So crossing the road and standing on the steps of the Exchange. On the right is the Bank of England. The taller of the two buildings with flags is one of the high street banks. If you have ever seen the first Harry Potter film, the interior of this one looks very much like Gringotts Bank in the film, but without the goblins serving. The film scenes for Gringotts were done in Australia House in London, by the way, I suppose they just roped in a few Ozzie backpackers that were on hand, to play the goblins.
Next to that, the sort of pink building is 1 Poultry. There used to be a rather nice Victorian building on this site but the owner, Lord Palumbo, wanted to build a skyscraper. Legal wrangles ran on for years and eventually arived at this compromise.
Further round to the left the building with the Palladian portico is Mansion House, home of the Mayor of London. The proper mayor, not Red Ken. If you get invited to lunch here you can say that you have well and truly 'arrived' socially.
Here is a closer view of 1 Poultry. The old building had some very nice architectural frescos and if you look on the right of the picture one of them has been incorporated into the '/\' shaped entrance arch.
The spire of the church on the right of the picture belongs to St Mary Le Bow. If you are born within the sound of the bells you can call yourself a cockney. These days if you are lucky enough to be born within earshot you can probably afford to call yourself whatever you like.
http://www.cityoflondonchurches.com/stmarylebow.htm
nd here is a close up of the fresco, all that remains of a very nice Victorian landmark.
During the construction the opportunity was taken to excavate the site to examine the Roman history of the site, click the link for more details if you want.
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/ca/time...on/poultry.htm
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/lea...n_life/s1.html
And there are a couple of Thai restaurants down on the left - piss poor Thai link, must do better.