Around London...

Hello, everyone!

A quick update: surgery went well. Everything about the hospital was absolutely lovely (and free!). Recovery is not so lovely, but much better than expected. I had a great week showing my mom around some of my favorite spots in the city - more on that later. For now, here are some interesting buildings from a recent Seeing London's Architecture session. The buildings are usually quite interesting, but it is often too dark or rainy to take good pictures; luckily, the sun has recently been deciding to come out for longer than a few minutes at a time!

The Lloyd's building, which is essentially a normal giant industrial building, but stripped of it's outer layer (it is often called the "Inside-Out Building"). While I normally find harsh, Cold-War-modern buildings rather bleak, I find this one wonderful and fascinating. Click here for more on the Lloyd's building. 

Leadenhall Market is one of the oldest markets in London, dating back to the 1300s. It's so gorgeous and historic that it was chosen as the site of Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter films! (Here's a still from the Leadenhall Market Sorcerer's Stone scene).

The Rochelle School, which is the site of England's (and possibly Europe's) first public housing.

The Gherkin, by ever-present architect Norman Foster. 

This building (also known as the Cheese Grater, which it resembles in the London skyline) was designed by Richard Rogers, one of the collaborating architects on the aforementioned Lloyd's building. He also designed the remade Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Thanks for all the lovely messages of support through this week, everyone!

-Tascha