“He who tires of London tires of life”
Who would dare to opose these words of Dr.Johnson? And Roy successfuly proved this truth by making our Saturday as lively as mountain’s river is.
The Lord Mayor of London’s Procession
Maybe this show is not as hot as Love Parade in Berlin, but definitively it has much deeper roots dating from 1215 (nearly 800 years). Since then every year new Lord Mayor of London is elected and every year he expresses gratefulness to the electors by organizing the show. But this year even two events were merged into one: the show itself and commemoration of 2nd World War victims. One and half hour procession involved almost everything- exotic dancers and marines, jazz bands and canons, fighter-planes and collection of Rolls-Royces, cavalry on horses and antiquarian sport cars. For culmination of process Lord Mayor arrived himself- in terrifically exclusive coach that was borrowed from Museum of London. Well, the coach is worth to mention separately. It’s as big as summer house, all gorgeously painted by Italian masters and it’s dating from 1757.
Official site of the show- lordmayorsshow.org
The Lord Mayor’s Coach, 1757
Lunch at Haberdasher’s Hall
Salmon, good wine and classy conversations nicely warmed our chilled noses after the procession. Haberdasher’s company is a unique phenomenon even for England. In 1371 its presence was recorded for the first time. Since then its path went from trade and trade control to highly respectful charitable activity. Now Haberdasher’s Company is more powerful and influential than ever with its enormous foundations for education, welfare and Christianity. By the way, our Roy is a Liveryman of this ancient City Company. Oh, and I forgot to tell that number of members is very limited! 
Official site of Haberdasher’s Company
The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great
It’s one of the most fascinating churches in the Europe and one of the oldest in London. Its adventurous story begins in 1123. From then it survived the Great Fire of 1666 (huh, note the evil date), 1st World War, 2nd World War, lots of changes and only half of it has survived. Its the most significant Norman interior appears in number of award wining movies- Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love and The End of the Affair, Madame Bovary and it has a little chance to be shot in my mystical horror movie if I ever make one
Official site greatstbarts.com
Additional info at wikipedia.org
Info and map at findachurch.co.uk
Museum of London
Not largely advertised but very precious place for fans of London. Large exhibitions with rare and fascinating objects, video movies and models cover history from “before London” and Roman period till contemporary times. Black Death (The Great Plague, 1348-1350) and The Great Fire (1666) are revealed with pleasing attention
One of very special objects that has impressed me is Nelson’s sword (view picture above).The legendary owner and the craftsmanship allow the sword to drive imagination of every boy to the far boundaries of imagination. This jewelry from gold, enamel and diamonds was presented to Lord Nelson in 1800. On other hand, it’s not the most efficient weapon even for those days
Official site of Museum of London
Firework display on Thames
After sunset London’s new Lord Mayor decided to light the City with fireworks. That was a terrific event that has attracted ocean of tourists and locals. Giant fireworks were launched from the boat on the Thames and they took quite a while. Well, maybe Lord Mayor did not become a new Emperor Nero who fired the Rome, but it was quite a nice try anyway
Official site of the Lord Mayor’s Fireworks
November 18th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
The Museum of London traces London’s history from before the Roman occupation. Not the Romanian period - that eastern European country had little to do with London!
November 18th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Thank you, Roy, for the note- I’ll correct that right away