagles and a splendidly robed judge will hold your attention with real-life drama. After a verdict is reached, retreat to a typically English pub such as the Black Friar, which is full of whimsical art nouveau evocations of times long past when Dominican monks went about their duties in the vicinity. Hence the pub's name, and the reason the railway station and bridge over the road are called Blackfriars. Making connections such as these, fitting the pieces together, is one of the joys of walking around the real City of London. The official tourist office opposite St Paul's has directions to all that is worth seeing.