BBBG Goes To Europe Part 4: Messing About in London

Returning from the splendour of Budapest to the grey of London was a bit of a letdown but we soon got past that as we had tickets to the longest running play in the world, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at St. Martin's Theatre, which we were obviously excited about.

Pictures are just banned everywhere these days but we did manage this

Prior to that I collected some bookporn for fans of old books:

One of the most historically fascinating yet visually unimpressive sights on our trip around Europe has to be The London Stone. Leah discovered it when reading the Peter Ackroyd biography of London and the history surrounding it was enough to make us take a trip to the wall of a WHSmith newsagents. Here's your history lesson: Thought to have originally been much larger it is thought to be of Druidic or Roman origin it is located very close to the centre of the east-west diameter of the City of London, as defined by the Roman walls. Legends and myths surround it, most fun of which might be that it is linked to the safety of London (and therefore the never say die spirit of its inhabitants?) "So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish". This relates to the myth that the stone was part of an altar built by Brutus of Troy.

And here's part of the traditional London Wall built by the Romans around Londinium and maintained in to the 18th Century:

Relatively nearby we paid a visit to Whitehaven Mansions, the home of the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. The wonderful Art Deco building used in the David Suchet TV series is somehow less impressive in reality, possibly something to do with the swathe of flashy cars parked in the pay and display car park outside. Located at Florin Court, Charterhouse Square it still overshadows every other building on the square.