Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The complex has a good
Bank Museum
inside (enter from far side, on St. Bartho-
lomew Lane). See banknotes from 1699, an old safe, account books, and mannequins of
CPAs in powdered wigs. Also see current pound notes—with a foil hologram and numbers
visible under UV light (to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters). The museum's highlight
is under the rotunda, displaying a real gold bar that's worth more than $500,000 (check
today's rates at the entrance) and weighs 28 pounds. Try lifting it.
•
Rising up behind the Bank of England is...
Tower 42:
The black-capped skyscraper at 600 feet is The City's tallest (but not Lon-
don's tallest—that's the shiny new Shard, on the opposite bank of the Thames).
• Rising to the right is the tip of the bullet-shaped, spiral-ribbed, glass building called...
30 St. Mary Axe:
Built in 2003, the 40-story building houses the London office of a
Swiss re-insurance company (an insurer's insurer). The building, nicknamed “The Gher-
kin” (pickle), is ventilated by natural air entering the balconies spiraling around the peri-
meter.
London keeps adding even more new skyscrapers to the scene (rendering the Bank
Junction plaque obsolete). Look to the right of St. Mary Axe to see the Leadenhall Build-
ing (a.k.a. “The Cheesegrater”), and still farther right is the Fenchurch Building (a.k.a.
“The Walkie-Talkie”). Who says there was a financial crisis in 2008?
•
You're standing in front of...
Mansion House:
This is the official residence of The City's Lord Mayor. The Lord
Mayor governs not all of London but just this neighborhood. In the year 2000, a new post
was created—“Mayor of London”—overseeing all of London. But the “Lord Mayor of
the City” still carries out the old traditions, presiding from this palatial building. Once a
year, he rides the streets in the Lord Mayor's Coach, a gilded carriage pulled by six white
horses that looks like something out of
Cinderella
(the rest of the year, you can see the
coach in the Museum of London).
• Another classic bank-turned-pub, The Counting House, is two blocks up Cornhill Street
(to the right of the Royal Exchange)—see
here
. From Bank Junction, turn right on Lom-
bard Street, which turns into King William Street, and curves right (southeast) toward
London Bridge. Near the northeast corner of the bridge, look to your left and find a lone
column poking its bristly bronze head above the modern rooftops.
The Monument
The 202-foot hollow column is Wren's tribute to the Great Fire that gave him a blank can-
vas on which to create modern London. At 2:00 in the morning of September 2, 1666, a
small fire broke out in a baker's oven in nearby Pudding Lane. Supposedly, if you tipped
the Monument over (to the east), its top would fall on the exact spot. Fanned by hot,
