It wasn’t until I moved to London that I even knew there is a ‘city’ within this city. It’s so confusing. People would talk to me about ‘The City’ and I’d think ‘yes London is a city, that’s right’. It was a while before I realised they were talking about a tiny bit of London.
I love stomping around to the City of London. During the week it’s fun to watch the suited office workers marching purposefully, often talking energetically on their mobiles. I like to guess what they’re up to, imagining they’re planning another multi-million pound deal (in reality, they’re probably just thinking where they’ll get their lunch from). I also love visiting The City at the weekend, the contrast with the weekly crowd is vast…there is no one there. You’ll see a whole lot of tourists around St Paul’s but the heart of The City is generally empty and a quiet haven.
When you’re walking around The City there is a real feeling of stepping on history. This area truly is where London began and where it has existed (almost continuously) for close to 2000 years. I find it amazing that (despite constant building) it’s still possible to make out the Roman street system. (Bishopsgate, what is now the A10, was the main Roman route out of London to the North and we’re still using it now).
The contrast of old and new is possible to see all over London but nowhere more than The City. Just have a look at St Andrew’s Undershaft, it is totally surrounded by glass and steel squeezed in between the Gherkin and The Lloyds Building.
But for me, it’s The City Dragons which are fascinating. Once you start looking Dragon symbols are absolutely EVERYWHERE, on every lampost, every bollard, many building, plus Dragon statues welcome visitors in and out of The City. The funny thing is that no one really seems to know why Dragons were adopted as The City’s symbol. It might be something to do with St George and his slaying of the dragon or simply that dragons are scary and would deter unwelcome visitors. Next time you’re in The City count how many dragons you see – I’m sure it will be in the hundreds.