The Tower Bridge Quarter

Tower Hill tube station, London

Guided by Fiona

Short version. Variegated London, Landmark London. Get back, get back…

Long version. Remember the black monolith at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Was going to be a clear monolith. That clear monolith – that "impressive" piece of perspex – is here. We see it on this walk, this 2016: London Space and Time Odyssey.  In the film when that man-ape, guided in some fashion by the Black Monolith, realises he can use that bone as a tool and weapon, a boundary, a border is crossed. Appropriately enough, this walk's about, amongst other things, borders, boundaries. Those features, those permeable membranes – borders, boundaries, edges – are always interesting, always important. So with all these borders – between the City and the river, the City and Pirate Town, the City and Greater London, this side of the river and that side of the river, warehouses and 21st century counting houses, yachts and barges, the past and the present, the present and the future – well, we're already half way there. What else to like about this one? What not to like about it? It's iconic London. More "premiership" landmarks than any other London Walk – the Tower of London, a good section of the London Wall, Tower Bridge, the Glass Testicle, the Shard, the skyline of the Wall Street of Europe. What else? Very atypically – but delightfully – this walk's got visual aids: Fiona will show you the rejected designs for Tower Bridge. Let alone the video of James Bond and the Queen doing their Tower Bridge flypast on their way to their parachute jump into the Olympic Stadium. It's neat to look at the video – understand how it was filmed – and look at the real live "film set." Three final points. 1. the information, the stories (you'll learn a great deal about Londinium – and never see the wall the same way again – after you've heard her story about the tombstone. 2. the walk's very relaxed – it's a stroll. 3. A stroll in brilliant company – Fiona has a good claim to being Numero Uno, London's best guide. Every course she takes she's Phi Beta Kappa – Guide of the Year Award winner. N.B. the walk ends in front of City Hall, directly over the river from the Tower of London. There are lots of good cafes, restaurants and pubs nearby. And London Bridge Station and Tower Hill Tube are just a short walk away.